Patent ID: 7089388

Claim:
A terminal coupled to a control apparatus having a database via a network and a storage medium having a unique ID information and storing attribute information, the terminal comprising: a unit that reads out the ID information from the storage medium; a unit that transmits the ID information to the control apparatus; a unit that receives information which has been stored in the database and was retrieved based on the ID information; a temporary database; a unit that stores some of the pieces of ID information and some of the pieces of stored information that have been stored in the database and are associated with at least one attribute information in the temporary database; wherein the unit that reads out the ID information further reads out the attribute information from the storage medium, and checks whether the ID information is stored in the temporary database, and if the ID information is not stored in the temporary database, the terminal executes the steps of: retrieving ID information and stored information associated with the attribute information from the database of the control apparatus; and updating the temporary database by using the information retrieved from the control apparatus.