Abstract:
Method and computer program product stored on a tangible medium that store instructions including providing a procedure file, storing and managing a plurality of tickets, each ticket including a first identifier given to a commodity, and searching, based on the first identifier and a ticket request submitted by a user, a ticket of the plurality of tickets corresponding to the first identifier. The method and computer program product then presents information about the commodity included in the ticket, information about a service that provides the commodity, and service provision content information acquired during the search.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a service provision system for providing services on the basis of requests from service users (users) and a service provision method executed in the service provision system, and to an information provision control system and an information provision control method for providing service information to users through lateral linkage across two or more sorts of business fields. 
   The term “community” in the present specification generally refers to a group consisting of two or more users grouped based on predetermined criteria. Examples of the “community” can be a group consisting of users sharing a certain preference (or having a commonality about preference), a group consisting of users having purchased a certain commodity during a predetermined period of time, a group consisting of users having shopped at a certain shopping mall during a predetermined period of time, and so on, and include both groups voluntarily established by users and groups set based on statistical information about purchase of merchandise or the like by information providers or the like except for users. 
   2. Related Background Art 
   As means for users to receive services of some interest, it is common practice to provide a service together with services related thereto (for example, to provide a means for application to a tour and a means for application to a travel insurance simultaneously, to provide wine from France at a French restaurant, and so on). In the case of recent commercial transactions through the Internet, a Web page about one service is prepared while embedding therein hyperlinks to Web pages about services related thereto in advance, in order to establish lateral linkage across two or more sorts of business fields. For example, a Web page for application to a tour is provided with an embedded hyperlink to a Web page of an insurance company for application to travel insurance. 
   In the conventional method of providing services to users through lateral linkage across two or more sorts of business fields, however, the service providers needed to prepare relations among services to be linked, in the form of links of URLs in advance or needed to affiliate with a major service provider for comprehensively providing services. Even if the service providers prepared these links or affiliated with another service provider, types and ranges of providable services had to be fixed to some extent, which posed the problem that the users were given limited choices for services to be provided. 
   On the other hand, there existed the conventional concept of communities (groups consisting of two or more users grouped based on predetermined criteria), and some of such communities were operated so as to interconnect servers scattered over a network to make linkage of transmission of information among such servers. In order to maintain interconnections of the system, the users in such communities had to prepare relations among two or more systems to be linked, in the form of links of URLs in advance or had to affiliate with a major information provider for comprehensively providing information. 
   However, there was the problem that extremely complicated works were needed for the users and information providers in communities to construct the link information or the affiliation relation for maintaining the interconnections of the system. 
   In view of the problems in the prior art as described above, an object of the present invention is to implement timely service provision or information provision better suited for users, while reducing the efforts to construct the link information or affiliation relation to be prepared for linkage with many service providers (or information providers), for both the service providers (or information providers) and the users. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In order to achieve the above object, a service provision system according to the present invention is a service provision system comprising: a procedure file storing access method information for connection to a service; ticket storage-management means for storing and managing a ticket containing an identifier given to a commodity, an access address of a service provider for providing a service related to the commodity, storage location information of the procedure file, and both or one of information about the commodity and information about the service related to the commodity; search control means for, based on an identifier and a ticket request submitted by a user, letting the ticket storage-management means execute a search for a ticket corresponding to the identifier; access method information retrieving means for retrieving storage location information of a procedure file included in the ticket obtained by the search and retrieving access method information from the procedure file on the basis of the storage location information; service information acquiring means for retrieving an access address of a service provider included in the ticket obtained by the search, demanding service provision content information from the service provider on the basis of the access address of the service provider, and acquiring the service provision content information in accordance with an access method stored in the procedure file about the service; and presentation control means for presenting to the user the information about the commodity included in the ticket, the information about the service, the access method information retrieved, and the service provision content information acquired, wherein the ticket is allowed to contain information for deriving an identifier different from the aforementioned identifier, as the information about the commodity or as the information about the service, and wherein the search control means lets the ticket storage-management means further execute derivation of a different identifier based on information acquired from the ticket obtained by the search, and a search for a ticket corresponding to the different identifier. 
   In the above service provision system, there exists a procedure file storing access method information for connection to a service, and the ticket storage-management means stores and manages a ticket containing an identifier given to a commodity, an access address of a service provider for providing a service related to the commodity, storage location information of a procedure file, and both or one of information about the commodity and information about the service related to the commodity. When a user requests a ticket by an identifier and a ticket request, the search control means lets the ticket storage-management means execute a search for the ticket corresponding to the identifier, based on the identifier and the ticket request. Here the ticket storage-management means performs the search for the ticket corresponding to the identifier, whereby the ticket is obtained as a result of the search. 
   Then the access method information retrieving means retrieves the storage location information of the procedure file included in the ticket obtained by the search and retrieves the access method information from the procedure file on the basis of the storage location information. The service information acquiring means retrieves the access address of the service provider included in the ticket obtained by the search, demands the service provision content information from the service provider on the basis of the access address of the service provider, and acquires the service provision content information in accordance with the access method stored in the procedure file about the service. 
   Furthermore, the presentation control means presents to the user the information about the commodity included in the ticket, the information about the service, the access method information retrieved, and the service provision content information acquired. This permits the user to obtain the information about the commodity included in the ticket corresponding to the desired identifier, the information about the service, the access method information retrieved based on the storage location information of the procedure file included in the ticket, and the service provision content information acquired based on the access address of the service provider included in the ticket. 
   In the service provision system of this configuration, according to the present invention, the above ticket is allowed to contain information for deriving an identifier different from the foregoing identifier, as the information about the commodity or as the information about the service, and the search control means lets the ticket storage-management means further execute derivation of a different identifier based on information acquired from the ticket obtained by the search (i.e., the ticket corresponding to the identifier submitted by the user) and a search for a ticket corresponding to the different identifier. The “information for deriving a different identifier” may include the different identifier itself in some cases. 
   Here the ticket storage-management means performs the search for the ticket corresponding to the different identifier in a similar fashion to the above, whereby a new ticket is obtained as a result of the search. Then the access method information retrieving means retrieves the storage location information of the procedure file included in the new ticket obtained by the search and retrieves the access method information from the procedure file on the basis of the storage location information. The service information acquiring means retrieves an access address of a service provider included in the new ticket obtained by the search, demands the service provision content information from the service provider on the basis of the access address of the service provider, and acquires the service provision content information in accordance with an access method stored in the procedure file about the service. Furthermore, the presentation control means presents to the user information about a commodity included in the new ticket, information about a service, the access method information retrieved, and the service provision content information acquired. 
   The new ticket correlated with the information for deriving the different identifier, which is included in the ticket, is obtained in this way, and information about a new commodity (e.g., a commodity linked to the original commodity), information about a new service (e.g., a service linked to the original service), access method information thereof, and service provision content information thereof can be obtained from the information of the new ticket in much the same manner as above. 
   By configuring one ticket to contain the information for deriving a different identifier in this way, it becomes feasible to implement a search for a ticket with the use of the different identifier and the presentation of the information about a new commodity included in the new ticket obtained by the search, the information about a new service, the access method information thereof, and the service provision content information thereof to the user. This can reduce the efforts needed before to construct the link information or the affiliation relation to be prepared for linkage among two or more service providers. The present invention also expands the range of selectable service providers for the users and thus reduces the efforts as needed before to find out a service provider best suited for the each by use of a search engine on the Internet by himself or herself, thus enhancing user&#39;s convenience. 
   The “identifier” in the present invention embraces, for example, an identifier for identifying a commodity, an identifier about a location such as a location of sale of a commodity, a location of provision of a service, or the like, an identifier of an image file such as a moving picture, a still picture, or the like to advertise or introduce the contents of a commodity or a service, and so on. 
   In a preferred configuration, the service provision system according to the present invention further comprises request accepting means for accepting an identifier and a ticket request submitted by a user, with identification information of the user; and user information memory means for memorizing user information containing user&#39;s preference information and service use information, in correlation with identification information of a user, wherein the presentation control means retrieves from the user information memory means, user information correlated with identification information of a user acquired in acceptance by the request accepting means, selects a service provider on the basis of the user information and the service provision content information, and presents to the user, service provision content information and access method information about the service provider thus selected. The user information embraces, for example, such information as a name and an address of a user, interests and preference, a list of possessions, types of permitted transactions, an access history to various service providers, a use history thereof, and so on. 
   In this case, the service provision system comprises the user information memory means which memorizes the user information containing the user&#39;s preference information and the service use information in correlation with the identification information of the user, and the request accepting means accepts an identifier and a ticket request submitted by a user, along with the identification information of the user. The presentation control means retrieves the user information correlated with the identification information of the user obtained in acceptance by the request accepting means, from the user information memory means, selects a service provider on the basis of the user information and the service provision content information, and presents the service provision content information and the access method information about the service provider thus selected, to the user. 
   For this reason, the service provider is selected based on the user information containing the user&#39;s preference information and the service use information and on the service provision content information, whereby it is feasible to more surely select the service provider of the service assumed to draw interest or attention of the user, and to present the service provision content information and the access method information about the selected service provider to the user. This permits the service providers to present the service provision contents more certainly to users with high probability of becoming customers of their commodities or users of their services, and also permits the users to gain information about commodities and services of their own interest or attention more surely; it thus implements provision of highly useful services. 
   In another preferred configuration of the service provision system according to the present invention, the presentation control means performs a search with a search engine, using a keyword included in the information about the commodity or in the information about the service, as a search key, and presents to the user, link information obtained by the search. 
   In this case, the search is carried out with the search engine, using the keyword included in the information about the commodity or in the information about the service in the ticket, as a search key, whereby the user can gain the link information obtained by the search. Therefore, the user does not have to make an effort of carrying out the search with the search engine using the keyword as a search key by himself or herself, which can reduce the load on the user. 
   Incidentally, the invention directed to the above service provision system can also be taken from an aspect of the invention directed to a service provision method as described below. Since the aspects of the invention directed to these are based on the same technical concept, they present similar operation and effect. 
   Namely, a service provision method according to the present invention is a service provision method executed in a service provision system comprising: a procedure file storing access method information for connection to a service; and ticket storage-management means for storing and managing a ticket containing an identifier given to a commodity, an access address of a service provider for providing a service related to the commodity, storage location information of the procedure file, and both or one of information about the commodity and information about the service related to the commodity, the service provision method comprising: a search control step of, based on an identifier and a ticket request submitted by a user, letting the ticket storage-management means execute a search for a ticket corresponding to the identifier; an access method information retrieving step of retrieving storage location information of a procedure file included in the ticket obtained by the search and retrieving access method information from the procedure file on the basis of the storage location information; a service information acquiring step of retrieving an access address of a service provider included in the ticket obtained by the search, demanding service provision content information from the service provider on the basis of the access address of the service provider, and acquiring the service provision content information in accordance with an access method stored in the procedure file about the service; and a presentation control step of presenting to the user the information about the commodity included in the ticket, the information about the service, the access method information retrieved, and the service provision content information acquired, wherein the ticket is allowed to contain information for deriving an identifier different from the aforementioned identifier, as the information about the commodity or as the information about the service related to the commodity, and wherein the search control step is to let the ticket storage-management means further execute derivation of a different identifier based on information acquired from the ticket obtained by the search, and a search for a ticket corresponding to the different identifier. It is also noted that the “information for deriving a different identifier” may include the different identifier itself in some cases. 
   In a preferred form of the service provision method according to the present invention, the service provision system further comprises: request accepting means for accepting an identifier and a ticket request submitted by a user, with identification information of the user; and user information memory means for memorizing user information containing user&#39;s preference information and service use information, in correlation with identification information of a user, and the presentation control step is to retrieve from the user information memory means, user information correlated with identification information of a user acquired in acceptance by the request accepting means, select a service provider on the basis of the user information and the service provision content information, and present to the user, service provision content information and access method information about the service provider thus selected. 
   In a further preferred form of the service provision method according to the present invention, the presentation control step is to perform a search with a search engine, using a keyword included in the information about the commodity or in the information about the service, as a search key, and present to the user, link information obtained by the search. 
   In order to achieve the above object, an information provision control system according to the present invention is an information provision control system comprising: a procedure file storing access method information for connection to a service; ticket storage-management means for storing and managing a ticket containing an identifier given to a commodity, an access address of a service provider for providing a service related to the commodity, storage location information of the procedure file, and both or one of information about the commodity and information about the service related to the commodity; request accepting means for accepting an identifier and a ticket request submitted by a user, with identification information of the user; user information memory means for memorizing user information containing user&#39;s preference information and service use information, in correlation with identification information of a user; search control means for, based on an identifier and a ticket request acquired in acceptance by the request accepting means, letting the ticket storage-management means execute a search for a ticket corresponding to the identifier; access method information retrieving means for retrieving storage location information of a procedure file included in the ticket obtained by the search and retrieving access method information from the procedure file on the basis of the storage location information; service information acquiring means for retrieving an access address of a service provider included in the ticket obtained by the search, demanding service provision content information from the service provider on the basis of the access address of the service provider, and acquiring the service provision content information in accordance with an access method stored in the procedure file about the service; and presentation control means for presenting to the user the information about the commodity included in the ticket, the information about the service, the access method information retrieved, and the service provision content information acquired, wherein the ticket contains permission condition information indicating a condition for a user to whom presentation of the information included in the ticket is permitted, and wherein the presentation control means is configured to retrieve from the user information memory means, user information correlated with identification information of the user acquired in the acceptance, determine whether the presentation of the information in the ticket to the user is to be permitted, based on the user information and the permission condition information in the ticket, and perform the presentation to the user when the presentation is permitted. 
   The above information provision control system comprises a procedure file storing access method information for connection to a service, and the user information memory means memorizing the user information containing the user&#39;s preference information in correlation with the identification information of a user, and the ticket storage-management means stores and manages a ticket containing an identifier given to a commodity, an access address of a service provider for providing a service related to the commodity, storage location information of a procedure file, and both or one of information about the commodity and the information about the service related to the commodity. When a user requests a ticket by an identifier and a ticket request with the identification information of the user, the request accepting means accepts the identifier and ticket request with the identification information of the user, and the search control means lets the ticket storage-management means execute a search for the ticket corresponding to the identifier, based on the identifier and ticket request. The user information embraces, for example, such information as a name and an address of a user, interests and preference, a list of possessions, types of permitted transactions, an access history to various service providers, a use history thereof, and so on. 
   The ticket storage-management means performs the search for the ticket corresponding to the identifier, whereby the ticket is obtained as a result of the search. Here, the access method information retrieving means retrieves the storage location information of the procedure file included in the ticket obtained by the search, and retrieves the access method information from the procedure file on the basis of the storage location information. The service information acquiring means retrieves the access address of the service provider included in the ticket obtained by the search, demands the service provision content information from the service provider on the basis of the access address of the service provider, and acquires the service provision content information in accordance with the access method stored in the procedure file about the service. 
   Then the presentation control means presents to the user the information about the commodity included in the above ticket, the information about the service, the access method information retrieved, and the service provision content information acquired. This permits the user to obtain the information about the commodity included in the ticket correlated with the desired identifier, the information about the service, the access method information retrieved based on the storage location information of the procedure file included in the ticket, and the service provision content information acquired based on the access address of the service provider included in the ticket. 
   Particularly, when the present invention is applied to a community, it is feasible to decrease the efforts to construct the link information or the affiliation relation as needed before and to achieve facilitation of operation of the community. 
   In the information provision control system as described above, according to the present invention, the above ticket contains the permission condition information indicating the condition for a user to whom presentation of the information included in the ticket is permitted, and the presentation control means retrieves the user information correlated with the identification information of the user obtained in acceptance, from the user information memory means, and determines whether the presentation of the information in the ticket to the user should be permitted, based on the user information and the permission condition information included in the ticket. When the presentation is permitted, the presentation control means then presents the information in the ticket to the user. For this reason, the information in the ticket is presented to only the authorized user according to the permission condition information in the ticket. 
   According to the present invention, as described above, it is feasible to reduce the efforts to construct the link information or the affiliation relation as needed before. In general, a community is not established for the purpose of presenting information to the general public, but for the purpose of presenting information to specific users (i.e., members of the community) promising compliance with predetermined rules, and thus the presentation of information to only authorized users according to the contents of information can improve the convenience for information originators and users. 
   In a preferred configuration of the information provision control system according to the present invention, the system further comprises user registration means for keeping and managing predetermined registration information of users belonging to a community and, in response to a registration request from a user, registering registration information of the user; and ticket registration requesting means for accepting a registration request for registration of a ticket containing an identifier given to a commodity related to user information of the user and an access address of the user, which is submitted from the registered user becoming the service provider and desiring to provide information of the access address of the user, and requesting the ticket storage-management means to register the ticket, wherein the ticket storage-management means registers a new ticket containing the identifier and the access address, based on the registration request for registration of the ticket. 
   In this case, the user registration means keeps and manages the predetermined registration information of users belonging to the community and registers the registration information of a user in response to a registration request from the user. When the user registered becomes a service provider, desires to provide the information of the access address of the user to the other users, and requests registration of a ticket containing an identifier given to a commodity related to the user information of the user and the access address of the user, the ticket registration request means accepts the request for registration of the ticket and requests the ticket storage-management means to register the ticket. Based on the request for registration of the ticket, the ticket storage-management means registers a new ticket containing the identifier and the access address. This makes it feasible to present the information of the new ticket to the other users using the information provision control system, and the foregoing user can readily construct the scheme of presenting the service provision information of its own to the other users, by simply submitting the user registration request to the community and submitting the request for registration of the ticket. 
   In another preferred configuration, the information provision control system according to the present invention further comprises user registration means for keeping and managing predetermined registration information of users belonging to a community and, in response to a registration request from a user, registering registration information of the user; and user information managing means for accepting an information presentation request for presentation of information of a ticket about a commodity related to the user information of the user from the registered user, and updating the user information of the user memorized in the user information memory means, to correlate the user information of the user with the permission condition information about the ticket so as to permit the presentation of the information in the ticket to the user. 
   In this case, the user registering means keeps and manages the predetermined registration information of users belonging to the community, and registers the registration information of a user in response to the request for registration from the user. When the user registered requests presentation of information of a ticket about a commodity related to the user information of the user, the user information managing means accepts the request for presentation of information of the ticket, and updates the user information of the user memorized in the user information memory means, while correlating the user information of the user with the permission condition information about the ticket so as to permit the presentation of the information in the ticket to the user. 
   This results in permitting the presentation of the information in the ticket to the user, based on the updated user information of the user and the permission condition information about the ticket. Thereafter, the pertinent user becomes able to receive the presentation of information included in the ticket desired by himself or herself. As described, the above user can readily receive the presentation of information in the ticket desired by himself or herself, by simply submitting the user registration request for registration with the community and submitting the information presentation request for the ticket. 
   Incidentally, the invention directed to the above information provision control system can also be taken from an aspect of the invention directed to an information provision control method as described below. Since these aspects of the invention are based on the same technical idea, they achieve similar operation and effect. 
   Namely, an information provision control method according to the present invention is an information provision control method executed in an information provision control system comprising: a procedure file storing access method information for connection to a service; ticket storage-management means for storing and managing a ticket containing an identifier given to a commodity, an access address of a service provider for providing a service related to the commodity, storage location information of the procedure file, and both or one of information about the commodity and information about the service related to the commodity; and user information memory means for memorizing user information containing user&#39;s preference information, in correlation with identification information of a user, the information provision control method comprising: a request accepting step of accepting an identifier and a ticket request submitted by a user, with identification information of the user; a search control step of, based on the identifier and the ticket request acquired in the accepting step, letting the ticket storage-management means execute a search for a ticket corresponding to the identifier; an access method information retrieving step of retrieving storage location information of a procedure file included in the ticket obtained by the search and retrieving access method information from the procedure file on the basis of the storage location information; a service information acquiring step of retrieving an access address of a service provider included in the ticket obtained by the search, demanding service provision content information from the service provider on the basis of the access address of the service provider, and acquiring the service provision content information in accordance with an access method stored in the procedure file about the service; and a presentation control step of presenting to the user the information about the commodity included in the ticket, the information about the service, the access method information retrieved, and the service provision content information acquired, wherein the ticket contains permission condition information indicating a condition for a user to whom presentation of the information included in the ticket is permitted, and wherein the presentation control step is configured to retrieve from the user information memory means, user information correlated with identification information of a user acquired in the accepting step, determine whether presentation of the information in the ticket to the user is to be permitted, based on the user information and the permission condition information in the ticket, and perform the presentation to the user when the presentation is permitted. 
   In a preferred form of the information provision control method according to the present invention, the information provision control system further comprises user registration means for keeping and managing predetermined registration information of users belonging to a community and, in response to a registration request from a user, registering registration information of the user; and the information provision control method further comprises: a registration request step of, based on a registration request for registration of a ticket containing an identifier given to a commodity related to the user information of the user and an access address of the user, which is submitted by the registered user becoming the service provider and desiring to provide information of the access address of the user, requesting the ticket storage-management means to register the ticket; and a ticket registering step of letting the ticket storage-management means register a new ticket containing the identifier and the access address, based on the registration request for registration of the ticket. 
   In a further preferred form of the information provision control method according to the present invention, the information provision control system further comprises user registration means for keeping and managing predetermined registration information of users belonging to a community and, in response to a registration request from a user, registering registration information of the user, and the information provision control method further comprises a user information updating step of, based on an information presentation request for presentation of information of a ticket about a commodity related to the user information of the user, which is submitted by the registered user, updating the user information of the user memorized in the user information memory means, to correlate the user information of the user with the permission condition information about the ticket so as to permit the presentation of the information in the ticket to the user. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a diagram showing a whole configuration of a service provision system in the first embodiment. 
       FIG. 2  is a diagram for explaining an ID issuing organization certifying process and an ID issuing process. 
       FIG. 3  is a diagram for explaining another ID issuing process executed by an ID issuing organization so as to avoid duplication of ID, without the ID issuing organization certifying process. 
       FIG. 4  is a diagram for explaining a ticket registration and update process by a ticket management part. 
       FIG. 5  is a diagram for explaining a ticket search process executed by the ticket management part and a procedure process executed by a procedure process executer. 
       FIG. 6  is a diagram showing a structure of a ticket. 
       FIG. 7  is a flowchart of the ticket registration-update process. 
       FIG. 8  is a flowchart of the ticket search process in a ticket storage part and the procedure process executer. 
       FIG. 9  is a flowchart of processing of carrying out part of the search process with a search engine on a network. 
       FIG. 10  is a flowchart of a service provider candidate extracting process. 
       FIG. 11A  is a diagram showing a first example of the search result for the ticket with ID: JAN490136036479. 
       FIG. 11B  is a diagram showing a second example of the search result for the ticket with ID: JAN490136036479. 
       FIG. 11C  is a diagram showing a third example of the search result for the ticket with ID: JAN490136036479. 
       FIG. 12A  is a diagram showing a fourth example of the search result for the ticket with ID: JAN490136036479. 
       FIG. 12B  is a diagram showing a first example of the search result for the ticket obtained by the search using Location-ID245699 described in the box of Object Comments of the ticket in  FIG. 12A , as a key. 
       FIG. 12C  is a diagram showing a second example of the search result for the ticket obtained by the search using Location-ID245699 described in the box of Object Comments of the ticket in  FIG. 12A , as a key. 
       FIG. 13  is a diagram showing an example of an optimal service provider list related to the search result of  FIGS. 11A–11C . 
       FIG. 14  is a diagram showing an example of an optimal service provider list related to the search result of  FIGS. 12A–12C . 
       FIG. 15  is a diagram showing a whole configuration of an information provision control system in the second embodiment. 
       FIG. 16A  is a diagram showing a first example of the search result for the ticket with ID: predetermined petfood ID. 
       FIG. 16B  is a diagram showing a second example of the search result for the ticket with ID: predetermined petfood ID. 
       FIG. 16C  is a diagram showing a third example of the search result for the ticket with ID: predetermined petfood ID. 
       FIG. 17A  is a diagram showing a service provider presentation screen which person A before registration as a member can consult. 
       FIG. 17B  is a diagram showing personal information of A before registration as a member. 
       FIG. 18  is a flowchart of a user registration process in a user management part in charge of operation of a community. 
       FIG. 19  is a diagram showing an example of a ticket registered through registration as a member. 
       FIG. 20A  is a diagram showing a service provider presentation screen which A after registration as a member can consult. 
       FIG. 20B  is a diagram showing personal information of A after registration as a member. 
       FIG. 21  is a flowchart showing an example of an optimal service provider presentation process. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Various embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the description hereinafter the “identifier” according to the present invention will be referred to as “ID”. A ticket will refer to information containing descriptions of information about a commodity corresponding to an ID, an address of a service provider associated with provision of a service related to the commodity, an access method thereto, a service category of the service, etc., and will be detailed later with reference to  FIG. 6 . 
   First Embodiment 
   Configuration of Service Provision System 
     FIG. 1 . shows the entire configuration of the service of provistion system according to the first embodiment. As shown in this FIG.  1 ., the service provision system of the first embodiment is comprised of the following componets connected or connectable to network  120 . Namely, the service provision system is comprised of terminal equipment  100  such as a personal computer (PC), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or a cell phone of a user to recieve provision of a service; an ID issue requester  102  to submit a request for issue of a new ID to an object to be given an ID(e.g., an agency engaging in development and production of a new commodity, a party having gotten a commodity through purchase or the like, etc.); group  103  of ID issuing organizations permitted to perform the issue of an ID; ticket registrant  104  to request registration of a ticket; ticket management part  105  confirgured to perform storage and management of tickets a serch for a ticket; procedure process executer  106  configured to mediate a service to preset candidates of service provides to users and to carry out procedures associated therwith for the users; procedure file  107 ; service provider  108  to provide services throuhg a network, such as sale, repair, or provision of information; personal information  109 ; and serch engine  110 . 
   Among these, the group  103  of ID issuing organizations is comprised of ID issue management organization  1031  engaging in total management and operation of ID issue rules for the group  103  of organizations involved in issue of ID; and a plurality of ID issuing organizations  1032 ,  1033  permitted to issue an ID on the basis of the ID issuing rules given by the ID issue management organization  1031 . 
   The ticket management part  105  is comprised of transceiver  1051  engaging in reception of a ticket registration request to the ticket management part  105 , transmission of the result of a search, etc.; storage  1052  being a huge database to store tickets; and search part  1053  engaging in searching for a ticket. 
   The procedure process executer  106  is comprised of ticket filtering part  1061  configured to select a ticket about a service provider which is requested by a user and about which the user is permitted to conduct a procedure, from the result (a plurality of tickets) of a ticket search based on an ID; procedure file retrieving part  1063  configured to retrieve a procedure file of a ticket from a procedure file storage location described in the ticket (i.e., storage location information (also referred to as a service entity access protocol storage location pointer) of the procedure file  107  about access method information to a service provider); and procedure process instructing part  1062  configured to order a procedure on the basis of a procedure process. 
   The procedure file  107  is a file containing a description of a protocol used for a procedure and indispensable information (e.g., in the case of the protocol determined in the automotive industry, the information concerns a cipher communication system generally used in the Internet, a unique procedure protocol, and a type of information necessary for the procedure), and is open to the public to permit anyone to access it through network  120 . This permits a party intending to provide a new service, to start use by simply selecting an optimal procedure process out of various procedure processes open to the public and writing a storage location of its procedure file in a ticket. Concerning the procedure file  107 , it is also possible to perform authentication of a party requesting information and take a measure to properly limit access thereto, according to the need for ensuring security. 
   The personal information  109  used in the processing described hereinafter contains information such as a name and an address, interests and preference, a list of possessions, types of permitted transactions, an access history to various service providers and a use history thereof, and so on, and this personal information  109  may be held in the terminal  100  by the user, may be held in a format like a Web page in the network, or may be held in the procedure process executer  106  which introduces service providers and mediates procedures. 
   The ID-attached object  101  is comprised of an object given an identifier consisting of a combination of numerals and characters by a bar code, a two-dimensional bar code, an RF-ID, or an infrared tag, or the like (a physical object such as a bottle or paper, or an electronic object such as a sound file or an image file). 
   Various Processes Associated with Service Provision 
   The various processes associated with service provision, which are executed in the above service provision system, will be described below. 
   ID Issuing Organization Certifying Process and ID Issuing Process 
     FIG. 2  shows the ID issuing organization certifying process and ID issuing process. As shown in this  FIG. 2 , an organization desiring to be certified and registered as an ID issuing organization applies for certification and registration as an ID issuing organization with the ID issue management organization  1031 . The ID issue management organization  1031  examines whether the applying organization can adequately observe the ID issue rules and other rules defined by the ID issue management organization  1031 . When the condition is met, the management organization  1031  certifies the applying organization as an ID issuing organization and notifies it of a rule of issuing IDs that the applying organization can issue. Specific examples of the ID issuing rule are “a character string of JAN must be given at the head of every ID assigned by ID issuing organization A,” “a character string of ISBN must be given at the head of every ID assigned by ID issuing organization B,” and so on. 
   When the certified ID issuing organization  1032 ,  1033 , etc. receives a request for issue of an ID from the ID issue requester  102 , it examines (or checks) the name, address, and reliability of the ID issue requester  102 . When a predetermined condition is met, it issues an ID in accordance with the ID issuing rule defined by the ID issue management organization  1031  and notifies the ID issue requester  102  of the ID. By observing this issuing rule, it becomes feasible to prevent presence of redundant IDs and to manage the various conventionally existing ID systems as redundancy-free identifier systems. 
     FIG. 3  is a diagram to illustrate another ID issuing process capable of avoiding redundancy of IDs without execution of the ID issuing organization certifying process. As shown in this  FIG. 3 , every time the ID issuing organization  1032  or the like accepts an ID issue request from ID issue requester  102 , it first submits an ID issue request to the ID issue management organization  1031 . The ID issue management organization  1031  examines whether the ID issuing organization  1032  or the like having submitted the ID issue request can observe the ID issuing rules and other rules defined by the ID issue management organization  1031 . When the condition is met, it issues a new ID to the ID issuing organization  1032  or the like having submitted the ID issue request, and notifies the organization of the ID. The ID issuing organization  1032  or the like, receiving the notification, notifies the ID issue requester  102  of the ID, whereby the ID issue requester  102  can obtain the ID. 
   The ID issue management organization  1031  described with  FIG. 3  is constructed in the form adapted for individual ID issue requests in the case where it can manage and operate the issue of all IDs; this configuration is thus substantially a form wherein the ID issue management organization  1031  issues IDs. 
   Ticket Registration and Update Process 
     FIG. 4  is a diagram to illustrate the ticket registration and update process carried out by the ticket management part  105 . As shown in this  FIG. 4 , the ticket management part  105  receives a ticket registration request from ticket registrant  104 . The ticket registration request is generally considered to be submitted by a party providing a service about an object (commodity) given an ID (specifically, an import agent dealing with wine of ID=1224 given by a wine producer). It is, however, noted that a ticket may be registered by a third-party deputy (e.g., a sale promotion, planning contractor commissioned by the foregoing import agent). When the ticket registrant  104  requests the ticket management part  105  to update the ID, the ticket, registrant information (e.g., the name, the address on the network, or the like), or the contents of the ticket, it transmits an identification number of the ticket (hereinafter referred to as “ticket ID”) assigned upon the last registration of the ticket. The transceiver  1051  examines the received registrant information and, when the condition is met, it stores the ticket into the storage  1052 . The storage  1052  checks the contents of the ticket to check whether the format of the ticket is correct, whether there is an error in the contents described in the ticket, and so on. If there is no problem, the ticket is stored into the storage  1052 . Then the storage  1052  transmits a ticket storage completion notification indicating the completion of storage of the ticket, and the ticket ID of the stored ticket to the ticket registrant  104 . This ticket ID is again used upon a next update necessitated because of a change in the contents of the ticket. 
   Ticket Search Process and Procedure Process 
   Next, the ticket search process executed by the ticket management part  105  and the procedure process executed by the procedure process executer  106  will be described with reference to  FIG. 5 . The flows of the individual processes will be described later with  FIGS. 8 ,  9 , and  10 . 
   First, user  100 , acquiring an ID from object  101  given the ID, transmits the ID, a ticket request necessary for provision of a service (an optimal service provider request), and user information to the procedure process instructing part  1062  of the procedure process executer  106 . In order to make a search to determine “What is the received ID?” and “What is a service related to the ID?,” the procedure process instructing part  1062  transmits the ID, the ticket request, and claimant information (information about the procedure process executer  106  including the procedure process instructing part  1062 ) to the transceiver  1051  of the ticket management part  105 . 
   The transceiver  1051 , receiving the ID, the ticket request, and the claimant information, checks the claimant information, and transmits the ID and the ticket request to the search part  1053  if there is no problem. The search part  1053  checks whether the contents of the ticket request received involve a problem of discrepancy or the like, and if there is no problem then the search part  1053  transmits the ID and a ticket search request to the storage  1052 . The storage  1052  performs the ticket search process on the basis of the received ID and ticket search request, checks an expiration date of each ticket obtained by the search, and transfers every ticket having an effective expiration date as a result of the search to the transceiver  1051 . The tickets as a result of the search are transferred to the procedure file retrieving part  1063 . 
   For each of the received tickets, the procedure file retrieving part  1063  retrieves the procedure information from the procedure file  107  thereof on the basis of the procedure file storage location information described in the ticket and transmits it to the procedure process instructing part  1062 . Then the procedure process instructing part  1062  determines for each ticket whether the user  100  is permitted to go through the procedure, based on the personal information  109  and procedure information about the user  100  having submitted the ticket request, thereby performing a procedure availability check to select only permitted tickets out of the received tickets. 
   For each of the tickets judged as permitted, the procedure process instructing part  1062  sends a service provision content detail inquiry request to service provider  108  to acquire service provision detail content information (e.g., information such as “sale of French wine, inquiry ID, sales price of commodity: ¥4500, delivery: as soon as the commodity arrives, and expected to be delivered about two months after”) in accordance with an access method stored in the procedure file  107  about the service. 
   The above process of “transmitting the ID, ticket request, and claimant information to the transceiver  1051  of the ticket management part  105 , submitting the service provision content detail inquiry request to the service provider  108 , and receiving the service provision detail content information” as executed by the procedure process executer  106  will be referred to as service provider candidate extracting process  501 . By repeatedly executing this service provider candidate extracting process  501  on the basis of the information described in the received ticket (an ID, comments about a commodity, comments about a service, or the like), it becomes feasible to increase the number of tickets acquired by the procedure process instructing part  1062 . The specific processing flow will be detailed with reference to  FIGS. 8 and 9 . 
   Thereafter, the ticket filtering part  1061  receives the tickets from the procedure process instructing part  1062  and narrows down choices of service provider candidates for the need of the user out of the received tickets, based on the personal information  109 . For example, concerning a ticket obtained by a search with an ID of wine, supposing the personal information of the user in the current request contains information of “resident in Tokyo” and “interests: overseas travel,” tickets about overseas travel and tickets about service providers located in Tokyo will be preferentially listed as superordinate candidates. Then the ticket filtering part  1061  presents the candidates selected as optimal service providers to the user  100 . When the user  100  finds a service of some interest, he or she selects a service provider  108  of the service and submits a service process execution request to the service provider  108 . Then a contract confirmation process necessary for provision of the service, such as authentication of the user or the like, is carried out between the user  100  and the service provider  108 , and then the user  100  authenticated receives the provision of the service. 
   Structure of Ticket 
   Here the structure of a ticket will be described with  FIG. 6 . The ticket contains the following information items (1)–(13). 
   Namely, (1) ID as a string of numerals and/or characters to specify an object given the ID; (2) an access address of a service provider to provide information or a service related to the ID (service provision location (service entity pointer): e.g., an IP address, a URL, or the like on the network); (3) a storage location of service procedure information containing an access method for connection to the service (service entity access protocol storage location pointer: e.g., an IP address, a URL, a file name, or the like on the network); (4) a ticket category, specific examples of which are, for example, “primary” indicating a ticket that cannot be issued by any other party than the ID issue requester, while indicating what is the one given the ID, “secondary” issued for provision of a service related to the object, and so on; (5) Object Category which is information of a category indicating what is the object given the ID; (6) Object Location which is information indicating where the object given the ID is located; (7) Object Comments describing various information about the object given the ID; (8) Service Category which is information indicating a category of a service about provision of the service related to the object given the ID; (9) Service Location which is information indicating locations and regions where the service related to the object given the ID is provided; (10) Service Comments describing various information about the provision of the service related to the object given the ID; (11) information about the registrant of the ticket; (12) Expiration Date registered for the ticket; (13) Permission Information indicating a party permitted to perform a ticket search and make access. 
   Among these information items described in the ticket, the information items (2) and (3) are characterized by the possession of the structure having only a pointer so as to be adapted for various services, and the information items (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), and (10) are characterized by the possession of the structure enabling flexible searching and creation of various services. The information items (11) and (12) are characterized by the possession of the minimum structure for securing the validity of the ticket, and the information item (13) is characterized by the possession of the structure for enabling limitation of disclosure of information. Description of information is essential to the information items (1), (2), (3), (4), (11), and (12), but description is optional for the other information items. If there is no description of information, “NULL” is written. 
   Flow of Ticket Registration-Update Process 
   The flow of the ticket registration-update process for registration and update of the ticket as described above will be described below with reference to  FIG. 7 . 
   The ticket management part  105  first receives an ID, the main body of a ticket, a ticket ID (NULL at the first registration), and registrant information (S 11  in  FIG. 7 ) and evaluates the reliability of the ticket registrant on the basis of the received ticket registrant information (S 12 ). The evaluation of reliability herein can be performed by various methods; for example, the ticket registrant is evaluated by one selected from a method using an account and a password, a method of changing passwords with change of time, a method of sending a password to a mail address of a requester, etc., or by a combination of two or more thereof. 
   When it is determined at S 12  that the registrant is unreliable, the received ticket is discarded (S 18 ), the registration requester is notified of failure in storage of the ticket (S 19 ), and the processing is terminated. When it is determined at S 12  on the other hand that the registrant is reliable, it is then determined whether the contents of the ticket are correct (S 13 ). The process of determining whether the contents of the ticket are correct herein is carried out by checking whether the structure of the ticket conforms to a prescribed structure, whether the essential items to be described in the ticket are present, and so on. 
   When at S 13  the contents of the ticket are incorrect, the received ticket is discarded (S 18 ), the registration requester is notified of the failure in storage of the ticket (S 19 ), and the processing is terminated. When at S 13  the contents of the ticket are correct on the other hand, the ticket management part  105  performs a process of determining whether a ticket with an identical ID, an identical ticket ID, and identical registrant information is already stored in the ticket management part  105  (ticket ID check process) (S 14 ). This step determines whether the operation in progress is registration of a ticket or update of a ticket. 
   When at S 14  no ticket with an identical ID, an identical ticket ID, and identical registrant information is found in the ticket management part  105 , it is determined that the operation in progress is registration of the ticket, and the ticket is stored into the storage  1052  (S 16 ). Then the ticket registrant  104  (or a ticket updater) is notified of completion of the storage of the ticket and the ticket ID about the stored ticket (S 17 ), and the processing is then terminated. 
   On the other hand, when at S 14  a ticket with an identical ID, an identical ticket ID, and identical registrant information is found in the ticket management part  105 , it is determined that the operation in progress is update of the ticket, the new ticket received is overwritten on the previously-stored ticket to be stored (S 15 ). Then the ticket registrant  104  (or the ticket updater) is notified of the completion of storage of the ticket and the ticket ID about the stored ticket (S 17 ), and the processing is then terminated. On this occasion, an effective way for effective use of storage capacity of database is such that it is first determined whether there is a ticket with the ID and all the items in the ticket being identical and if there is the same ticket the ticket is not stored. 
   Flow of Ticket Search Process 
   Next, the flow of the ticket search process executed by the ticket storage and the procedure process executer will be described referring to  FIG. 8 . Here the principal unit carrying out the process will be generally represented by the procedure process executer  106  or the ticket management part  105 , instead of the ticket filtering part  1061  and others, because it was previously described with  FIG. 5 . 
   First, the procedure process executer  106  receives an ID, a ticket request, and user information from user  100  (S 31  in  FIG. 8 ). Then the procedure process executer  106  performs a process of determining whether the user information is correct (S 32 ). When the user information is judged incorrect, the processing is immediately suspended, the user is notified of the suspension of the processing (not shown), and the processing is terminated. 
   On the other hand, when at S 32  the user information is judged correct, the count N indicating the number of executions of the service provider candidate extracting process  501  of  FIG. 5  is reset to zero “0” (S 33 ), and the ID, ticket request, and claimant information are sent to the ticket management part  105  (S 34 ). Then the count N is given an increment of 1 (S 35 ) and the service provider candidate extracting process  501  is carried out (S 36 ). The service provider candidate extracting process  501  will be described later in detail with reference to  FIG. 10 . After completion of the service provider candidate extracting process  501 , the procedure process executer  106  receives a ticket obtained by the search with the ID, and the service provision content detail information about the ticket (S 37 ). 
   It is then determined whether any ID is described in the items of Object Comments and Service Comments in the received ticket (S 38 ). When no ID is described therein, a personal information reference process is carried out (S 41 ). When an ID is described, it is determined whether the count N is less than an execution limit count α for the service provider candidate extracting process  501  preliminarily determined (S 39 ). When the count N is larger than or equal to the execution limit count α, the personal information reference process is carried out (S 41 ). On the other hand, when the count N is less than the execution limit count α, the ID described in the ticket is defined as an ID as a target for searching (S 40 ), and the ID, ticket request, and claimant information are again transmitted to the ticket management part  105  (S 34 ). The ticket search process is again carried out by replacing the ID as a target for searching with another in this way, whereby it becomes feasible to implement lateral service provision in alliance with various service providers. 
   In the personal information reference process at S 41 , reference is made to the personal information  109  to retrieve such personal information as user&#39;s circumstances and user&#39;s preference, tendency of purchase, tendency of use of services, and so on. Then a service provider selecting process to select a service provider most suitable for the user is carried out based on the personal information (S 42 ), and service provider candidates thus selected are announced to the user&#39;s terminal by an optimal service provider presentation process (S 43 ). 
   Thereafter, the user determines whether any service provider is to be selected from the service providers thus presented. When one is selected, a service process execution request is sent. For this reason, S 44  is configured to determine whether a service provider was selected, based on whether a service process execution request was received from the user. When no service provider is selected, the processing is immediately suspended, the user is notified of the suspension of the processing (not shown), and the processing is then terminated. 
   On the other hand, when it is determined that a service process execution request was received from the user and thus that a service provider was selected, a connection is established to the service provider thus selected (S 45 ), and the processing is then terminated. This causes the service provider to provide a service to the user. 
   Next, a flow of a process of carrying out part of the search process with search engine  110  on the network will be described as a modification of  FIG. 8  on the basis of  FIG. 9 . This process with the search engine  110  is effective, for example, in cases including a case where the number of tickets as a result of the search is small. 
   First, the procedure process executer  106  receives an ID, a ticket request, and user information from user  100  (S 51  in  FIG. 9 ). Then the procedure process executer  106  performs a process of determining whether the user information is correct (S 52 ). When the user information is judged incorrect, the processing is immediately suspended, the user is notified of the suspension of the processing (not shown), and the processing is then terminated. 
   On the other hand, when it is determined at S 52  that the user information is correct, the ID, ticket request, and claimant information are transmitted to the ticket management part  105  (S 53 ) and the service provider candidate extracting process  501  is carried out (S 54 ). The service provider candidate extracting process  501  will be described later in detail with  FIG. 10 . After completion of the service provider candidate extracting process  501 , the procedure process executer  106  receives a ticket obtained by the search with the ID and the service provision content detail information about the ticket (S 55 ). 
   Then a search with the search engine  110  is carried out using the comments described in the items of Object Comments and Service Comments in the received ticket, as a search key (S 56 ), and the personal information reference process is carried out (S 57 ). S 57  is a step of making reference to the personal information  109  to retrieve such personal information as the user&#39;s circumstances and user&#39;s preference, tendency of purchase, tendency of use of services, and so on. Then the service provider selection process of selecting a service optimal to the user is carried out based on the personal information (S 58 ). 
   For every ticket selected herein, a search with the search engine  110  is carried out using the comments described in the items of Object Comments and Service Comments in the ticket, as a search key (S 59 ). The method of carrying out the search over every selected ticket in this way is more effective in making the accuracy of hyperlinks to service providers closer to user&#39;s desires. Then service provider candidates selected at S 58  and hyperlinks obtained by the search with the search engine  110  are presented to the user&#39;s terminal (S 60 ). 
   Thereafter, the user determines whether any service provider is to be selected from the service providers thus presented. When one is selected, a service process execution request is transmitted. For this reason, S 61  is configured to determine whether any service provider was selected, based on whether a service process execution request was received from the user. When no service provider is selected herein, the processing is immediately suspended, the user is notified of the suspension of the processing (not shown), and the processing is then terminated. 
   On the other hand, when it is determined that a service process execution request was received from the user and thus that a service provider was selected, a connection is established to the service provider thus selected (S 62 ). This causes the service provider to provide a service to the user. 
   By effectively using the search engine  110  in this way, for example, in the case where the number of searches for tickets is small, it becomes feasible to detect and extract even a service without registration of a ticket, as a service provider candidate. 
   Flow of Service Provider Candidate Extracting Process 
   The flow of the service provider candidate extracting process will be described below with reference to  FIG. 10 . 
   The procedure process instructing part  1062  in the procedure process executer  106  transmits an ID, a ticket request, and claimant information to the ticket management part  105 . On this occasion, if the service category requested by the user is known, the service category can be transmitted to the ticket management part  105 , which enables the result of the ticket search to be narrowed down in advance. 
   The transceiver  1051  in the ticket management part  105  receives the ID, ticket request, and claimant information from the procedure process instructing part  1062  (S 71  in  FIG. 10 ) and determines whether the claimant information is correct (S 72 ). When the claimant information is judged incorrect herein, the processing is immediately suspended, the procedure process executer  106  being the claimant is notified of the suspension of the processing (not shown), and the processing is then terminated. 
   When the claimant information is judged correct on the other hand, the ID and ticket request are transmitted to the search part  1053  (S 73 ). The search part  1053  checks whether there is a problem of discrepancy or the like in the ticket request received, thereby determining whether the contents of the ticket are correct (S 74 ). When the contents of the ticket are incorrect, the processing is immediately suspended, the procedure process executer  106  being the claimant is notified of the suspension of the processing (not shown), and the processing is then terminated. 
   When the contents of the ticket are correct, the search part  1053  transmits the ID and a ticket search request to the storage  1052 . The storage  1052  performs the ticket search process on the basis of the ticket search request received (S 75 ). When the service category requested by the user is designated as a search key in advance, a filtering search is carried out based on the service category information to execute the ticket extracting process (S 76 ). 
   It is then determined whether there is a ticket obtained by the search (S 77 ). If there is no ticket obtained, the processing is immediately suspended, the procedure process executer being the claimant is notified of the suspension of the processing (not shown), and the processing is then terminated. When there is a ticket obtained on the other hand, a process of checking the expiration date and others of the ticket is carried out (S 78 ), and every ticket having an effective expiration date is transferred as the result of the search from the transceiver  1051  to the procedure file retrieving part  1063 . 
   The procedure file retrieving part  1063  performs a process of reading the received tickets one by one (S 79 ), and then performs a procedure file retrieving process (S 80 ) to acquire the procedure information thereof. Then it is determined whether there is a next ticket not subjected to the procedure file retrieving process yet (S 81 ). When there is an unprocessed ticket, the procedure file retrieving part  1063  again performs the reading process (S 79 ) and the procedure file retrieving process (S 80 ). 
   When there is no next ticket (i.e., after the procedure files of all the tickets have been retrieved), the procedure process executer  106  determines whether the user having submitted the ticket request is allowed to go through the procedure, based on the personal information  109 , so as to select only available tickets (i.e., execute a process of selecting tickets for that the user is permitted to go through the procedure) (S 82 ). 
   It is then determined whether there is a ticket available for the user (S 83 ). When it is determined that there is no available ticket, the processing is immediately suspended, the procedure process executer  106  being the claimant is notified of the suspension of the processing (not shown), and the processing is then terminated. 
   When at S 83  there is an available ticket on the other hand, a process of retrieving tickets one by one (S 84 ) and the service provision content detail inquiry process is then carried out (S 85 ). It is then determined whether there is a next ticket not subjected to the service provision content detail inquiry process yet (S 86 ). When there is an unprocessed ticket, the ticket retrieving process (S 84 ) and the service provision content detail inquiry process (S 85 ) are again carried out. 
   When there is no next ticket (i.e., when the service provision content detail inquiry process is completed for all the tickets), the processing is terminated while obtaining tickets and service provision content detail information about the tickets as a result of the processing. 
   Description of Example of Processing 
   An example of the processing will be described below with reference to  FIGS. 11–14 . 
   Let us suppose herein that three tickets about wine (ID: JAN490136036479) are registered with the ticket management part  105 . 
   When the user  100  looks at object (wine)  101  given the ID of JAN490136036479 and submits a ticket request for the ticket with ID: JAN490136036479, the aforementioned ticket search process results in obtaining the three tickets of  FIGS. 11A–11C  as a result of the search. 
   As shown in  FIGS. 11A–11C , JAN490136036479 is described in the ID box of all the three tickets. The procedure process executer  106  refers to the ticket category and service category in these tickets and executes the optimal service provider presentation process in order to provide services suitable for the user  100 . 
     FIG. 13  shows an example of an optimal service provider list displayed at the terminal of the user  100 . In this example, the information presented about the requested ID (JAN490136036479) includes the information described in the primary ticket shown in  FIG. 11A , and the information described in the two secondary tickets shown in  FIGS. 11B and 11C , as services related to the ID. 
   Namely,  FIG. 13  shows the search ID, the information of Object Category and the information of Object Comments in the primary ticket of  FIG. 11A , the service entity pointer information in the secondary ticket of  FIG. 11B , and the service entity pointer information and the information of Service Comments in the secondary ticket shown in  FIG. 11C . 
   By this simple operation wherein service providers to provide services related to an ID register tickets with the services related to the ID, it becomes feasible to implement the linkage among the service providers and to reduce the efforts for the service providers to construct the link information or the affiliation relation to be prepared in advance. It is also feasible to constantly dynamically change and expand the range of selectable service providers for the users. 
   Next, let us suppose a case wherein one ticket about wine (ID: JAN490136036479) and two tickets related to a place name (ID: Location-ID245699) are registered with the ticket management part  105 . 
   When the user  100  looks at the object (wine)  101  given the ID of JAN490136036479 and submits a ticket request for the ticket with ID: JAN490136036479, the aforementioned ticket search process is carried out to obtain the ticket of  FIG. 12A  (the ticket with the ID box: JAN490136036479). The Object Comments box of this ticket in  FIG. 12A  includes the description of Location-ID245699 indicating the production area of the wine as an ID. For this reason, the search process carried out by the procedure process executer  106  results in selecting the ticket of  FIG. 12A  and further selecting the tickets of  FIGS. 12B and 12C  as well. The procedure process executer  106  refers to the ticket category and service category in these tickets and carries out the optimal service provider presentation process in order to provide services suitable for the user  100 . 
     FIG. 14  shows an example of the optimal service provider list displayed at the terminal of the user  100 . In this example, the information presented about the requested ID (JAN490136036479) includes the information described in the primary ticket shown in  FIG. 12A , and the information described in the ticket shown in  FIG. 12C , as a service related to the ID. In this example, only the ticket shown in  FIG. 12C  is selected out of the two tickets of  FIGS. 12B and 12C , based on the personal information  109  of the user  100 . 
   Namely,  FIG. 14  shows the search ID, the information of Object Category and the information of Object Comments in the primary ticket of  FIG. 12A , and the service entity pointer information and the information of Service Comments in the secondary ticket shown in  FIG. 12C . 
   As described above, the first embodiment is able to realize the linkage among service providers by simply describing IDs related to an ID in tickets and is thus able to decrease the efforts for the service providers to construct the link information or affiliation relation to be prepared in advance. It is also able to expand the range of selectable service providers constantly dynamically changing for the users. 
   Second Embodiment 
   Configuration of Information Provision Control System 
     FIG. 15  shows a whole configuration of an information provision control system according to the second embodiment. As shown in this  FIG. 15 , the information provision control system of the second embodiment is comprised of the following components connected or connectible to network  120 . Namely, the information provision control system is comprised of terminal equipment  100  such as a personal computer (PC), a portable information terminal (Personal Digital Assistant: PDA), or a cell phone of a user to receive provision of a service; ID issue requester (e.g., an agency engaging in development and production of a new commodity, a party having gotten a commodity through purchase or the like, etc.)  102  supposed to request issue of a new ID for an object to be given an ID; group  103  of ID issuing organizations permitted to perform the issue of an ID; ticket registrant  104  supposed to request registration of a ticket; ticket management part  105  configured to perform storage and management of a ticket and a search for a ticket; procedure process executer  106  configured to mediate a service to present service provider candidates to users and to carry out procedures associated therewith for the users; procedure file  107 ; service provider  108  supposed to provide a service through the network, such as sale, repair, or provision of information; personal information  109 ; user management part  130  in charge of operation of a community; and Web pages  121 ,  122 ,  123  for personal transmission of information. 
   Among these components, the group  103  of ID issuing organizations is comprised of ID issue management organization  1031  in charge of the total management and operation of ID issuing rules for the group  103  of organizations involved in the issue of IDs; and a plurality of ID issuing organizations  1032 ,  1033  permitted to issue an ID on the basis of an ID issuing rule given by the ID issue management organization  1031 . 
   The ticket management part  105  is comprised of transceiver  1051  configured to perform reception of a ticket registration request to the ticket management part  105 , transmission of the result of a search, etc.; storage  1052  being a huge database for storage of tickets; and search part  1053  configured to perform a search for a ticket. 
   The procedure process executer  106  is comprised of ticket filtering part  1061  configured to select a ticket about a service provider which is requested by the user and about which the user is permitted to conduct a procedure, from the result (a plurality of tickets) of a ticket search based on an ID; procedure file retrieving part  1063  configured to retrieve a procedure file of a ticket from a procedure file storage location described in the ticket (i.e., storage location information (also referred to as a service entity access protocol storage location pointer) of procedure file  107  about access method information to a service provider) described in the ticket; and procedure process instructing part  1062  configured to order a procedure on the basis of the procedure process. 
   The procedure file  107  is a file containing a description of a protocol used for a procedure and indispensable information (e.g., in the case of the protocol determined in the automotive industry, the information concerns a cipher communication system generally used in the Internet, a unique procedure protocol, and a type of information necessary for the procedure), and is open to the public to permit anyone to access it through network  120 . This permits a party intending to provide a new service, to start use by simply selecting an optimal procedure process out of various procedure processes open to the public and writing a storage location of its procedure file in a ticket. Concerning the procedure file  107 , it is also possible to perform authentication of a party requesting information and take a measure to properly limit access thereto according to need for ensuring security. 
   The user management part  130  is comprised of transceiver part  111  configured to transmit or receive information such as user registration or the like; user registration part  112  in charge of registration of a user and management of the user registration information; ticket registration part  113  configured to request the ticket management part  105  to register a ticket about information such as a Web page or the like about the registered user upon the user registration; and personal information management part  114  configured to update the personal information  109  of the user upon the user registration. 
   The personal information  109  used in the processing described hereinafter contains information such as a name and an address, interests and preference, a list of possessions, types of permitted transactions, an access history to various service providers and a use history thereof, and so on, and this personal information  109  may be held in the terminal  100  by the user, may be held in a format like Web pages  121 ,  122 ,  123  in the network, or may be held in the procedure process executer  106  which introduces service providers and mediates procedures. The personal information  109  may also be held while being scattered at a plurality of locations as shown in  FIG. 15 . It is, however, assumed in that case that the personal information  109  at the plurality of locations is of the same contents and that at an update of personal information all the personal information  109  is updated in synchronism by the personal information management part  114 . 
   The ID-attached object  101  is comprised of an object given an identifier consisting of a combination of numerals and characters as an ID such as a bar code, a two-dimensional bar code, an RF-ID, or an infrared tag, (i.e., a physical object such as a bottle or paper, or an electronic object such as a sound file or an image file). 
   The various processes and the structure of the ticket associated with the service provision executed in the above information provision control system are much the same as those in the aforementioned first embodiment (reference is made to  FIGS. 2 to 10 ), and the description thereof is thus omitted herein. 
   Description of Example of Processing where the Present Invention is Applied to a Community 
   An example of processing where the present invention is applied to a community will be described below with referring to  FIGS. 16 to 20 . 
   It is supposed herein that three tickets about petfood (ID: 4901234petfood232) are registered with the ticket management part  105  and the user  100  is one routinely purchasing the object (petfood)  101  assigned 4901234petfood232 as an ID. 
   When this user  100  submits a ticket request about the ticket with ID: 4901234petfood232, the aforementioned ticket search process is carried out to obtain the three tickets of  FIGS. 16A–16C  as a result of the search. 
   As shown in  FIGS. 16A–16C , 4901234petfood232 is described in the ID box of all the three tickets. The procedure process executer  106  makes reference to the ticket category and the service category in these tickets to execute the optimal service provider presentation process in order to provide services suitable for the user  100 . 
   An example of this optimal service provider presentation process is shown in  FIG. 21 . Specifically, as shown in  FIG. 21 , the procedure process executer  106  first receives an ID, a service provider presentation request, and a search ID (S 101 ), and then acquires the personal information of the claimant, using the ID as a key, from the personal information  109  and also acquires a ticket corresponding to the search ID (S 102 ). Then the personal information of the claimant is collated with the permission information of the ticket (S 103 ). It is determined whether there is a ticket whose presentation is permitted, based on the result of the collation (S 104 ). If there is a presentation-permitted ticket, a service provider presentation screen is created on the basis of the information of the ticket and is presented to the claimant (S 105 ). If there is no presentation-permitted ticket on the other hand, the fact that no service provider is available is presented to the claimant (S 106 ). 
   For example,  FIG. 17A  shows a service provider presentation screen that person A can consult before membership registration with a community operated by a petfood group, and  FIG. 17B  shows A&#39;s personal information at that time. Since person A is unregistered with the community, petfoodID in the A&#39;s personal information includes no description (petfoodID=NULL) as shown in  FIG. 17B . Suppose person A in this state finds 4901234petfood232 as petfoodID on a package of a certain petfood and submits a service provider presentation request with this petfoodID as a search ID. According to the above processing of  FIG. 21 , the three tickets of  FIGS. 16A–16C  with ID: 4901234petfood232 are selected as candidates for presentation. 
   However, since petfoodID=NULL in A&#39;s personal information, as a result of the collation between this information and the permission information of each of the tickets of  FIGS. 16A–16C , the service provider information presented to person A is only the page associated with the ticket of  FIG. 16A  (which can be identified as a page to transmit information about petfood and organize a petfood group from its Object Comments). Namely, since it is determined with the tickets of  FIGS. 16B and 16C  that the permission information disagrees with the A&#39;s personal information, person A is not permitted to access the pages. Therefore, the accessible service provider presentation screen presented to person A includes only the display of the information about the ticket of  FIG. 16A , as shown in  FIG. 17A . Since a separate authentication procedure with a password or the like is carried out for the claimant upon an actual access to the information, even if unauthorized procedure process executer  106  operates to present the service provider information to a user without permission, the actual information is not presented to the user without permission. 
   Now, the flow of the user registration process at the user management part  110  in charge of the operation of the community will be described with reference to  FIG. 18 . The user management part  110  receives a user registration request from the user (for example, person A)  100  through the transceiver part  111  (S 91 ), and then lets the user registration part  112  transmit a request for transmission of predetermined user information to the user  100  (S 92 ). When the transceiver  111  receives the user information from the user  100  (S 93 ), the user registration part  112  performs a process of registering the user information thus received (S 94 ). 
   After completion of this user registration process, the ticket registration part  113  submits a ticket registration request to the ticket management part  105  to register a ticket about transmission of information of the user  100  in order to make the user  100  take part in formation of the community (S 95 ). This causes an address or the like of a page for transmission of information from the user  100  to be registered in the form of a ticket with the ticket management part  105 , and the above ticket search process and others bring the page of the user  100  into an accessible state to the other users forming the community. 
   For example, supposing the user  100  is person A, a ticket as shown in  FIG. 19  is registered with the ticket management part  105 . Since “petfoodID=4901234petfood232” being the common information to the members in the community operated by the petfood group is set in the permission information of the ticket of  FIG. 19  herein, the other users in the community are permitted to consult the A&#39;s page by the permission information in the ticket of  FIG. 19 . 
   Then the personal information management part  114  performs an update process of giving an ID indicating membership of the community to the personal information of the user  100  in the personal information  109  (S 96 ). This permits the user  100  to consult information transmitted by participants forming other communities. The personal information in the personal information  109  can be updated in this way by the personal information management part  114 . It is, however, assumed herein that at the update the personal information management part  114  performs the update on the condition that it receives an update permission from the user  100  as a target for the update or from the procedure process executer  106 . 
   For example,  FIG. 20B  shows an example of A&#39;s personal information after the registration. As shown in this  FIG. 20B , after person A is registered as a user in the community, petfoodID=4901234petfood232 is automatically added as A&#39;s personal information. 
   When person A in this state submits a service provider presentation request with 4901234petfood232 as a search ID, the above processing of  FIG. 21  results in selecting the three tickets of  FIGS. 16A–16C  with ID: 4901234petfood232 as candidates for presentation. However, since the above update resulted in registering petfoodID=4901234petfood232 as A&#39;s personal information, the permission information in the tickets of  FIGS. 16B and 16C  comes to agree with the A&#39;s personal information, thus permitting person A to consult the B&#39;s page and C&#39;s page corresponding to these tickets. Accordingly, the accessible service provider presentation screen presented to person A after the membership registration includes the display of the information about the ticket of  FIG. 16A  (the Web page of petfood) and the display of the link information of the B&#39;s and C&#39;s pages corresponding to the tickets of  FIGS. 16B and 16C  (links to the respective pages), as shown in  FIG. 20A . 
   As described above, the second embodiment allows the user to be registered as a user in a community, whereby the ticket registration process (S 95  in  FIG. 18 ) and the personal information update process (S 96 ) are automatically executed, so as to permit the user to participate in the information transmission type community managed by a plurality of scattered servers. The present embodiment facilitates formation of a community and enables interconnection of information transmission pages without complicated efforts to construct the link information and affiliation relation. 
   It is noted that the present invention can also be applied to control over general information provision, in addition to the operation of communities, without having to be limited to the application to communities. 
   In the present invention, in the process of developing the processing from a search for a certain ticket to a search for a new ticket, the processing may be developed using a “new ID (ID corresponding to a new ticket)” included in the original ticket, as a key, or the processing to the search for the new ticket may be developed by first deriving a “new ID” on the basis of “various information” included in the original ticket without being limited to the “ID,” and using the “new ID” as a key. 
   As described above, the present invention has substantiated the decrease of the efforts to construct the link information and affiliation relation prepared for linkage with many service providers (or information providers) and the timely service provision and information provision suitable for the users, for both the service providers (or information providers) and the users.