Abstract: A message transmission method includes storing message data whose message contents change depending on a value of a parameter in a storage unit, acquiring the value of the parameter based on an operation of a called party when a second terminal device receives a call from a first terminal device, determining the contents of the message based on the acquired parameter value and the message data, and transmitting the message whose contents are determined to the first terminal device.

Abstract: A message transmission method includes storing message data whose message contents change depending on a value of a parameter in a storage unit, acquiring the value of the parameter based on an operation of a called party when a second terminal device receives a call from a first terminal device, determining the contents of the message based on the acquired parameter value and the message data, and transmitting the message whose contents are determined to the first terminal device.

Abstract: A multicast control apparatus includes: a delivery instructing unit, responsive to a first one of received viewing requests, to instruct delivery to a first external apparatus of the content data; a delivery determining unit to determine whether a corresponding number of deliveries of the content data exceeds a delivery limit; calculating units to calculate (1) a time necessary to create a cache of a copy of the content data and (2) a remaining time before viewing of the content data delivered from the first external apparatus is finished; a control unit to set a second and subsequent ones of the received viewing requests to a wait state if the delivery limit is exceeded by the first received viewing request, and to instruct creation of the cache to a second external apparatus if the necessary time is shorter than the remaining time.

Abstract: A remote game system has a game machine, which has a manual operation unit receiving a manual operation instruction, and a remote controller. The remote controller communicates with the game machine through a communication network, and controls operation of the game machine through the communication network. The game machine has an exclusion unit, and when one of a remote operation instruction for playing a game from the remote controller and a manual operation instruction for directly playing the game from the manual operation unit has been received, inhibits one of the remote operation instruction or the manual operation instruction.