Content list and content delivery apparatus and method

A content list and content delivery method for causing a content delivery apparatus, which delivers contents recorded on an optical disk over a network, to distribute a content list and contents to a content receiver device connected via the network, said method comprising:

• a content list generation/distribution step of being responsive to a content list acquisition request to be sent from said content receiver device and generating and delivering a list of contents existing on an optical disk loaded in an optical disk device and also existing in a record media excluding the optical disk;
• and
• a content distribution step of searching, in response to a content delivery request to be sent from said content receiver device, a corresponding content from within the optical disk loaded in said optical disk drive and the record media excluding the optical disk, and then delivering the content to said content receiver device, wherein
• the content list generation/distribution step includes,
• an optical disk presence/absence check step of checking on said optical disk device to determine whether an optical disk is set therein,
• an optical disk content information acquisition step of acquiring information of contents recorded on the optical disk, and
• a content list generation step of collecting information on contents stored in the content delivery apparatus and making a list thereof, wherein
• the content distribution step includes,
• a demanded content record media check step of investigating a record media of the content demanded from said content receiver device, and
• a content receiver device position check step of checking whether said content receiver device exists in the same building as that of said content delivery apparatus, and wherein said method further comprises:
• acquiring, when it is detected at the optical disk presence/absence check step that the optical disk is set in said optical disk device, information of contents recorded on the optical disk at the optical disk content information acquisition step to add at the content list generation step the optical disk content information to the content list for transmission to said content receiver device;
• thereafter, when it is determined by the demanded content record media check step that the demanded content from said content receiver device is a content recorded on the optical disk, and further, when it is judged by the content receiver device position check step that said content receiver device exists in the same building as that of said content delivery apparatus, sending for distribution the content on the optical disk to the content receiver device;
• and
• when it is judged by the content receiver device position check step that said content receiver device does not exist in the same building as that of said content delivery apparatus, preventing distribution of the content on the optical disk to said content receiver device.