Patent ID: 8402271

Claim:
A user information providing system, comprising: at least one multi-functional peripheral; a service providing apparatus which works with the multi-functional peripheral; and an authenticating apparatus which performs user authentication, the authenticating apparatus being connected through a network to the multi-functional peripheral and the service providing apparatus, and when the service providing apparatus is utilized through the multi-functional peripheral, user authentication is performed and user information is provided to the service providing apparatus, the authenticating apparatus, associating with identification information of a user in advance, holds authentication information of the user and the user information, performs user authentication based on input of the authentication information of the user for the multi-functional peripheral, transmits the identification information of the user to the multi-functional peripheral by authentication, and is allowed access to the service providing apparatus through the multi-functional peripheral by receiving the identification information, the service providing apparatus, by receiving a service request from the multi-functional peripheral and the identification information, transmits the identification information to the authenticating apparatus through the multi-functional peripheral, and thereby obtains the user information transmitted from the authenticating apparatus through the multi-functional peripheral, wherein the service providing apparatus receives only the user information corresponding to a display name and an electronic mail address of the user, without receiving the authentication information of the user, the service providing apparatus, when requesting the user information, further transmits service identification information which identifies a service which is provided by the service providing apparatus together with the identification information of the user to the authenticating apparatus through the multi-functional peripheral, and the authenticating apparatus further holds the service identification information which is accessible by the user by associating with the identification information of the user in advance, and when the service identification information received from the service providing apparatus is held in association with the identification information of the user, sends back the user information related to the identification information of the user to the service providing apparatus through the multi-functional peripheral.