1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a program recording system suitable for instructing from remote places such as a place away from home a recording and reproducing apparatus at home to record desired programs, using, for example, a communication terminal such as a mobile phone unit provided with a function of receiving a program of television broadcast (hereinafter, also called television) and the like, and relates to a communication terminal and a recording and reproducing apparatus which are used in the system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a communication terminal such as a mobile phone unit integrally provided with a portable television broadcast receiver (hereinafter called a television receiver) capable of receiving ground-based analogue television broadcast has been in practical use, and with the start of mobile broadcast and ground-based digital television broadcast, the life style in which television programs can be viewed and listened to anywhere and anytime has further become popular as a general trend.
On the other hand, a television program recording apparatus has been proposed, in which recording reservation of one or more programs can automatically be carried out by a user being at a remote place using a mobile phone unit to transmit one or more program discriminating data to a recording apparatus at home, when a television program to be recorded is known in advance (refer to Patent document 1, for example). According to this television program recording apparatus, the recording reservation of television programs can be performed from the remote place, which is very convenient.    Patent document 1: Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2001-285768
However, the technology described in the patent document 1 is the one which performs recording reservation of a program that is decided to record in advance, so that the technology can not cope with the case where a user desires to record the program being viewed at present using the above mobile phone unit provided with a function of receiving television broadcast. Further, the technology may cope with the above case, when connecting a separate video recording apparatus to the above mobile phone unit capable of receiving television broadcast, when preparing a memory device of large capacity, or when carrying a recording apparatus and a memory device together; however, a recording apparatus must be connected every time and a recording apparatus and a memory device are required to be always carried with a user, which is not user-friendly and increases the cost.
Therefore, a user who desires, after getting home, to again view the program that was viewed using a mobile phone unit with a television receiving function has not been satisfied with simple and inexpensive means. Further, there is nothing to meet the request of a user having viewed a program only halfway, who desires to view the program from the beginning or to view the remainder thereof at home.