Patent ID: 8893187

Claim:
A receiving apparatus capable of receiving digital contents from outside providers of the digital contents comprising: a selector which manually selects one of the digital contents provided in accordance with a schedule predetermined by the outside provider; a receiver which receives the selected digital content which is currently provided by the outside provider at the time of selection by the selector; a display which displays the digital content received by the receiver; a digital storage which stores digital contents in case the digital contents cannot be provided by the outside provider; a signal generator which designates the same digital content as the selected one for later viewing without storing the digital contents in the digital storage while the digital content is provided by the outside provider; first memory which keeps designating information necessary for the signal generator to designate the same digital content for viewing the designated digital content without storing the digital content in the digital storage while the digital content is provided by the outside provider; a keeper including a receiver which automatically obtains, in advance from the outside provider, time limit information relating to a time limit for the outside provider to provide the designated content and a second memory which keeps the time limit information in relation to the designating information kept in the first memory, wherein the time limit is inextensible; and a controller which automatically receives the designated digital content in response to the expiration of the time limit information kept by the second memory of the keeper and have the digital storage store the received digital content so as to view the digital content even if the designated digital content cannot be provided by the outside provider.