Patent ID: 8640051

Claim:
An information-processing apparatus for acquiring content data from a content providing server and reproducing the acquired content data, comprising: a processor; a storage device coupled to the processor; a content information-acquiring portion configured to use the processor to: receive meta data associated with a plurality of elements of video content from the server, the meta data comprising: (i) first information identifying thumbnails associated with corresponding ones of the video content elements, the thumbnails comprising images corresponding to first portions of the video content elements; and (ii) second information identifying a preview of at least one of the video content elements, the preview comprising video content constituting a second portion of the at least one video content element; obtain data associated with the thumbnails using at least the first information; a display control portion configured to use the processor to generate a signal to display the data associated with the thumbnails within a first portion of a display screen; and an operation-detecting portion configured to use the processor to detect a motion of a position-specifying object within the first portion of the display screen, the motion being associated with a selection of a first one of the displayed thumbnails by a first user, wherein: the operation-detecting portion is further configured to use the processor to: calculate, in response to the detected motion, a time period during which the position-specifying object is disposed within the display screen at a position corresponding to the first displayed thumbnail; and determine whether the calculated time period is equal to or exceeds a threshold value; the content information-acquiring portion is further configured to use the processor to: determine, based on at least the second information, whether a preview of the video content element associated with the first displayed thumbnail is available from the server; and retrieve data associated with the preview from the server, when the preview is available, and when the calculated time period is equal to or exceeds the threshold value; and the display control portion is further configured to use the processor to display the preview data within the first portion of the display screen, the displayed preview data replacing a second one of the displayed thumbnails.