It is one object of the present invention to employ
multiple methods for identifying contents borders based on a digital
watermark detected in contents, so as to provide both high reliability and precision for the identification of contents border locations.A contents border detection apparatus comprises: a digital
watermark detector 11, for detecting a digital
watermark embedded in contents for which a
time element is provided; and a border
detector 12, for detecting border locations for the contents corresponding to the state of the digital watermark detected by the digital watermark
detector 11, wherein the border detector 12 includes first border specification means, for specifying the border locations for the contents based on information, written in the digital watermark, that is detected by the digital watermark detector 11, and second border specification means, for specifying the border locations for the contents based on bit patterns embedded as the digital watermark, wherein the border locations for the contents are detected by using the process results obtained both by the first and the second border specification means.