JP3446709B2 - Program information acquisition device, program information providing system, and machine-readable recording medium recording program - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recorded content recognition technique capable of easily recognizing what kind of program is recorded on a recording medium such as a video tape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a videotape recording a television program is stored, it is necessary to manage and organize what kind of program is recorded on which videotape by recording the program name on the label. That is necessary so that you can quickly find the program you want to watch later. However, the work such as writing the program name on the label requires a considerable amount of effort for the user, so that a videotape whose contents are unknown may be generated without such work. In order to confirm what kind of program is recorded on such a video tape, it is necessary for the user to play the video tape and check the contents by watching the video, which puts a heavy burden on the user. Will end up.

[0003] In response to such a problem, a VCR capable of recording a recording date and time and a channel on the head portion of a video tape is commercially available, and recently, data of an electronic program guide is used as recording information. By doing so, a digital VCR capable of storing the program title, genre, etc. as recording information has also been commercialized. By using such a device, it is possible to recognize the broadcast date and time, the broadcast channel, the program name, etc. of the program recorded on the video tape only by reproducing the beginning portion of the video tape. Significantly reduced.

[0004]

However, even if a VCR having the above-mentioned function is purchased, if the video tape of which contents are unknown before that is recorded, the user actually reproduces the contents of the video tape. Confirmation must be done, and the burden on the user is not reduced.
In addition, there are cases where the program cannot be specified even by looking at the reproduced video. To solve the problem that the program cannot be specified even when the reproduced video is viewed, JP-A-11-177944
A method of utilizing an electronic program guide including images described in Japanese Patent Publication can be considered. In other words, this is a method in which all the transmitted electronic program guides are stored and the program information included in the electronic program guides is used to estimate which program. However, even if the program can be specified by this method, the burden on the user becomes very large.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to record a program with the conventional recording / playback apparatus as described above.
Another object is to reduce the burden on the user by automatically acquiring the program specifying information for specifying the program based on the recorded data.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a program information acquisition device of the present invention, for each of a plurality of programs, a part or all of image data of the program ,
Program name, genre, broadcast date, broadcast channel of the program
At least one program information database program information is registered including the program specific information including the recording data of a program recorded on the recording medium, an image of a program registered in the program information database of the An image collating unit for collating the data with each other, and a program information output unit for outputting the program specifying information corresponding to the image data collated and matched by the image collating unit.

In this structure, the image collating means collates the recorded data of the program recorded on the video tape or the like with the image data registered in the program information database, and the program information output means collates. The program identification information in the program information including the matched image data is output.

Further, the program information providing system of the present invention is
In order to obtain the program specific information even if the program information database for obtaining the program specific information from the recorded data becomes huge and it is difficult for the individual user to hold it including the image matching means. A program information providing system including a server and a client, wherein the server, for each of a plurality of programs, part or all of image data of the program, a program name of the program,
At least one of genre, broadcast date, and broadcast channel
Image matching for matching the program information database program information is registered including the program specific information including a One, a recording data sent from the client, and the image data of a program registered in the program information database Means, and program information output means for transmitting program identification information corresponding to the image data that has been matched by the image matching means to the client, wherein the client is recorded data of a program recorded on a recording medium. Is provided to the server for recording data extraction means.

With this configuration, the server is provided with the program information database and the image collating means, so that the configuration on the user side can be made economical.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a program information acquisition device according to the present invention, which comprises a program information acquisition device 1, a recording / playback device 2, a display device 3, and a recording medium K1. There is. In this embodiment, the recording / playback apparatus 2 is
Use analog format VCR.

The program information acquisition device 1 includes a program information database 11, a program information reading means 12, a recorded data extracting means 13, an image collating means 17, a program information reading control means 18,
And a program information output means 19.

Program information of a plurality of programs is registered in the program information database 11. Each program information includes image data of a part or all of the program and program specifying information for specifying the program. In this embodiment, the program identification information includes the program name, genre, broadcast date and time, and broadcast channel. Also, the image data is of an MPEG format such as MPEG1 or MPEG2,
It is assumed that an I-frame for one screen is registered for each program.

The program information reading means 12 follows the instruction from the program information reading control means 18 and the program information database 1
A function of reading program information from 1, a function of outputting image data in the read program information to the image collating means 17,
It has a function of outputting the program identification information in the read program information to the program information output means 19.

The recording data extracting means 13 encodes the analog recording data output from the recording / reproducing apparatus 2 into MPEG.
It has a function of converting the recorded data into a format and outputting the recorded data of the I frame among the converted recorded data to the image matching unit 17 frame by frame according to the instruction from the image matching unit 17.

The recorded data extraction means 13 having such a function is composed of a conversion means 14, a recorded data storage means 15 such as a hard disk device, and a recorded data output means 16. The converting means 14 has a function of converting the analog-format recording data output from the recording / reproducing apparatus 2 into MPEG-format recording data and storing it in the recording-data recording means 15. The recorded data output means 16 follows the instruction from the image comparison means 17 and the recorded data storage means 15
It has a function of taking out the recording data of the I frame from the frame one by one and outputting it to the image collating means 17.

The image collating means 17 collates the recorded data from the recorded data extracting means 13 with the image data from the program information reading means 17 and outputs the collation result information indicating the collation result to the program information reading control means 18. Have the function to

When the collation result information from the image collating means 17 indicates collation disagreement, the program information reading control means 18 instructs the program information reading means 12 to read the program information of the next program, and the collation coincidence is obtained. In the case of "," it has a function of instructing the program information output means 19 to output the program specifying information.

The program information output means 19, when the program information read control means 18 is instructed to output the program specific information,
It has a function of outputting the latest program specifying information added from the program information reading means 12 to the display device 3.

The recording medium K1 is a disk, a semiconductor memory, or any other recording medium, and stores a program for causing the computer to function as the program information acquisition device 1. This program is read by a computer, and by controlling the operation of the computer, the program information reading means 12, the converting means 14,
The recording data output means 16, the image matching means 17, the program information reading control means 18, and the program information output means 19 are realized.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below.

When the user wants to confirm what kind of program is recorded on a video tape of unknown content, the user sets the video tape in the recording / reproducing apparatus 2 and causes the reproducing operation to be performed. Thereby, the recording / reproducing apparatus 2 outputs the analog-format recording data recorded on the video tape.

The conversion means 14 in the program information acquisition device 1 is
MP the analog recording data from the recording / playback device 2.
Recording data storage means 1 by converting to EG format recording data
Store in 5. The conversion means 14 notifies the recorded data output means 16 of the start of processing when the recording data is stored.

Upon receiving this notification, the recording data output means 16 fetches the recording data of the first I frame from the recording data storage means 15 and outputs it to the image collating means 17, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. (A1).

When the first recorded data is supplied from the recorded data output means 16, the image collating means 17 requests the program information read control means 18 for the image data as shown in the flow chart of FIG. , And waits for the image data to be sent from the program information acquisition means 12 (B1).

When the image data is requested from the image reference unit 17, the program information fetch control unit 18 sends the first program (first program) to the program information reading unit 12 as shown in the flow chart of FIG. ) Is instructed to read the program information (YES in C1, C2). As a result, the program information reading means 12 fetches the program information of the first program from the program information database 11, and the image data and the program specifying information included therein are sent to the image collating means 17 and the program information outputting means 19, respectively. Output.

The image collating means 17 collates and collates the recorded data of the first I frame received from the recorded data extracting means 13 with the image data of the first program received from the program information reading means 12, and matches them. It is determined whether or not to do (FIG. 3, B2). In the comparison and collation, physical characteristics of an image corresponding to a still image, for example, a two-dimensional distribution of histograms of chromaticity, saturation, brightness, etc., RGB values for each pixel, etc. are compared,
If the degree of matching of each parameter is more than the predetermined standard,
It is determined that they match. When it is determined that they do not match (NO in B3), the image matching unit 17 sends the matching result information indicating the mismatch to the program information reading control unit 18 (B6).

As a result, the program information reading control means 18
Instructs the program information reading means 12 to read the program information of the second program (NO in FIG. 4, C3,
C4), the program information reading means 12 reads the program information of the second program from the program information database 11, and the image data and the program specifying information contained therein are sent to the image collating means 17 and the program information outputting means 19, respectively. Output to. The program information reading means 12 determines that the program information of the instructed program does not exist, that is, the program information database 1
If the program information of the last program stored in 1 is already output, the image collating means 17 is notified of that fact.

The image collating means 17 is the program information reading means 1
When the image data of the second program is sent from No. 2 (NO in FIG. 3, B7), the image data of the second program and the first image sent from the recording data extracting means 13 are sent. The recorded data of the I frame of
2). Hereinafter, the image collating means 17 notifies whether the recorded data of the first I-frame and the image data from the program information reading means 12 match (B3 is YES), or the program information reading means 12 notifies the end of the program information. Until it is done (B7 is YES), the above-mentioned processing is repeated.

When the recorded data of the first I-frame and the image data match (B3 is YE
S), the image collating means 17 sends the collation result information indicating the coincidence to the program information reading control means 18, and requests the recorded data extracting means 13 for the recorded data of the second I frame (B4). B5). Further, when the end of the program information is notified from the program information reading means 12 (B7 is YE
S) is the second I for the recorded data extracting means 13.
Request the frame recording data (B5).

When the program information read control means 18 receives the collation result information which means a match, it instructs the program information output means 19 to output the program specific information (Y in FIG. 4, C3).
ES, C5). By receiving this instruction, the program information output means 19 causes the latest program specifying information added from the program information reading means 12 (the image data of which the image data determined to match by the image matching means 17 is the image of the j-th program). If it is data, the program identification information of the j-th program) is displayed on the display device 3.

Further, the recorded data output means 16 in the recorded data extraction means 13 performs image collation means on the recorded data of the second I frame stored in the recorded data storage means 15 in accordance with the request from the image collating means 17. 17 (FIG. 2, A3 is YES, A1). As a result, the image collating means 17 performs the same process as the above-described process with the recorded data of the second I frame as the collation target in B2 of FIG. Hereinafter, the same processing as described above is repeatedly performed until the last recorded data of the I frame. When the recorded data output unit 16 reads up to the last I frame stored in the recorded data storage unit 15 (FIG. 2, A2).
Is YES), the program information output means 19 is notified of the end of processing (A4). As a result, the program information output means 19 displays the end of processing on the display device 3. By the above processing, if the program information corresponding to all the programs recorded on the video tape is registered in the program information database, the program specifying information of all the programs recorded on the video tape is displayed on the display device 3. Is displayed.

Although not described in the above-mentioned embodiment, when the recording data of each frame is recorded on the recording medium reproduced by the recording / reproducing apparatus 2 in a format in which the elapsed time from the start of the program is known. Can also reduce the processing time as follows.

The program information database 11 stores, as the program information of each program, image data at the time when a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of the program (for example, image data for one frame such as only image data at the start of the program. Image data for a plurality of frames such as image data at the start of the program, after 10 minutes, and after 20 minutes), and the program specifying data are registered.

The recorded data extraction means 13 is a point in time of the recorded data recorded on the recording medium when a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of the program (the same standard as the image data).
Only the recorded data in (1) is output to the image matching means 17. In the image collating means 17, the recorded data sent from the recorded data extracting means 13 (for example, when the program starts, 10
(Recorded data for 3 frames after 20 minutes have passed)
And image data of each program sequentially sent from the program information reading means 12 (for example, at the start of the program, after 10 minutes have elapsed, 2
Image data for 3 frames after 0 minutes),
Only when they all match, the matching result information indicating the matching is output to the program information reading control unit 18, and the matching result information indicating the mismatch is output otherwise.

By doing so, the number of times of the matching process in the image matching means 17 can be reduced, so that the processing time can be shortened. In this case, the program information reading means 12 is the program information reading control means 1
When it is instructed from 8 to read the program information of the first program and the next program, all image data registered corresponding to the instructed program are output to the image collating means 17 and are instructed. The program identification information registered corresponding to the existing program is output to the program information output means 19.

Next, an embodiment of the program information providing system according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the present embodiment, which includes a server 4, a client 5 realized by a personal computer of an individual user, a recording medium K2 included in the server 4, and a recording medium included in the client 5. K3, recording / reproducing device 6 and display device 7
And a network N connecting the server 4 and the client 5. The present embodiment will be briefly described. The user transmits recorded data of a recorded program, the server 4 receives the recorded data, searches the program information, and provides the user with program specific information.

As shown in FIG. 5, the client 5 comprises a recording data extracting means 51 comprising a converting means 52, a recording data storing means 53 and a recording data outputting means 54, and a program information communicating means 55.

The converting means 52 has a function of converting the analog-format recording data output from the recording / reproducing apparatus 6 into the MPEG-format recording data and storing the same in the recording-data recording means 53, and the recording completion output means 54. It has a function to notify.

The recording data output means 54 has a function of taking out all the recording data of the I frame from the recording data storage means 53 and passing it to the program information communication means 55 when the storage completion is notified.

The program information communication means 55 has a function of sending the recorded data of the I frame passed from the recorded data output means 54 to the server 4 as an image file, and the program specifying information sent from the server 4 to the display device 7. It has the function of displaying. To send the recorded data to the server 4 as an image file, for example, it may be sent as an attached file of an electronic mail or sent as a file using a file transfer protocol. When the program specifying information is sent from the server 4, for example, it may be sent as a text or an attached file of an electronic mail, a program specifying information file using a file transfer protocol, or text information using an HTTP protocol.

The recording medium K3 is a disk, a semiconductor memory, or any other recording medium. A computer is used as a conversion means 52, a recorded data output means 54, and a program information communication means 55.
A program for operating as is recorded.
This program is read by a computer,
The conversion means 52, the recorded data output means 54, and the program information communication means 55 are realized on the computer by controlling the operation of the computer.

The server 4 has a program information database 41.
, Program information reading means 42, recording extraction data receiving means 43, recording extraction data storage means 44, image collating means 45, program information reading control means 46, program information output means 47, and program information transmission means. And 48.

The program information database 41 and the program information reading means 42 correspond to the program information database 11 shown in FIG.
It has the same structure as the program information reading means 12.

The recording extraction data receiving means 43 has a function of storing the recording data of the I frame contained in the electronic mail or the image file sent from the client 5 as the recording extraction data in the recording extraction data storage means 44, It has a function of notifying the image collating means 45 that the recording extraction data has been stored.

The image collating means 45 collates the recording data of the I frame stored in the recording extraction data storage means 44 with the image data from the program information reading means 42, and collates the collation result information indicating the collation result with the program information. It is held in the program information output means 47 at the time when the function of outputting to the read control means 46 and the collation processing for all the I frames stored in the recording extraction data storage means 44 are completed. It has a function of instructing to output all the program specifying information.

The program information read control means 46 outputs a program specification information holding instruction to the program information output means 47 in C5 of the flow chart of FIG. 4 only in that the program information read control shown in FIG. It is different from the control means 18.

The program information output means 47 responds to the instruction to hold the program specifying information from the program information read control means 46,
It has a function of holding the latest program specifying information added from the program information reading means 42 and a function of outputting all the held program specifying information in response to an output instruction from the image collating means 45.

The program information transmitting means 48 has a function of transmitting to the client 5 an electronic mail containing the program specifying information output from the program information output means 47 as a text or an attached file.

The recording medium K2 is a disk, a semiconductor memory, or any other recording medium. The computer is a program information reading means 42, a recording / extracted data receiving means 43, an image collating means 45, a program information reading control means 46, and a program information output. Programs for functioning as the means 47 and the program information transmitting means 48 are recorded. This program is read by a computer, and by controlling the operation of the computer, the program information reading means 4 is loaded on the computer.
2, recording extraction data receiving means 43, image matching means 45,
The program information read control means 46, the program information output means 47, and the program information transmission means 48 are realized.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

When the user wants to confirm what kind of program is recorded on a video tape of unknown content, the user sets the video tape in the recording / reproducing device 6 and causes the reproducing operation to be performed. As a result, the recording / reproducing device 6 outputs the analog-format recording data recorded on the video tape.

The conversion means 52 in the client 5 converts the analog recording data from the recording / reproducing apparatus 6 into MPEG.
The data is converted into the recorded data of the format and stored in the recorded data storage means 53. When all the recorded data are stored, the recorded data output means 54 is notified of the completion of storage. As a result, the recorded data output means 54 causes the recorded data storage means 5 to operate.
The recording data of all the I frames stored in No. 3 are taken out and passed to the program information communication means 55. The program information communication unit 55 sends an electronic mail with the recording data from the recording data output unit 54 attached as an image file to the server 4.

Recording extraction data receiving means 43 in the server
When receiving the e-mail from the client 5, stores the content of the image file attached to it (recording data of I frame) in the recording extraction data storage means 44,
When the storage processing is completed, the image collating means 45 is notified of the completion of storage.

As a result, the image collating means 45 reads the recording data of the first I frame from the recording extraction data storage means 44 as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6 (D
1). After that, the program information read control means 46 is requested for image data, and the program information read means 42 waits for the image data of the first program to be sent (D3).

The image collating means 45 compares and collates the recorded data of the first I frame retrieved from the recorded data extracting means 44 with the image data of the first program received from the program information reading means 42, It is determined whether they match (D4). When it is determined that they do not match (NO in D5), the matching result information indicating the mismatch is passed to the program information reading control means 46 (D7).

As a result, the program information reading control means 46,
The program information reading unit 42 performs the same processing as the program information reading control unit 18 and the program information reading unit 12, and the image data included in the program information of the second program registered in the program information database 41, The program specifying information is output to the image collating means 45 and the program information output means 47, respectively.

The image collating means 45 is the program information reading means 1
When the image data of the second program is sent from 2 (D8 is NO), the image data of the second program and
The recorded data of the first I frame is checked (D
4). Hereinafter, the image collating unit 45 notifies whether the recorded data of the first I frame matches the image data from the program information reading unit 42 (YES in D5), or the program information reading unit 42 notifies the end of the program information. Until the processing is completed (YES in D8), the processing described above is repeated.

When the recorded data of the first I-frame and the image data match (D5 is YE
S), the image collating means 45 sends the collation result information indicating the coincidence to the program information reading control means 46 and reads the recorded data of the second I frame from the recorded extracted data storage means 44 (D6, D1). . Further, when the end of the program information is notified from the program information reading means 42 (D8 is YE
S) is the second I from the recording extraction data storage means 44.
The recording data of the frame is read (D1).

When the program information read control means 46 receives the collation result information indicating a match, it instructs the program information output means 47 to hold the program specifying information. By receiving this instruction, the program information output means 47 holds the latest program specifying information added from the program information reading means 42.

Further, the image collating means 45 uses the second I
When the recorded data of the frame is read (D1), it is D
The same processing as the above-described processing is performed for the collation target in 3. Hereinafter, similar processing is performed until the final I frame, and when the processing for the final I frame ends (D
2 is NO), an output instruction is output to the program information output means 47 (D9).

As a result, the program information output means 47 passes all the held program specifying information to the program information transmitting means 48. If there is no held program identification information, the program information output means 47 passes information indicating that fact to the program information transmission means 48. The program information transmitting means 48 creates an electronic mail including the program specifying information passed from the program information outputting means 47 or the information indicating that the held program does not exist as a text or an attached file, and the client 5 receives it. Send to. The program information communication unit 55 in the client 5 displays the received electronic mail on the display device 7. By looking at the program identification information in the body of the displayed email or the program identification information in the attached file, the user can see what kind of program is recorded on the video tape whose content is unknown. Can be recognized.

[0063]

As described above, according to the program information acquisition apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to acquire information about a recorded program by comparing and collating the recorded data with the image data included in the program information. it can. For example, if information about a program recorded by a conventional recording / playback apparatus is not recorded, without the present invention, the user must view the playback video to determine the title, genre, etc. By using, it is possible to automatically obtain information about the program. Further, even when the user does not store the recording date and time, the recording date and time can be acquired from the program data. Further, the present invention can be utilized for checking what kind of programs are recorded on the accumulated video tapes and managing the contents of the tapes as a database, so that the organization and management of the video tapes can be made efficient. it can.

Further, according to the program information providing system of the present invention, the program information database for acquiring the program specifying information from the recorded data becomes huge, and it is difficult for an individual to hold it including the image collating means. Even in this case, it is possible to provide a service for acquiring program information.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a program information acquisition device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing example of a recorded data output means 16.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the image matching unit 17.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the program information reading control means 18.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a program information providing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the image matching unit 45.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Program information acquisition device 11 ... Program information database 12 ... Program information reading means 13 ... Recorded data extracting means 14 ... conversion means 15 ... Recording data storage means 16 ... Recording data output means 17 ... Image matching means 18 ... Program information reading control means 19 ... Program information output means 2 ... Recording / playback device 3 ... Display device K1 ... Recording medium 4 ... server 41 ... Program information database 42 ... Means for reading program information 43 ... Recording extraction data receiving means 44 ... Recording Extraction Data Storage Means 45 ... Image matching means 46 ... Program information reading control means 47 ... Program information output means 48 ... Program information transmitting means 5 ... Client 51 ... Recorded data extracting means 52 ... conversion means 53 ... Recording data storage means 54 ... Recording data output means 55 ... Program information communication means 6 ... Recording / playback device 7 ... Display device K2, K3 ... Recording medium

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. For each of a plurality of programs, a part or all of image data of the program and the program of the program
At least name, genre, broadcast date, broadcast channel
A program information database in which program information is registered including the program specific information including one item, a recording data of a program recorded on the recording medium, and an image data of a program registered in the program information database A program information acquisition device comprising: an image collating unit for collating; and a program information output unit for outputting program specifying information corresponding to image data that has been collated and matched by the image collating unit. 2. A recording data extracting means for outputting the recording data of the program recorded on the recording medium after converting the data format of the recording data into the same data format as the image data, and the image collation. 2. The program information acquisition device according to claim 1, wherein the means has a configuration for collating the recorded data output from the recorded data extracting means with the image data of the program registered in the program information database. . 3. The recording medium is a video tape on which a program is recorded in an analog format, and the recording data extracting means converts the analog recording data recorded on the video tape into digital recording data. 3. The program information acquisition device according to claim 2, wherein the program information acquisition device is configured to output the converted recorded data to the image matching unit. 4. A program information providing system comprising a server and a client, wherein the server, for each of a plurality of programs, has a part or all of image data of the program, a program name and a genre of the program. , Release
Feeding day, it is registered with the program information database program information including a program specific information including at least one of a broadcast channel is registered, and recording data sent from the client, the program information database The client includes: image collating means for collating the image data of the program; and program information output means for transmitting the program specifying information corresponding to the image data collated and matched by the image collating means to the client. A program information providing system, comprising: recorded data extracting means for transmitting recorded data of a program recorded on a medium to the server. 5. The recording data extraction means converts the recording data of the program recorded on the recording medium into the same data format as the image data, and thereafter,
The program information providing system according to claim 4, wherein the program information providing system is configured to transmit to the server. 6. The recording medium is a video tape on which a program is recorded in an analog format, and the recording data extracting means converts the analog recording data recorded on the video tape into a digital recording data. 6. The program information providing system according to claim 5, wherein the program information providing system is configured to be converted into, and the converted recording data is transmitted to the server. 7. For each of a plurality of programs, a part or all of image data of the program and the program of the program
At least name, genre, broadcast date, broadcast channel
A computer provided with a program information database in which program information including one program specific information is recorded, recording data of programs recorded in a recording medium and programs recorded in the program information database. Image collating means for collating with image data, machine-readable recording medium recording a program for functioning as program information output means for outputting program specifying information corresponding to image data collated and matched by the image collating means . 8. A server computer having a program information database in which, for each of a plurality of programs, a part or all of image data of the program and program information including program specifying information for specifying the program are registered. An image collating means for collating the recorded data sent from the client with the image data of the program registered in the program information database, and program specifying information corresponding to the image data collated and matched by the image collating means. A machine-readable program recording a program for causing the client computer to function as program information output means for transmitting to the client, and causing the client computer to function as recording data extracting means for transmitting recorded data of a program recorded on a recording medium to the server. Possible recording medium.