Abstract: A preference-information gathering system is capable of gathering information on every commodity and/or every service, which are each of interest to a user, as user's preference information. The preference-information gathering system includes a user portable terminal capable of storing a user identifier uniquely identifying the user, an information searching apparatus and a preference-information management apparatus for managing the information on preferences with the user. The information searching apparatus has a search-information inputting unit for requesting a user to enter search information to be used in a process to search for information desired by the user and a user-identifier acquisition unit for acquiring a user identifier.

Abstract: A preference-information gathering system is capable of gathering information on every commodity and/or every service, which are each of interest to a user, as user's preference information. The preference-information gathering system includes a user portable terminal capable of storing a user identifier uniquely identifying the user, an information searching apparatus and a preference-information management apparatus for managing the information on preferences with the user. The information searching apparatus has a search-information inputting unit for requesting a user to enter search information to be used in a process to search for information desired by the user and a user-identifier acquisition unit for acquiring a user identifier.

Abstract: A preference-information gathering system is capable of gathering information on every commodity and/or every service, which are each of interest to a user, as user's preference information. The preference-information gathering system includes a user portable terminal (102) capable of storing a user identifier uniquely identifying the user, an information searching apparatus (104) and a preference-information management apparatus (114) for managing the information on preferences with the user. The information searching apparatus (104) has a search-information inputting unit (108) for requesting a user to enter search information to be used in a process to search for information desired by the user and a user-identifier acquisition unit (110) for acquiring a user identifier.

Abstract: A preference-information gathering system is capable of gathering information on every commodity and/or every service, which are each of interest to a user, as user's preference information. The preference-information gathering system includes a user portable terminal (102) capable of storing a user identifier uniquely identifying the user, an information searching apparatus (104) and a preference-information management apparatus (114) for managing the information on preferences with the user. The information searching apparatus (104) has a search-information inputting unit (108) for requesting a user to enter search information to be used in a process to search for information desired by the user and a user-identifier acquisition unit (110) for acquiring a user identifier.

Abstract: When a data transmission apparatus transmits data to a data reception apparatus, a band management table storage section maintains a band management table. This table describes band availability identification information based on a relationship between a split band obtained by dividing a data communication band and a band transmission time interval for each split band via a communication line. A global resource management table storage section maintains a global resource management table which indicates states of the data transmission apparatus and the data reception apparatus. A table management section references the band management table and the global resource management table based on a transmission condition request from the data transmission apparatus. An alternative creation section creates an alternative transmission condition indicative of a condition for allowing the data transmission apparatus to send data to the data reception apparatus.