Patent ID: 7814173

Claim:
An information-processing system comprising: a first information-processing apparatus that includes a transmission unit configured to transmit a metadata utilization condition representing information on rights required for utilizing metadata relevant to a content, the metadata being used independently of said content; and a second information-processing apparatus that includes a reception unit configured to receive said metadata utilization condition from said first information-processing apparatus, the utilization condition including a device security level of the second information-processing apparatus and a list of allowable metadata operations to be performed by the second information-processing apparatus, a metadata-processing determination unit configured to determine whether to process metadata based on said metadata utilization condition, a metadata-processing unit configured to process said metadata in accordance with said metadata utilization condition when metadata is to be processed, and at least one storage unit configured to store the metadata in accordance with the metadata utilization condition, wherein the device security level of said second information-processing apparatus is based on a number of secure storage units included in the at least one storage unit.