Patent ID: 7690014

Claim:
An information processing apparatus capable of processing contents available on a network and processing television broadcast waves, said information processing apparatus comprising: selecting and acquiring means for selecting and acquiring operation button information for displaying a first operation button to make a direct access to a specific one of said contents from a list of pieces of operation button information provided by an information providing apparatus connected to said information processing apparatus by said network; and display processing means for displaying said first operation button on the basis of said operation button information acquired by said acquisition means and displaying a second operation button to display a predetermined television program conveyed by any one of said television broadcast waves, wherein, upon selecting and acquiring operation button information, a selected first operation button is displayed with a picture of an associated content, wherein the selecting and acquiring means allows a user to acquire different sets of operation button information each time the user acquires operation button information, wherein the information providing apparatus requires a registration of a user of the information processing apparatus before the information processing apparatus acquires the operation button information, and the information providing apparatus stores an access record of the user, wherein upon an accessing of a content, the information processing apparatus sends an address of the first operation button to the information providing apparatus that acquires the content from another information providing apparatus according to the address and transmits the acquired content to the information processing apparatus, wherein the information providing apparatus provides to the user a streaming content button connecting to a list of favorite streaming contents complied by the information providing apparatus based on user information stored in a user information storage unit, and wherein said first and second operation buttons are displayed on the same screen.