Patent ID: 7631329

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: first reception means which receives television programs via a first transmission path, the first transmission path including a ground-wave broadcast; second reception means which receives supplementary information via a second transmission path, the second transmission path including a communication satellite broadcast; display control means which operates a display device to display a specified television program received by the first reception means in a first region of the display device and a plurality of symbolic images in a second region of the display device, each symbolic image indicating a kind of supplementary information received by the second reception means, the display control means configured to absolve a user from switching between the ground-wave and satellite broadcasts; selection means for selecting a symbolic image from the plurality of the symbolic images; wherein in response to the selection of said symbolic image, the display control means controls to display an animation effect by: (a) moving and resizing the displayed selected symbolic image from the second region to the first region; (b) moving and resizing the displayed specified television program from the first region to the second region, wherein: (i) said movement and resizing from the second region to the first region; and (ii) said movement and resizing from the first region to the second region occur simultaneously; (c) for a point in time when said simultaneous movement and resizing occurs, simultaneously displaying: (i) at least a portion of said displayed selected symbolic image at a position; and (ii) at least a portion of said displayed specified television program at said position, wherein when said display control means controls said animation effect by simultaneously displaying said portion of said displayed selected symbolic image and said portion of said portion of said displayed specified television program at said position: (i) said portion of the displayed selected symbolic image overlays said displayed specific television program; or (ii) said displayed specific television program overlays said portion of the displayed selected symbolic image; and wherein: (a) said symbolic image is resized to fit within a space in the first region previously occupied by the specified television program; and (b) said specified television program is resized to fit within a space in the second region previously occupied by the symbolic image.