Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A program preselecting apparatus is provided. An electronic program guide storing unit stores an electronic program guide made up of a plurality of sets of program information of a plurality of programs, each of the plurality of sets of program information including a time slot, channel number, and content information of a respective program. A preselection criteria storing unit stores a plurality of preselection criteria used for specifying programs to be preselected, each of the plurality of preselection criteria including at least one criterion item which specifies at least the content information. A searching unit searches, according to each of the plurality of preselection criteria, the electronic program guide for a program corresponding to each set of program information that satisfies the criterion items of the preselection criterion. An overlap judging unit judges whether there are programs whose time slots overlap among programs found as a result of the search by the searching unit. A choosing unit chooses, when there are the programs whose time slots overlap, one of the programs with the overlapping time slots. A preselecting unit preselects the chosen program by storing a time slot and channel number of the chosen program.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim