Apparatus and method for moving data among memories of networked devices

An information processing method for use in an information processing apparatus, comprising:

• a discrimination step for discriminating whether an instruction is for reservation of recording of a program;
• a calculating step for calculating a data amount of said program reserved for recording based on a recording time and a recording picture quality when said discrimination step discriminates that said instruction is for reservation of recording;
• a searching step of searching, in response to said data amount calculated in said calculating step, for a recordable area of a recording medium provided in another apparatus connected to a network to which the information processing apparatus is connected;
• a securing step of securing a recording area for recording said data in said recordable area found by the searching step;
• and
• a recording step of recording said data on the recording area secured by the securing step.

A program storage medium on which a computer-readable program is stored, the computer-readable program including:

• a discrimination step for discriminating whether an instruction is for reservation of recording of a program;
• a calculating step for calculating a data amount of said program reserved for recording based on a recording time and a recording picture quality when said discrimination step discriminates that said instruction is for reservation of recording;
• a searching step of searching, in response to said data amount calculated in said calculating step, for a recordable area of a recording medium provided in another apparatus connected to a network to which an information processing apparatus having loaded therein the program storage medium is connected;
• a securing step of securing a recording area for recording step data in said recordable area found by the searching step;
• and
• a recording step of recording said data on the recording area secured by the securing step.

An information processing apparatus, comprising:

• recording means for recording data;
• discrimination means for discriminating whether an amount of data recorded on said recording means is greater than a predetermined amount;
• searching means for searching, when it is discriminated by said discrimination means that the amount of recorded data is greater than the predetermined amount, for a recordable area of a recording medium provided in each of a plurality of apparatuses connected to a network to which said information processing apparatus is connected;
• calculating means for calculating a data distribution to move to the apparatuses based on said recordable area searched by said searching means;
• and
• moving means for moving the data recorded on said recording means to the recordable area found by said searching means based on the data distribution calculated by said calculating means.

An information processing method for use in an information processing apparatus, comprising:

• a recording control step of controlling recording of data;
• a discrimination step of discriminating whether an amount of data recorded by the recording control step is greater than a predetermined amount;
• a searching step of searching, when it is discriminated by the discrimination step that the amount of recorded data is greater than the predetermined amount, for a recordable area of a recording medium provided in each of a plurality of apparatuses connected to a network to which the information processing apparatus is connected;
• a calculating step for calculating a data distribution move to the apparatuses based on said recordable area searched by said searching step;
• and
• a moving step of moving the data recorded by the recording step to the recordable area searched out by the searching step based on the data distribution calculated by the calculating step.

A program storage medium on which a computer-readable program is stored, the computer-readable program including:

• a recording control step of controlling recording of data;
• a discrimination step of discriminating whether or not an amount of data recorded by the recording control step is greater than a predetermined amount;
• a searching step of searching, when it is discriminated by the discrimination step the amount of recorded data is greater than the predetermined amount, for a recordable area of a recording medium provided in each of a plurality of apparatuses connected to a network to which an information processing apparatus having loaded therein the program storage medium is connected;
• a calculating step for calculating a data distribution to move the apparatuses bases on said recordable area searched by said searching step;
• and
• a moving step of moving the data recorded by the recording step to the recordable area searched out by the searching step based on the data distribution calculated by the calculating step.

An information processing apparatus, comprising:

• first searching means for searching, when an instruction to record data is received, for a first recording area of a first recording medium provided in other apparatuses connected to a network to which said information processing apparatus is connected;
• first recording means for recording the data into the first recording area searched by the first searching means;
• discriminating means for discriminating when a remaining capacity of the first recording area becomes smaller than a predetermined level;
• second searching means for searching for a second recordable area of a second recording medium provided in the other apparatuses when the discriminating means discriminates that the remaining capacity of the first recording area becomes smaller than the predetermined level;
• second recording means for recording the data into the second recording area searched by the second searching means.

An information processing method for use in an information processing apparatus, comprising:

• a first searching step for searching, when an instruction to record data is received, for a first recording area of a first recording medium provided in other apparatuses connected to a network to which said information processing apparatus is connected;
• a first recording step for recording the data into the first recording area searched out by the first searching step;
• a discriminating step for discriminating when a remaining capacity of the first recording area becomes smaller than a predetermined level;
• a second searching step for searching for a second recordable area of a second recording medium provided in the other apparatuses when the discriminating step discriminates that the remaining capacity of the first recording area becomes smaller than the predetermined level;
• a second recording step for recording the data into the second recording area searched by the second searching means.

A program storage medium on which a computer-readable program is stored, the computer-readable program including:

• a first searching step for searching, when an instruction to record data is received, for a first recording area of a first recording medium provided in other apparatuses connected to a network to which said information processing apparatus is connected;
• a first recording step for recording the data into the first recording area searched out by the first searching step;
• a discriminating step for discriminating when a remaining capacity of the first recording area becomes smaller than a predetermined level;
• a second searching step for searching for a second recordable area of a second recording medium provided in the other apparatuses when the discriminating step discriminates that the remaining capacity of the first recording area becomes smaller than the predetermined level;
• a second recording step for recording the data into the second recording area searched by the second searching means.

An information processing apparatus, comprising:

• first discriminating means for discriminating whether an instruction is an instruction for reservation of recording of a program;
• first calculating means for calculating a data amount of the program reserved for recording based on a recording time and a recording picture quality when said first discrimination means discriminates that the instruction is for reservation of recording;
• first searching means for searching for a recording medium provided in a plurality of other apparatuses connected to a network to which the information processing apparatus is connected based on the data amount calculated by the first calculating means;
• second discrimination means for discriminating whether the data amount recorded on the recording medium searched by the first searching means is greater than a predetermined amount;
• second searching means for searching for a recordable area of a recording medium provided in the plurality of other apparatuses connected to the network;
• second calculating means for calculating a data distribution to be moved to the other apparatuses based on the recordable area searched out by the second searching means;
• moving means for moving data to the recordable area based on the data distribution calculated by said second calculating means;
• securing means for securing a recording area for recording the data in the recordable area of the recording medium searched by the first searching means;
• and
• recording means for recording the data into the recording area secured by the securing means.

An information processing method for use in an information processing apparatus, comprising:

• a first discriminating step for discriminating whether an instruction is an instruction for reservation of recording of a program;
• a first calculating step for calculating a data amount of the program reserved for recording based on a recording time and a recording picture quality when said first discrimination step discrimiates that the instruction is for reservation of recording;
• a first searching step for searching for a recording medium provided in a plurality of other apparatuses connected to a network to which the information processing apparatus is connected based on the data amount calculated by the first calculating step;
• a second discrimination step for discriminating the data amount recorded on the recording medium searched by the first searching step is greater than a predetermined amount;
• a second searching step for searching for a recordable area of a recording medium provided in the plurality of other apparatuses connected to the network;
• a second calculating step for calculating a data distribution to be moved to the other apparatuses based on the recordable area searched out by the second searching step;
• a moving step for moving data to the recordable area based on the data distribution calculated by said second calculating step;
• a securing step for securing a recording area for recording the data in the recordable area of the recording medium searched by the first searching step;
• and
• a recording step for recording the data into the recording area secured by the securing step.

A program storage medium on which a computer-readable program is stored, the computer-readable program including:

• a first discriminating step for discriminating whether an instruction is an instruction for reservation of recording of a program;
• a first calculating step for calculating a data amount of the program reserved for recording based on a recording time and a recording picture quality when said first discrimination step discrimiates that the instruction is for reservation of recording;
• a first searching step for searching for a recording medium provided in a plurality of other apparatuses connected to a network to which the information processing apparatus is connected based on the data amount calculated by the first calculating step;
• a second discrimination step for discriminating the data amount recorded on the recording medium searched by the first searching step is greater than a predetermined amount;
• a second searching step for searching for a recordable area of a recording medium provided in the plurality of other apparatuses connected to the network;
• a second calculating step for calculating a data distribution to be moved to the other apparatuses based on the recordable area searched out by the second searching step;
• a moving step for moving data to the recordable area based on the data distribution calculated by said second calculating step;
• a securing step for securing a recording area for recording the data in the recordable area of the recording medium searched by the first searching step;
• and
• a recording step for recording the data into the recording area secured by the securing step.