Information processing apparatus and information processing method

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a recording information acquisition unit configured to acquire recording information of a plurality of recorded contents having programs recorded therein and stored in the information processing apparatus or in any of a plurality of recording apparatus connected to the information processing apparatus through a network;

a content classification unit configured to classify the recorded contents into groups based on the recording information acquired by the recording information acquisition unit;

a group name determination unit configured to determine, for each of the groups of the recorded contents classified by the content classification unit, a title of the group;

a list displaying unit configured to display the group names determined by the group name determination unit in a list on a user interface without distinguishing the apparatus in which the recorded contents are stored,

wherein the content classification unit analyzes the program names of a plurality of programs included in the recording information acquired by the recording information acquisition unit to specify programs whose program names include phrases related to each other and classifies, for each of the recorded contents in which the specified program is recorded, the recorded contents into a group without distinguishing the apparatus in which the recorded contents are stored; and

a phrase determination database configured to store character strings to be excluded from a program name upon the determination of the phrases and separates to be used as punctuations between plurality of phrases existing in the program name;

the content classification unit excluding character strings to be excluded which are stored in the phrase determination database from the program names of the programs included in the recording information acquired by the recording information acquisition unit to produce character strings punctuated by the separates as phrases.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the phrase determination database further includes a comparison reference character number to be used as a reference for the determination regarding whether or not phrases coincide with each other, and

the content classification unit carries out forward match comparison of the produced phrases and classifies those recorded contents in which programs including phrases whose numbers of characters equal to or greater than the comparison reference character number match each other are recorded into the same group.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a selection unit configured to accept selection of any of the group names displayed by the list display unit;

the list displaying unit further displaying the program names of the programs recorded in the recorded contents included in the group corresponding to the selected group name in a list on the user interface that displays the group names in a list.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising

a continuous playback unit configured to successively play back the recorded contents included in the group corresponding to the group name accepted by the selection unit.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the list displaying unit displays, together with the program names of the programs recorded in the recorded contents included in the group corresponding to the selected group name, also information of the recording apparatus in which the recorded contents are stored in a list.

6. An information processing method causing a processor to carry out:

classifying a plurality of recorded contents having programs recorded therein and stored locally or in any of a plurality of recording apparatus connected through a network into groups;

producing group names;

displaying the produced group names in a list on a user interface without distinguishing the apparatus in which the recorded contents are stored;

analyzing program names of the programs to specify programs whose program names include phrases related to each other;

classifying, for each of the recorded contents in which the specified program is recorded, the recorded contents into a group;

storing character strings to be excluded from a program name upon the determination of the phrases and separates to be used as punctuations between a plurality of phrases existing in the program name; and

excluding character strings to be excluded which are stored from the program names of the programs included in the acquired recording information to produce character strings punctuated by the separates as phrases.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a program causing a computer to implement:

a function for acquiring recording information of a plurality of recorded contents having programs recorded therein and stored locally or in any of a plurality of recording apparatus connected through a network;

a function for classifying the recorded contents into groups based on the acquired recording information;

a function for applying a group name to each of the groups obtained by the classification;

a function for displaying the group names in a list on a user interface without distinguishing the apparatus in which the recorded contents are stored;

wherein the function for classifying analyzes the program names of a plurality of programs included in the recording information acquired by the function for acquiring to specify programs whose program names include phrases related to each other and classifies, for each of the recorded contents in which the specified program is recorded, the recorded contents into a group without distinguishing the apparatus in which the recorded contents are stored and

a phrase determination database configured to store character strings to be excluded from a program name upon the determination of the phrases and separates to be used as punctuations between a plurality of phrases existing in the program names;

the function for classifying excluding character strings to be excluded which are stored in the phrase determination database from the program names of the programs included in the recording information acquired by the function for acquiring to produce character strings punctuated by the separates as phrases.