Patent ID: 7568033

Claim:
An image storage system comprising: an image accumulation server including an image storage section for recording image information, the image storage system for storing image information transferred via a communication line in the image storage section, wherein the image accumulation server has a storage area management section for managing a storage area of the image storage section and a customer information management section for managing customer information concerning a customer making a request for storing the image information wherein the customer information is for a single customer, wherein the storage area management section sets the storage area so as to reserve a predetermined capacity for one customer as the initial state to store the image information and after the expiration of a predetermined time period, again sets the service providing contents for each customer including the storage area and usage charge in the next predetermined time period in response to the customer information, wherein the storage area management section uses an image-related service order history including at least one of image information print service for printing the images stored in the storage area of the customer and image processing service for processing the images stored in the storage area of the customer as the customer information and if the customer uses the at least one of the image information print service for printing any of the images stored in the storage area of the customer and the image processing service for processing any of the images stored in the storage area of the customer after the expiration of the predetermined time period, the storage area management section increases the storage area in the next predetermined time period, and wherein the storage area management section uses a retention history of image information as the customer information, the retention history of image information comprises a value indicating a number of stored images in the predetermined time period.