Patent ID: 7171447

Claim:
A method executed on a server connected to a terminal device comprising the steps of: receiving an authentication request including information for user authentication and information about terminal specification, in response to said terminal device detecting insertion of a memory device storing said user authentication information, wherein said memory device is divided into areas designated by a memory map, one of said areas containing personal information relating to a user of the memory device and another of said areas containing each terminal information relating to a kind of said terminal device; storing said user authentication information on said server in association with said information about terminal specification for future communication with said terminal device associated with said information about terminal specification when said user authentication information is authenticated; converting information to be transmitted to said terminal device into information conformed to said terminal device based on said received information about terminal specification; transmitting said converted information to said terminal device; and forming a group of a plurality of users by producing a group ID in response to a group forming request transmitted by said terminal device, for recording an other terminal device into said group in response to receiving said group ID from said other terminal device, and for transmitting information sent from a user belonging to said group to another user belonging to said group.