Patent ID: 8645427

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, of the server, 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 the database so as to indicate a direct relationship between the first member and the second member when the received second message is communicated to the first terminal; a data receiver, of the server, 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 and also to, in response to receiving the identification code of the first member and third member, search the database specifically for one or more fourth members directly related to both the first member and the third member, and communicate the identification code of at least a subset of the retrieved one or more fourth members to the first terminal.