Patent ID: 7627880

Claim:
A contents providing system, which includes a providing apparatus and a reproduction apparatus, for providing layered encoding contents from the providing apparatus to the reproduction apparatus over a network, comprising: storage means for storing first preference information representative of a preference of a user, the first preference information indicating a reproduction quality for at least one genre of the contents and at least one type of apparatus of the user, and indicating a separate cost associated with each genre and each type of apparatus listed in the first preference information for controlling a network band of the network, wherein the first preference information includes information of a picture quality, image process, sound quality and CPU processing capacity associated with each of the genres and the types of apparatuses listed in the first preference information; selection means for selecting contents based on the first preference information stored in said storage means, said contents including a plurality of sub-contents; reproduction means for reproducing the contents selected by said selection means by reproducing respective ones of the plurality of sub-contents; detection means for detecting second preference information representative of a preference of the user for one of the plurality of sub-contents reproduced by said reproduction means, said second preference information being based on a reaction of the user which is detected during reproduction of the one of the plurality of sub-contents; and adjustment means for adjusting the contents during the reproducing of the contents by the reproduction means, by adjusting a level of reproduction quality to be used when reproducing the one of the plurality of sub-contents for the user based on the first preference information and adjusting the level of reproduction quality to be used when reproducing another one of the plurality of sub-contents based on the second preference information detected for the one of the plurality of sub-contents.