Patent ID: 8368818

Claim:
A contents read-ahead control device included in a contents output apparatus which outputs contents, the contents read-ahead control device comprising: a contents map retain section which stores a contents map having described therein a sequential order in which the contents are switched by a specific user operation; an operation judgment section which judges, based on the specific user operation, a channel zapping operation of continuously switching the contents; a channel zapping operation history storage section which cumulatively stores the channel zapping operation judged by the operation judgment section; a channel zapping operation prediction section which predicts a channel zapping operation that will be conducted next, based on a history of a plurality of channel zapping operations stored in the channel zapping operation history storage section; a viewing target prediction section which predicts at least one viewing-target content that will be viewed next by a user, based on the contents map and the channel zapping operation that is predicted by the channel zapping operation prediction section as to be conducted next; and a read-ahead execution section which conducts a read-ahead on the at least one viewing-target content predicted by the viewing target prediction section.