Patent ID: 8171144

Claim:
An AV server apparatus that is connected to a network and distributes content to a client apparatus which requests content data, said AV server apparatus comprising: a communication unit configured to receive a logical connection establishment request or a physical connection establishment request from a first client apparatus; a content data distribution unit configured to establish a physical connection for distributing content data to the first client apparatus, when the physical connection establishment request is received by said communication unit; and a connection information management unit configured to establish a logical connection and generate an ID, when the logical connection establishment request is received or the physical connection is established, wherein said connection information management unit is configured to set the logical connection as one of a first-come first-served priority and a last-come first-served priority, by assigning, to the ID, a value that is associated with a logical connection category, wherein said communication unit is configured to receive an ID list request from a second client apparatus, wherein, when the logical connection category is set as the first-come first-served priority, said connection information management unit is configured to assign, to the ID, a value that prevents the ID from being obtained by the ID list request, and wherein, when the logical connection category is set as the last-come first-served priority, said connection information management unit is configured to assign, to the ID, a value that allows the ID to be obtained by the ID list request.