Patent ID: 8316405

Claim:
A presence information sharing apparatus comprising: a video acquiring unit for acquiring predetermined video contents from a content distribution server; a status information notifying unit for transmitting presence information containing acquisition source information on video contents acquired from the content distribution server to a presence server via a communication network; a status information acquiring unit for acquiring presence information transmitted by at least one another user from the presence server; a presence video acquiring unit for acquiring a video of video contents being viewed by the another user as a presence video from the content distribution server based on the acquisition source information contained in the presence information received by the status information acquiring unit; and a display controlling unit for displaying the video contents being acquired by the video acquiring unit and the presence video being acquired by the presence video acquiring unit on a display, wherein the display controlling unit displays, on the display, a view content display region for displaying therein the video contents being acquired by the video acquiring unit, and a presence information display region for displaying therein at least one presence video being acquired by the presence video acquiring unit, wherein the display controlling unit classifies the at least one presence video and displays the same in the presence video display region based on predetermined information contained in the at least one item of presence information acquired from the presence server, wherein the status information notifying unit contains category information on video contents acquired from the content distribution server in the presence information and transmits the same to the presence server via the communication network, and the display controlling unit displays the at least one presence video in the presence video display region for each category based on the category information contained in the at least one item of presence information acquired from the presence server.