Patent ID: 7676399

Claim:
A user apparatus for use in a quantitative competition method comprising: a storage part configured to store M integral values defined by upper and lower limits V M and V 1 for comparison; an input part, comprising hardware or a combination of hardware and software, configured to input, an intended value V vi equal to or larger than said value V 1 and equal to or smaller than said value V M ; a sequence-of-information generating part, comprising hardware or a combination of hardware and software, supplied with said values V vi , V 1 and V M , configured to generate and output, two M-element sequences of information s i and t i , wherein corresponding elements of said two M-element sequences of information s i and t i equal each other in a range from said lower-limit value V 1 inclusive to said intended value V vi exclusive and differ from each other in a range from said intended value V vi inclusive to said upper-limit value V M inclusive, or two M-element sequences of information s i and t, wherein corresponding elements of said two M-element sequences of information s i and t i ,differ from each other in a range from said lower-limit value V 1 inclusive to said intended value V vi inclusive and equal each other in a range from a value V vi+1 inclusive to said upper-limit value V M inclusive, said M being a number of values selectable as said intended value V vi equal to or larger than said value V 1 and equal to or smaller than said value V M ; a one-way function calculating part, comprising hardware or a combination of hardware and software, supplied with said sequences of information s i and t i , configured to calculate one-way functions of said sequences of information s i and t i and output calculation results H 1 i and H 2 i ; and a transmitting part, comprising hardware or a combination of hardware and software, configured to send said sequence of information s i to a first quantitative competition apparatus, said sequence of information t i to a second quantitative competition apparatus, and said H 1 i and H 2 i to a bulletin board apparatus so that verification of a fair quantitative competition can be made.