Patent ID: 8266654

Claim:
An information processing system, comprising: a first user apparatus; a second user apparatus operable to exchange information with the first user apparatus; and a server apparatus operable to control information exchange between the first user apparatus and the second user apparatus; the first user apparatus, the second user apparatus and the server apparatus each being connected to a network; the first user apparatus including: acquiring means for acquiring, from program guide information, information about a to-be-provided program based on user input provided by a first user to the first user apparatus, and for extracting preference information of the first user from the information about the to-be-provided program, the preference information of the first user including a plurality of preference keywords associated with the to-be-provided program, first transmitting means for sending, to the server apparatus, the preference information of the first user and a destination device to which the preference information of the first user is to be provided; the server apparatus including: registering means for registering the preference information of the first user, and second transmitting means for transmitting, to the second user apparatus if the second user apparatus is the destination device, notification of the registering of the preference information of the first user; the second user apparatus including: first receiving means for receiving the notification of the registering of the preference information of the first user from the server apparatus, and access means for accessing the server; the server apparatus including: determining means for determining, in response to the access by the second user apparatus, whether the second user apparatus is designated to receive preference information, the second transmitting means transmitting to the second user apparatus, in response to the determining means determining that the second user apparatus is designated to receive preference information, a list of trusting users that trust the second user apparatus, the list including the first user; the second user apparatus including: third receiving means for receiving the list of trusting users, selecting means for selecting a trusting user from the list of trusting users, and third transmitting means for transmitting, to the server apparatus, designation information designating that the preference information of the selected trusting user is to be received; and the server apparatus including: the second receiving means receiving the designation information sent by the second user apparatus, the second transmitting means sending the registered preference information of the selected trusting user to the second user apparatus in response to receiving the designation information from the second user apparatus, and when the first user is the selected trusting user, the first receiving means of the second user apparatus thereby receiving, from the server apparatus, the registered preference information of the first user.