Patent ID: 8443015

Claim:
An information processing apparatus, comprising: a storage unit that is configured to store content analysis results, which are results of analyzing content data, and store the content data and content identification information corresponding to the content data; one or more processors configured as: a content analysis result acquisition unit that acquires and transmits the content identification information stored in the storage unit to another apparatus, and, when the other apparatus holds content analysis results, which are results of analyzing content data corresponding to the content identification information, is configured to receive the content analysis results from the other apparatus; a content analysis unit configured to obtain content analysis results by analyzing the content data stored in the storage unit; a content analysis result transmission unit configured to transmit content analysis results obtained by the content analysis unit to the other apparatus; and a control unit that causes the content analysis result acquisition unit to perform processing to acquire and transmit the content identification information stored in the storage unit to the other apparatus, determines whether the content analysis result acquisition unit has received the content analysis results from the other apparatus, and, when it is determined that the content analysis result acquisition unit has received the content analysis results from the other apparatus, causes the storage unit to store the content analysis results in association with the content data stored in the storage unit, and, when it is determined that the content analysis result acquisition unit has not received the content analysis results from the other apparatus, causes the content analysis unit to perform processing to obtain content analysis results by analyzing the content data stored in the storage unit to cause the storage unit to store the content analysis results obtained by the content analysis unit in association with the content data stored in the storage unit, and, also causes the content analysis result transmission unit to perform processing to transmit the content analysis results to the other apparatus; and, wherein, analyzing the content data stored in the storage unit includes generating one or more content features extracted from the analysis of the content data and storing the one or more content features as part of the content analysis results, and further includes storing, as another part of the content analysis results, an identifier uniquely identifying the information processing apparatus that generated the one or more content features.