Information processing apparatus and information processing method for recommending application programs

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a communication section configured to acquire application programs from an external apparatus;

a memory that stores at least an application program and information relevant to said application program;

an application execution section, controlled by said external apparatus via said communication section, configured to execute said application program stored in said memory; and

a control section configured to determine other application programs to be recommended during execution of said application program in said application execution section, wherein

said information relevant to said application program stored in said memory includes first relevant information and second relevant information which are used for determining said other application programs to be recommended during execution of said application program in said application execution section, and

said control section

selects first recommended application programs, from said memory, based on said first relevant information, which is related to said application program being executed by said application execution section;

acquires information on second recommended application programs based on said second relevant information, which is related to said application program being executed by said application execution section; and

outputs information on said first recommended application programs and said second recommended application programs as application-program recommending information, which is based on context information of said application program being executed by said application execution section, said context information including at least one of: an indication of a selected-content state of said application program, an indication of an enterable-content state of said application program, and an indication of an outputtable content state of said application program.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said first relevant information includes application selection information on each of a plurality of application programs selected and executed by said application execution section, said plurality of application programs including said application program stored in said memory.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 ,

wherein said application selection information includes an application selection count representing the number of times each of said plurality of application programs selected and executed by said application execution section have been selected by said application execution section.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

application selection information on said plurality of application programs selected and executed by said application execution section is categorized as executed-application category information, which includes application categories representing each type of said plurality of application programs selected and executed by said application execution section, and

said second relevant information includes said executed-application category information.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein said executed-application category information includes application selection counts for each of said application categories, which is the number of times an application category of said application categories corresponds to a categorization of each one of said plurality of application programs selected and executed by said application execution section.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said control section:

displays said information on said first recommended application programs and said information on said second recommended application programs on the same screen;

selects one of said first recommended application programs based on an application specifying input entered for said information on said first recommended application programs and loads said selected first recommended application program from said memory;

selects one of said second recommended application programs based on an application specifying input entered for said information on said second recommended application programs and downloads said selected second recommended application program from said external apparatus via said communication section; and

supplies at least one of said first recommended application program and said second recommended application program to said application execution section for execution.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein said control section displays said information on said first recommended application programs and said information on said second recommended application programs such that a storage location of said first recommended application programs is distinguishable from a storage location of said second recommended application programs.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein said control section displays said information on said first recommended application programs and said information on said second recommended application programs so as to indicate at least one of that all of said first recommended application programs are stored in the same storage location and said second recommended application programs are stored in another storage location common to all of said second recommended application programs.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said control section determines said application-program recommending information based on at least one of an apparatus profile of said information processing apparatus and a user profile of a user that operates said information processing apparatus.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said control section determines said application-program recommending information based on application-type information indicating a type of said application program being executed by said application execution section.

11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the positional information is obtained from a global positioning system (GPS) accessible by said application program being executed.

12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the application execution section switches to execute a different application program based on the context information, an apparatus profile, a user profile, and condition information.

13. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said context information includes positional information utilized by said application program.

14. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said context information includes time information utilized by said application program.

15. An information processing method to be adopted by an information processing apparatus including:

acquiring, by a communication section of the information processing apparatus, application programs from an external apparatus that is external to the information processing apparatus;

storing, by a memory of the information processing apparatus, at least an application program and information relevant to said application program;

executing, by an application execution section of the information processing apparatus, said application program stored in said memory; and

determining, by a control section of the information processing apparatus, other application programs to be recommended during execution of said application program in said application execution section, wherein

said information relevant to said application program includes first relevant information and second relevant information which are used for determining said other application programs to be recommended during execution of said application program in said application execution section, and

said information processing method carried out to drive said control section comprises the steps of:

selecting first recommended application programs, from said memory, based on said first relevant information, which is related to said application program being executed by said application execution section;

acquiring information on second recommended application programs based on said second relevant information, which is related to said application program being executed by said application execution section; and

outputting information on said first recommended application programs and said second recommended application programs as application-program recommending information, which is based on context information of said application program being executed by said application execution section, said context information including at least one of: an indication of a selected-content state of said application program, an indication of an enterable-content state of said application program, and an indication of an outputtable content state of said application program.

16. The information processing method according to claim 15 ,

wherein said first relevant information includes application selection information on each of a plurality of application programs selected and executed by said application execution section, said plurality of application programs including said application program stored in said memory.

17. The information processing method according to claim 16 , wherein said application selection information includes an application selection count representing the number of times each of said plurality of application programs selected and executed by said application execution section have been selected by said application execution section.

18. The information processing method according to claim 15 , wherein

application selection information on said plurality of application programs selected and executed by said application execution section is categorized as executed-application category information, which includes application categories representing each type of said plurality of application programs selected and executed by said application execution section, and

said second relevant information includes said executed-application category information.