Patent ID: 7233941

Claim:
An information retrieval system comprising: a network, a user terminal connected to said network, an information retrieval server, information storage server and information sending servers, said information retrieval server and said information storage server being accessible with each other via said network, wherein said user terminal includes: means for accessing said information retrieval server or said information storage server; means for transmitting an information retrieval request to said information retrieval server with a keyword for information retrieval; means for transmitting a storage request of an information retrieval result to said information storage server, said storage request comprising a storage period for storing said information retrieval result; means for accessing said information retrieval result provided by at least one of said information retrieval server and information storage server; and means for receiving information from said information retrieval server via electronic mail, wherein said information retrieval server includes means for receiving an information retrieval request from said user terminal and collecting information including said keyword from a plurality of information sending servers as said information retrieval result, means for storing said information retrieval result depending upon said storage request from said user terminal and managing said storage period, and means for transmitting information to said user terminal via electronic mail, and wherein said information storage server stores and deletes said information retrieval result under control of said information retrieval server.