Patent ID: 6968018

Claim:
A digital broadcast receiving apparatus, comprising: a receiver operable to selectively receive a plurality of digital broadcast signals, and to output digital data corresponding to said received digital broadcast signals, at least some of said output digital data corresponding to a plurality of different limited receiving modes; a processor operable to selectively perform limited receiving processing for said at least some of said output digital data; a plurality of integrated circuit (“IC”) card interface sections each adapted for mounting one of a plurality of IC cards including a first IC card and a second IC card, each of said first and second IC cards controlling contract information and scramble key information necessary for said limited receiving processing; wherein said processor includes an identifier operable to identify to which of said limited receiving modes said first and second IC cards correspond when said first and second IC cards are mounted to said first and second IC card interface sections; a controller operable to control said processor to perform said limited receiving processing for said at least some of said output digital data by use of said contract information and said scramble key information controlled by one of said first and second IC cards when said one of said first and second IC cards corresponds to said limited receiving mode of said at least some of said output digital data; and an announcer operable to make an announcement to a user that said first and second IC cards both correspond to an identical one of said limited receiving modes, wherein said controller is further operable to permit the user to select said one of said first and second IC cards based on said announcement.