Medium and system for searching commercial messages

An information processing system comprising a first information processing apparatus and a second information processing apparatus, connected to each other via a communication network,

• (1) the first information processing apparatus including:
• a first detector configured to detect a first commercial message contained in a broadcast television program,
• a first feature quantity calculator configured to calculate a feature quantity of the detected first commercial message, the first feature quantity calculator calculating the feature quantity of the detected first commercial message based on an analysis of pixels in images of the detected first commercial message,
• a first storage configured to store incidental information relating to the detected first commercial message and the feature quantity of the detected first commercial message,
• a first searcher configured to search for a commercial message satisfying an identification condition, from among commercial messages detected at the first information processing apparatus, the identification condition including at least a period within which the commercial message has been broadcast, and
• a first communication unit configured (i) to receive a transmission request from the second information processing apparatus, the transmission request requesting transmission of a feature quantity and incidental information of the commercial message satisfying the identification condition, and (ii) to transmit feature quantities and incidental information of all messages satisfying the identification condition obtained as a result of the search to the second information processing apparatus;
• and
• (2) the second information processing apparatus including:
• a second communication unit configured to transmit the transmission request to the first information processing apparatus and to receive the incidental information and the feature quantities transmitted from the first information processing apparatus,
• a second storage configured to store the received incidental information and the received feature quantities,
• a second detector configured to detect a second commercial message contained in a broadcast television program,
• a second feature quantity calculator configured to calculate a feature quantity of the detected second commercial message, the second feature quantity calculator calculating the feature quantity of the detected second commercial message based on an analysis of pixels in images of the detected second commercial message, and
• a second searcher configured to search for incidental information of the detected second commercial message by searching the stored feature quantities on the second storage for a stored feature quantity that matches the feature quantity of the detected second commercial message, wherein the incidental information of the detected second commercial message corresponds to incidental information of a commercial message having the matching feature quantity.