Patent ID: 8233775

Claim:
An information processing system comprising: a program information providing apparatus for providing program information about programs, a portable information terminal apparatus owned by a user, and an information processing apparatus having recording and reproducing functions; wherein said program information providing apparatus includes: storing means for storing said program information; and providing means for retrieving said program information from said storing means before providing the retrieved program information to said portable information terminal apparatus, said providing means retrieving said program information based on identifying a user ID associated with an information request transmitted from said portable information terminal apparatus, wherein upon identifying said user ID said retrieved program information includes registered content applicable to said user ID, and wherein said user ID is unidentifiable, said retrieved program information includes commonly watched channels; convertor means coupled to said storing means and providing means, said convertor means converting, under control of said providing means, said program information retrieved from said storing means from a page description language format structured hierarchically using tags to another database format that excludes said tags, wherein said another database format comprises a less amount of data than said page description language and requires no data analysis following retrieval, wherein said portable information terminal apparatus includes: acquiring means for acquiring said program information from said program information providing apparatus; establishing means for establishing preset information for presetting a desired program to be recorded unattended based on said program information acquired by said acquiring means; and transmitting means for transmitting to said information processing apparatus said preset information established by said establishing means, wherein the converted program information is converted into a predetermined format that allows a display program of said portable information terminal apparatus to display on the program information, wherein said portable information terminal apparatus generates an icon representing the received converted content data that is available for reproduction, and outputs the generated icons; and wherein said information processing apparatus includes: receiving means for receiving said preset information from said portable information terminal apparatus; and recording controlling means for controlling the unattended recording of said desired program based on said preset information received by said receiving means.