Patent ID: 7613737

Claim:
An information processing apparatus for processing information input thereto from a device connected to the apparatus, comprising: an inquiry unit that inquires the device with regard to status of the device; a reduced-image display unit that displays a reduced image of content data possessed by the device; a device-image display unit that displays an image, which is indicative of the device, in association with the reduced image; a determination unit that determines whether or not acquisition of the content data from the device is possible based upon a response to the inquiry made by the inquiry unit; a display control unit that identifiably displays result of the determination by the determination unit; an identification unit that identifies a reason for the determination made by the determination unit; and a message display unit that creates a text message, which indicates the reason for the determination, based upon the reason for the determination identified by the identification unit, and displays the text message in association with the image indicative of the device or the reduced image.