Patent ID: 6886042

Claim:
A resource reservation management apparatus for an AV network that manages equipment resources connected to a network, comprising: EPG processing means for acquiring starting/ending time information of a broadcast program from EPG (electronic program guide) that is sent while being superimposed on the broadcast wave; frequency band information processing means for acquiring the frequency band information of the broadcast program from the EPG, said frequency band information being bit rate information that is an average data transmitting amount that differs for each broadcast program; frequency band resource management means for performing time management of the frequency band resource of the AV network by using a resource reservation management table; and a controller that, upon receiving a reservation request, acquires the frequency band of a reserved program of the request from said frequency band information processing means and the starting/ending time information of the reserved program from said EPG processing means and, with reference to said resource reservation management table, determines whether the frequency band of the reserved program can be allocated so that, when the frequency band can be allocated, reservation of the frequency band is registered in said resource reservation management table, wherein communication via a communication interface using allocated secured frequency band is carried out when the start time of the reserved program is reached.