Patent ID: 7496603

Claim:
An apparatus including a human relationships registering server connected to members' terminals via a communication network, the apparatus comprising: a database configured to store identification codes of members who exchanged a first message wishing to establish a human relationship and a second message agreeing to establish a human relationship; a message communicator configured to receive a first message indicating that a first member wishes to establish a human relationship with a second member from a first member's terminal, communicate the received first message to a second member's terminal, receive a second message indicating that the second member agrees to establish a human relationship with the first member from the second terminal, and communicate the received second message to the first terminal; a data storer configured to store a first member's identification code and a second member's identification code in association with each other in the database when the received second message is communicated to the first terminal; a data receiver configured to receive the first member's identification code from the first terminal; and a data retriever configured to receive key words of a search criteria including a third member's identification code from the first terminal, retrieve a fourth member's identification code stored in association with the third member's identification code and also stored in association with the first member's identification code from the database, and communicate the retrieved fourth member's identification code to the first terminal.