Patent ID: 8365233

Claim:
A program distribution system, comprising: a broadcast station; a recording and reproduction device that is capable of recording and reproducing data of program contents coming from the broadcast station by cable or by radio; and a content server that is capable of distributing, over a network, the data of the program contents to the recording and reproduction device through connection thereto over the network, the recording and reproduction device including: a storage section that stores therein the data of the program contents, a recording and reproduction control section that can record, into the storage section, video data of the program contents provided from the broadcast station, and can reproduce the video data in real time, a display section that can display a recording list that includes a listing associated with the program contents, a higher-quality data acquisition control section that makes an inquiry to the content server, over the network after recording with real-time-reproduction is started as a result of control by the recording and reproduction control section and without requiring any specific user operation, about a possibility of acquisition of a higher quality version of data of the program contents than the data recorded by acquiring an electronic program guide (EPG) and comparing meta data of the data recorded with that contained in the EPG, and in response to an inquiry result being positive, acquires the higher-quality version of the data from the content server over the network whereby the display section provides notification, in association with the listing associated with the program contents, that the higher quality version of data of the program contents has been detected, and a search control section that searches directly or over a local network, without requiring any specific user operation when recording with real-time-reproduction is started, (i) whether another recording device is connected thereto by cable or by radio, and (ii) in response to the another recording device being detected, whether a higher quality version of the video data than the data recorded with real-time-reproduction is already recorded therein, wherein in response to the higher-quality version of the video data being detected as a result of the search made by the search control section, the detected higher-quality version of the video data is copied or moved from the another recording device to the recording and reproduction device, or a result of the search is informed thereto, and in response to the higher-quality version of the video data not being detected, the higher-quality data acquisition control section makes the inquiry to the content server.