Address inquiry system, computer software product, and address inquiry method
First Claim
1. An address inquiry system for informing an inquirer of a new address of a changer based on an old address of the changer via an Internet, the old address having been changed to the new address, the system comprising:
- a data base relationally storing at least the old address, the new address, and an address disclosing condition capable of setting a condition whereby the changer judges whether to give permission to disclose the new address such that the changer controls who has access to the new address;
a means for searching the new address corresponding to the old address and the address disclosing condition from the data base when the inquirer sends an inquiry including the old address;
a means for making the changer confirm whether the new address is disclosed when the address disclosing condition in searching includes the set condition;
a means for informing the inquirer of the new address via the system when the changer permits the disclosure of the new address; and
a means for refusing an inquiry from the inquirer via the system when the changer refuses to permit the disclosure of the new address,wherein the data base includes a list of specific inquirers who are refused inquiries about the new address,wherein the means for refusing adds the inquirer to the list and informs the inquirer that the inquiry is refused when the changer refuses to permit the disclosure of the new address, and refuses a subsequent inquiry from the inquirer included in the list until the changer changes a refusal status for the inquirer, andwherein, if the inquirer inquires of the new address twice and was refused, then future requests from the inquirers to the changer are not forwarded to the changer.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
This system includes a changer data base, in which a changer registers his or her own new address, relationally storing a new address disclosing condition for an inquirer who wishes to know the new address of the changer, a disclosure judge judging whether to disclose the new address to the inquirer based on the new address disclosing condition when the inquirer inquirers about the new address with the presentation of an old address of the changer, and a discloser disclosing the new address of the changer to the inquirer if the disclosure judge judges that the new address is disclosed. Hence, various responses, with a high degree of freedom, can be made depending on a changer'"'"'s intention when an inquiry about the new address after change of the changer is sent from an inquirer.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. An address inquiry system for informing an inquirer of a new address of a changer based on an old address of the changer via an Internet, the old address having been changed to the new address, the system comprising:
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a data base relationally storing at least the old address, the new address, and an address disclosing condition capable of setting a condition whereby the changer judges whether to give permission to disclose the new address such that the changer controls who has access to the new address; a means for searching the new address corresponding to the old address and the address disclosing condition from the data base when the inquirer sends an inquiry including the old address; a means for making the changer confirm whether the new address is disclosed when the address disclosing condition in searching includes the set condition; a means for informing the inquirer of the new address via the system when the changer permits the disclosure of the new address; and a means for refusing an inquiry from the inquirer via the system when the changer refuses to permit the disclosure of the new address, wherein the data base includes a list of specific inquirers who are refused inquiries about the new address, wherein the means for refusing adds the inquirer to the list and informs the inquirer that the inquiry is refused when the changer refuses to permit the disclosure of the new address, and refuses a subsequent inquiry from the inquirer included in the list until the changer changes a refusal status for the inquirer, and wherein, if the inquirer inquires of the new address twice and was refused, then future requests from the inquirers to the changer are not forwarded to the changer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system for making an inquiry about an address, comprising:
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an address data base, in which a registrant registers his or her own address, relationally storing an address disclosing condition for an inquirer who wishes to know the address of the registrant such that the registrant controls who has access to his or her own address; a disclosure judging means for judging whether to disclose the address to the inquirer based on the address disclosing condition when the inquirer makes an inquiry about the address of the registrant; an address disclosing means for disclosing the address of the registrant to the inquirer via the system if the disclosure judging means judges that the address is disclosed, wherein the disclosing condition includes information about inquirers to whom the address is disclosed or not disclosed; and an address disclosure refusing means for refusing to disclose the address of the registrant to the inquirer via the system if the disclosure judging means judges that the address is refused to be disclosed until the registrant changes a refusal status for the inquirer, wherein the disclosure judging means includes a confirming means for making the registrant confirm whether the address is disclosed to the inquirer when the inquirer who inquires about the address is not registered in the inquirers in the disclosing condition, wherein the confirming means informs the registrant of the attribute information about the inquirer at the time of confirmation, and includes a disclosing condition registering means for receiving a confirmation result from the registrant and registering the inquirer in the disclosing condition as an inquirer to whom the address is disclosed or not disclosed, wherein the address data base stores one, or two or more old addresses of the registrant, wherein the disclosure judging means receives the old address of the registrant in the inquiry about the address of the registrant from the inquirer and acquires the address disclosing condition of the registrant by searching the address data base with this old address, and wherein, if the inquirer inquires of the new address twice and was refused, then future requests from the inquirers to the registrant are not forwarded to the registrant. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for inquiring about an address of a registrant with a system connecting to an Internet, comprising:
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an inquiry receiving step of receiving an inquiry about the address of the registrant from an inquirer; a registration judging step of judging whether the registrant is registered in an address data base; a disclosure judging step of judging whether the address is disclosed to the inquirer based on a predetermined disclosing condition when the registrant is registered in the address data base; an address disclosing step of disclosing the address of the registrant to the inquirer via the system if it is judged that the address is disclosed in the disclosure judging step such that the registrant controls who has access to the address of the registrant; and and address disclosure refusing step of refusing to disclose the address of the registrant to the inquirer via the system if it is judged that the address is refused to be disclosed in the disclosure judging step until the registrant changes a refusal status for the inquirer, wherein the disclosing condition includes information about inquirers to whom the address is disclosed or not disclosed, wherein the disclosure judging step includes a confirming step of making the registrant confirm whether the address is disclosed to the inquirer when the inquirer who inquires about the address is not registered in the inquirers in the disclosing condition, wherein the confirming step includes a reporting step or reporting attribute information about the inquirer to the registrant, and a disclosing condition registering step of receiving a confirmation result from the registrant and registering the inquirer in the disclosing condition as an inquirer to whom the address is disclosed or not disclosed, and wherein it is judged whether the registrant is registered by searching the data base with an old address of the registrant in the registration judging step, and wherein, if the inquirer inquires of the new address twice and was refused, then future requests from the inquirers to the registrant are not forwarded to the registrant. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. An address inquiry system for informing an inquirer of a new address of a changer based on an old address of the changer via an Internet, the old address having been changed to the new address, the system comprising:
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a data base relationally storing at least the old address, the new address, and an address disclosing condition capable of setting a condition whereby the changer judges whether to give permission to disclose the new address such that the changer controls who has access to the new address; a search device which searches the new address corresponding to the old address and the address disclosing condition from the data base when the inquirer sends an inquiry including the old address; a change confirmation device which makes the changer confirm whether the new address is disclosed when the address disclosing condition in searching includes the set condition; an informing device which informs the inquirer of the new address via the system when the changer permits the disclosure of the new address; and a refusal device which refuses an inquiry from the inquirer via the system when the changer refuses to permit the disclosure of the new address, wherein the data base includes a list of specific inquirers who are refused inquiries about the new address, wherein the refusal device adds the inquirer to the list and informs the inquirer that the inquiry is refused when the changer refuses to permit the disclosure of the new address, and refuses a subsequent inquiry from the inquirer included in the list until the changer changes a refusal status for the inquirer, and wherein, if the inquirer inquires of the new address twice and was refused, then future requests from the inquirers to the changer are not forwarded to the changer.
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Specification