Patent ID: 8677419

Claim:
A program search device that searches for broadcast programs corresponding to a current time from an electronic program guide, the program search device comprising: a program guide storing unit that prestores an electronic program guide comprising one or more program display information sets, each of the program display information sets indicating a broadcast program that is a regular program or a special program; a keyword storing unit that prestores one or more extraction keywords, which are at least included in a program display information set that shows the special program and are used for detecting at least one program from the electronic program guide, together with an effective period information set, corresponding to each extraction keyword, that indicates an effective period represented by months and dates in which an extraction keyword is available for use in a program search and based on the effective period in the program display information set that shows when the special program will be broadcast; a time obtaining unit operable to obtain a current time upon receipt of a search start instruction; a search control unit operable to: read extraction keywords corresponding to the effective period information set that shows the effective period that includes the obtained current time, from the keyword storing unit, and not read any extraction keywords corresponding to a different effective period information set that shows an effective period that does not include the obtained current time; detect, from the electronic program guide, one or more program display information sets that include the read extraction keyword; and extract, from among the detected program display information sets, each of the program display information sets that indicates the regular program, as a regular program display information set, and each of the program display information sets that indicates the special program, as a special program display information set; an excluding unit operable to exclude the regular program display information set extracted by the search control unit; and a program name storing unit that prestores a recording-scheduled program name for a recording that has been scheduled by a user, wherein keywords corresponding to future effective periods remain in the keyword storing unit, the search control unit further searches for the program display information set indicated by the recording-scheduled program name stored in the program name storing unit within the detected program display information sets, and obtains the found program display information set as a recording-scheduled program display information set, and the excluding unit further excludes the recording-scheduled program display information set obtained by the search control unit.