Patent ID: 7595905

Claim:
An information management device comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive requests from a plurality of client devices; a management-table memory unit configured to store a management table managing the requests received by the receiving unit based on a receiving order; a determining unit configured to determine whether each request received by the receiving unit is registerable in the management table based on a request number in the management table; a registering unit configured to register the request in the management table when the request is determined by the determining unit to be registerable in the management table; a numbered-ticket issuing unit configured to issue an unregistered numbered ticket given a reference number in correspondence with the receiving order, when the request is determined by the determining unit to be non-registerable in the management table, and to send the unregistered numbered ticket to one of the plurality of client devices from which the request was sent, the unregistered numbered ticket indicating that the request is not registered in the management table; and a numbered-ticket management unit configured to manage the unregistered numbered tickets which are issued by the numbered-ticket issuing unit based on a lowest reference number of the valid unregistered numbered tickets, wherein the numbered-ticket management unit controls the registering unit to register the request in the management table when the unregistered numbered ticket is attached to the request, the request is determined by the determining unit to be registerable in the management table based on the request number in the management table, and the reference number of the unregistered numbered ticket attached to the request is the lowest reference number.