Patent ID: 8428439

Claim:
A broadcast program recording/reproducing device which records a program being broadcast and reproduces the program, the device comprising: a storage unit operable to store the program; a program write unit operable to write the received program into the storage unit; a reception level detection unit operable to detect whether a reception level of a received broadcast electric wave is (i) equal to or lower than a first predetermined reception level and (ii) equal to or lower than a second predetermined reception level; a recording start request transmission unit operable, when the reception level detected by the reception level detection unit is equal to or lower than the first predetermined reception level, to generate a recording start request to request an external device to alternatively record at least part of the program, and to transmit the recording start request to the external device; a management information storage unit operable to store management information to manage a destination of the recording of the program and a timing to switch the recording; a distributive recording determination unit operable to determine whether the program is recorded so as to be distributed between the storage unit and the external device based on the management information stored in the management information storage unit; and a continuous reproduction unit operable to obtain an appropriate part of the program from the storage unit and the external device and to continuously reproduce the program, without temporal interruption of the program, based on the management information when the distributive recording determination unit determines that the program is recorded so as to be distributed, and to obtain the program from the storage unit and to reproduce the program when the distributive recording determination unit determines that the program is not recorded so as to be distributed, wherein the first predetermined reception level is higher than the second predetermined reception level, and wherein the program write unit stops the writing into the storage unit when the reception level detected by the reception level detection unit is equal to or lower than the second predetermined reception level.