Patent ID: 7890606

Claim:
An information processing apparatus that transmits information to a server, the apparatus comprising: connection determination means for determining whether a portable terminal has been connected to the information processing apparatus; information acquisition means for, when said connection determination means determines that the terminal has been connected to the information processing apparatus, acquiring, from the terminal, identification information of the terminal and operation information concerning playing of a content played by the terminal, the operation information including a start time and a stop time of the playing of the content played by the terminal; storage means for storing metadata of a content; metadata determination means for determining whether metadata of the content played by the terminal is stored in said storage means; play history information generation means for adding metadata to the operation information acquired by said information acquisition means; metadata acquisition means for acquiring metadata; and transmission means for transmitting, to the server, play history information of the terminal together with the identification information of the terminal, the play history information of the terminal being composed of the operation information acquired by said information acquisition means, wherein, after said metadata determination means determines that the metadata of the content played by the terminal is stored in said storage means, said metadata acquisition means acquires the metadata of the content played by the terminal from said storage means, and said play history information generation means adds the metadata acquired by said metadata acquisition means to the operation information acquired by said information acquisition means to generate the play history information of the terminal, and after said metadata determination means determines that the metadata of the content played by the terminal is not stored in said storage means, said information acquisition means further acquires, from the terminal, the metadata of the content played by the terminal, and said play history information generation means adds the metadata acquired by said information acquisition means to the operation information acquired by said information acquisition means to generate the play history information of the terminal.