Management server, management method and program

Abstract

To provide a technology for tracking use relation between a first object and a second object while securing security.SOLUTION: A management server according to one aspect of the present disclosure receives a first identifier, a first unique information, a second identifier, and a second unique information in response to use relation occurring between a first object and a second object; sends the received first identifier and first unique information to a first server, to request authentication of the first object; sends the received second identifier and second unique information to a second server, to request authentication of the second object; and sets correspondence between the first identifier and the second identifier when authentication of both the first object and the second object is established.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a management server, a management method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 proposes a toll collection system for collecting fees for services from vehicle users using a medium such as a card. Specifically, the toll collection system proposed in Patent Document 1 is configured to allocate the billing of expressway usage fees for a target rental car to a target user based on the ID of an ETC (Electronic Toll Collection System) card, the rental car company, the date and time of rental car use, and the correspondence between the rental car user (billing information, registration information, payment information, and usage information). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2022-140747 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] One objective of the present disclosure is to provide a technique for tracking a usage relationship between a first object and a second object while ensuring security. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A management server according to a first aspect of the present disclosure includes a control unit, which is configured to execute the following in response to the occurrence of a usage relationship between a first target and a second target: receiving a first identifier of the first target, a first unique information of the first target, a second identifier of the second target, and a second unique information of the second target from at least one of a first terminal of the first target and a second terminal of the second target, requesting the first server to authenticate the first target by transmitting the received first identifier and the first unique information to the first server, receiving a result of the authentication of the first target from the first server, requesting the second server to authenticate the second target by transmitting the received second identifier and the second unique information to the second server, receiving a result of the authentication of the second target from the second server, and, when authentication of both the first target and the second target is established in the received authentication result, setting a correspondence relationship between the first identifier and the second identifier.

[0006] A management method according to a second aspect of the present disclosure is an information processing method in which, in response to the occurrence of a usage relationship between a first target and a second target, a management server receives a first identifier of the first target, a first unique information of the first target, a second identifier of the second target, and a second unique information of the second target from at least one of a first terminal of the first target and a second terminal of the second target, requests the first server to authenticate the first target by sending the received first identifier and the first unique information to the first server, receives a result of the authentication of the first target from the first server, requests the second server to authenticate the second target by sending the received second identifier and the second unique information to a second server, receives a result of the authentication of the second target from the second server, and, if authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful in the received authentication result, sets a correspondence relationship between the first identifier and the second identifier.

[0007] A program according to a third aspect of the present disclosure includes, in a first terminal of a first target, when a usage relationship occurs between the first target and a second target, during data exchange with a second terminal of the second target, The program executes the following operations: by providing first unique information of the first target to the second terminal, causing the second terminal to send the first unique information to an administration server on behalf of the first terminal; by acquiring second unique information of the second target from the second target; and by sending the acquired second unique information to the administration server, the program causes the administration server to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information and authentication of the second target using the second unique information; and, if authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, sets a correspondence between the first identifier of the first target and the second identifier of the second target. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a technique for tracking a usage relationship between a first object and a second object while ensuring security. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a situation to which the present disclosure is applied. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an example of a scenario to which the present disclosure is applied. [Figure 3A] FIG. 3A illustrates an example of the linking information according to the present embodiment. [Figure 3B] FIG. 3B illustrates an example of user information according to the present embodiment. [Figure 3C] FIG. 3C illustrates an example of moving object information according to the present embodiment. [Figure 4A] FIG. 4A illustrates an example of a process of canceling a link according to this embodiment. [Figure 4B] FIG. 4B illustrates an example of a simplified link setting process according to this embodiment. [Diagram 5]FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a situation in which the association information according to the present embodiment is used. [Figure 6A] FIG. 6A illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a management server according to this embodiment. [Figure 6B] FIG. 6B illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of the first server according to this embodiment. [Figure 6C] FIG. 6C illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of the second server according to this embodiment. [Figure 6D] FIG. 6D illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of the first terminal according to this embodiment. [Figure 6E] FIG. 6E illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a second terminal according to the present embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 shows an example of a software configuration of each device according to the present embodiment. [Figure 8A] FIG. 8A shows an example of a processing procedure for linking settings according to this embodiment. [Figure 8B] FIG. 8B shows an example of a processing procedure for canceling association according to this embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 shows an example of a process of linking in the 1-1 representative pattern according to this embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 shows an example of a processing procedure for linking settings in the 1-1 proxy pattern according to this embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a modified example of the process of linking setting in the representative pattern 1-1 according to the present embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 shows an example of a process of linking in the 1-2 representative pattern according to this embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 shows an example of a processing procedure for linking settings in the 1-2 proxy pattern according to this embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing a modified example of the process of linking setting in the representative pattern 1-2 according to the present embodiment. [Figure 15]FIG. 15 shows an example of a process of linking settings in the second representative pattern according to the present embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 16 shows an example of a processing procedure for linking settings in the second proxy pattern according to this embodiment. [Figure 17] FIG. 17 shows an example of a process of linking in the third representative pattern according to the present embodiment. [Figure 18] FIG. 18 shows an example of a processing procedure for granting proxy authority in the third proxy pattern according to this embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] According to the system proposed in Patent Document 1, a user can pay highway tolls by ETC even if he or she does not have an ETC card. However, the inventors of the present invention found that the conventional system has the following problems.

[0011] That is, with the diversification of MaaS (Mobility as a Service), it is considered that there will be a demand to track the use of a mobile object by a user while ensuring security from the viewpoint of convenience such as efficient payment. In contrast, in a conventional system, it is possible to hold the correspondence between the use date and time and the user as usage information according to the rental car contract or reservation, but since this usage date and time depends on the contract or reservation, the usage information does not necessarily match the actual use of the rental car by the user. In addition, for a vehicle used without a contract or reservation (e.g., a private car), the generation of usage information is not assumed in the first place. Therefore, according to the conventional system, it is difficult to track the use of a mobile object by a user while ensuring security. It should be noted that this problem does not occur only in a situation where a vehicle is used. The same problem may occur in a situation where a mobile object other than a vehicle (e.g., an aircraft, a ship, etc.) is used and in a situation where multiple types of mobile objects are used. Furthermore, the same problem may occur in any usage situation other than a mobile object.

[0012] In response to the occurrence of a usage relationship between a first target and a second target, the management server includes a control unit configured to execute the following: receive a first identifier of the first target, a first unique information of the first target, a second identifier of the second target, and a second unique information of the second target from at least one of a first terminal of the first target and a second terminal of the second target, request the first server to authenticate the first target by transmitting the received first identifier and the first unique information to the first server, receive a result of the authentication of the first target from the first server, request the second server to authenticate the second target by transmitting the received second identifier and the second unique information to the second server, receive a result of the authentication of the second target from the second server, and, when authentication of both the first target and the second target is established in the received authentication result, set a correspondence relationship between the first identifier and the second identifier.

[0013] In the first aspect of the present disclosure, in response to the occurrence of a usage relationship between the first target and the second target, the first server and the second server respectively authenticate the first target and the second target. These two authentications are expected to ensure security. Furthermore, when both the authentications of the first target and the second target are established, a correspondence relationship (linking) between the first identifier and the second identifier is set. By recording this linking setting, the usage relationship between the first target and the second target can be traced. Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the usage relationship between the first target and the second target can be traced while ensuring security.

[0014] In addition, the embodiment of the present disclosure may not be limited to the above example. As another embodiment of the management server according to the above aspect, one aspect of the present disclosure may be an information processing method or a program that realizes all or part of the above components, or a program that stores such a program. The storage medium may be a storage medium readable by a machine such as a computer. Here, the storage medium readable by a machine is a medium that stores information such as a program by electrical, magnetic, optical, mechanical, or chemical action. In addition, one aspect of the present disclosure may be any of a first server, a second server, a first terminal, and a second terminal related to the management server according to the above aspect. Furthermore, one aspect of the present disclosure may be an information processing method related to any of the first server, the second server, the first terminal, and the second terminal, or may be a program, or may be a storage medium storing such a program.

[0015] For example, a management method according to a second aspect of the present disclosure may be an information processing method in which a management server, in response to the occurrence of a usage relationship between a first target and a second target, receives a first identifier of the first target, a first unique information of the first target, a second identifier of the second target, and a second unique information of the second target from at least one of a first terminal of the first target and a second terminal of the second target, requests the first server to authenticate the first target by transmitting the received first identifier and the first unique information to the first server, receives a result of the authentication of the first target from the first server, requests the second server to authenticate the second target by transmitting the received second identifier and the second unique information to a second server, receives a result of the authentication of the second target from the second server, and, if authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful in the received authentication result, sets a correspondence relationship between the first identifier and the second identifier.

[0016] Furthermore, for example, a program related to a third aspect of the present disclosure may be a program for causing a first terminal of a first target to, when a usage relationship occurs between the first target and a second target, provide first unique information of the first target to the second terminal during data exchange with a second terminal of the second target, thereby causing the second terminal to send the first unique information to an administration server on behalf of the first terminal, acquire second unique information of the second target from the second target, and send the acquired second unique information to the administration server, thereby causing the administration server to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information and authentication of the second target using the second unique information, and when authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, set a correspondence relationship between the first identifier of the first target and the second identifier of the second target.

[0017] Hereinafter, an embodiment according to one aspect of the present disclosure (hereinafter also referred to as "the present embodiment") will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present embodiment described below is merely an example of the present disclosure in all respects. Various improvements or modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In implementing the present disclosure, a specific configuration according to the embodiment may be appropriately adopted. Note that while the data appearing in this embodiment is described in natural language, more specifically, it is specified in pseudo-language, commands, parameters, machine language, etc. that can be recognized by a computer.

[0018] [1 Application example] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example of a situation in which the present disclosure is applied. The management system 100 according to the present embodiment includes a management server 1, a first server 2, and a second server 3. The management server 1 is one or more computers configured to record a correspondence (linking) between a first target and a second target. The first server 2 is one or more computers configured to authenticate the first target. The second server 3 is one or more computers configured to authenticate the second target. The first server 2 and the second server 3 may each be referred to as an authentication server, an ID (identification) server, or the like.

[0019] In this embodiment, when a usage relationship occurs between a first target and a second target, data exchange is performed between the first terminal 4 of the first target and the second terminal 5 of the second target (step SA10). , step SB10). Then, the first identifier I10 of the first target, the first unique information C1 of the first target, the second identifier I20 of the second target, and the second unique information C2 of the second target are transmitted to the management server 1 from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. As a result, the management server 1 receives the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2 in real time from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 in response to the occurrence of a usage relationship between the first target and the second target (step SA20, step SB20). The transmission of these data by at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may be treated as the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 requesting the management server 1 to set a correspondence relationship (linking).

[0020] The management server 1 transmits the received first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 to the first server 2, thereby requesting the first server 2 to authenticate the first target in real time (step SA30). As an example, the first server 2 is configured to be able to access the first target information O10 including the first registered unique information C10 of the first target in order to authenticate the first target (for example, the first target information O10 is held in a storage unit). The registered unique information is unique information registered in advance for authentication. The first server 2 extracts the first registered unique information C10 of the first target from the first target information O10 by searching the first target information O10 using the first identifier I10 as a query. The first server 2 compares the extracted first registered unique information C10 with the received first unique information C1. The comparison may be performed by any method. Depending on the result of the comparison, the first server 2 determines whether the authentication of the first target is successful or not. The first server 2 returns the result of the authentication of the first target to the management server 1. In response to this, the management server 1 receives the result of authentication of the first object from the first server 2 (step SA40).

[0021] Moreover, the management server 1 transmits the received second identifier I20 and second unique information C2 to the second server 3, thereby requesting the second server 3 to authenticate the second target in real time (step SB30). As an example, the second server 3 is configured to be able to access the second target information O20 including the second registered unique information C20 of the second target in order to authenticate the second target (for example, the second target information O20 is stored in a storage unit). The second server 3 extracts the second registered unique information C20 of the second target from the second target information O20 by searching the second target information O20 using the second identifier I20 as a query. The second server 3 compares the extracted second registered unique information C20 with the received second unique information C2. The comparison may be performed by any method. Depending on the result of the comparison, the second server 3 determines whether the authentication of the second target is successful. The second server 3 returns the result of the authentication of the second target to the management server 1. In response, the management server 1 receives the result of authentication of the second target from the second server 3 (step SB40).

[0022] The management server 1 judges whether or not the authentication of both the first and second targets is established according to the reply contents from each server (2, 3) (step SC10). If the authentication of both the first and second targets is established, the management server 1 sets a correspondence (linking) between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 (step SC20). In one example, the management server 1 generates linking information D10 indicating the setting of the correspondence between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20, and stores the generated linking information D10. On the other hand, if the authentication of at least one of the first and second targets is not established, the management server 1 does not set the correspondence between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20, and omits the process of setting the correspondence. The management server 1 may return the result of this linking process to at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 (step SC30). Note that a series of processes from data exchange between the terminals (4, 5) to linking setting may be executed in real time according to the occurrence of a usage relationship. The established link (correspondence) may be appropriately released in response to the disappearance of the usage relationship between the first object and the second object. Setting the correspondence between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 may be treated as setting the correspondence between the first object and the second object.

[0023] As described above, in this embodiment, in response to the occurrence of a usage relationship between the first target and the second target, the first server 2 and the second server 3 respectively authenticate the first target and the second target (step SA30, step SA40, step SB30, step SB40). These two authentications are expected to ensure security. Furthermore, when the authentication of both the first target and the second target is established, a correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 is set (step SC10, step SC20). The record of this association setting (association information D10) makes it possible to trace the usage relationship between the first target and the second target. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the usage relationship between the first target and the second target can be traced while ensuring security.

[0024] (subject) The first object and the second object may not be particularly limited as long as a relationship of use can be established, and may be appropriately selected according to the embodiment. The first object and the second object may be any object, such as an object, a human, or another living thing. Any object may include a virtual object. The establishment of a relationship of use may be, for example, the occurrence of a real or virtual relationship between at least two objects, such as one using the other, one possessing the other, one combining with the other, or one connecting with the other. The management system 100 of the present disclosure may be used in any situation where a correspondence relationship between two or more objects is tracked.

[0025] (Terminal) Each terminal (4, 5) is related to each target. The relationship between each terminal (4, 5) and each target is not particularly limited and may be appropriately determined according to the embodiment. In one example, either the first terminal 4 or the second terminal 5 may be carried by the corresponding target. Either the first terminal 4 or the second terminal 5 may be loaded on the corresponding target. Loading may include being placed on the target at all times, as well as being placed on the target at least temporarily when the target is used. Loading may include being carried by a user of the target. Also, either the first terminal 4 or the second terminal 5 may be each target itself.

[0026] (Unique information) Each piece of unique information (C1, C2) is used to authenticate each object. As long as each piece of unique information (C1, C2) can be used to authenticate each object, its data format and configuration are not particularly limited and may be appropriately selected according to the embodiment. Each piece of unique information (C1, C2) may be composed of any information, such as information derived from each object, information derived from each terminal, information generated temporarily, or information generated by any other method.

[0027] The information derived from each object may be, for example, biometric information, uniquely assigned identification information, etc. The biometric information may be, for example, a face image, a fingerprint, a voiceprint, etc. The uniquely assigned identification information may be, for example, a vehicle registration number, a vehicle identification number (VIN), a personal number, etc. When an IC tag is assigned to the object, the uniquely assigned identification information may include information held by the IC tag.

[0028] The information derived from each terminal may be, for example, a MAC address (Media Access Control address), terminal identification information (IMEI: International Mobile Equipment Identifier, IMSI: International Mobile Subscriber Identity, MEID: Mobile Equipment Identifier, ICCID: Integrated Circuit Card ID, other serial numbers, etc.), etc.

[0029] The temporarily generated information may be, for example, a one-time password, a private address (dynamically generated address), etc. The temporarily generated information may be composed of a timestamp, a random number, a hash value, etc. Information generated by any other method may be, For example, it may include a password, a passcode, other information other than a symbol string, etc. Note that at least a part of the information such as the identification information and the information derived from the terminal may be used as an identifier instead of unique information.

[0030] Each piece of unique information (C1, C2) may be acquired appropriately. In one example, at least one of the first unique information C1 and the second unique information C2 may be held in advance in a corresponding terminal. For example, the first unique information C1 may be held in the first terminal 4. In another example, at least one of the first unique information C1 and the second unique information C2 may be acquired by any device such as an input device or a sensor. For example, when the first object is a human and the first unique information C1 is a face image, the face image may be acquired by an image sensor (camera).

[0031] (identifier) Each identifier (I10, I20) is used to identify each object. As long as each identifier (I10, I20) can identify each object, the data format and configuration are not particularly limited and may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment. In one example, each identifier (I10, I20) may be composed of a symbol string including numbers, letters, etc.

[0032] Each identifier (I10, I20) may be appropriately acquired, similar to each unique information (C1, C2). In one example, at least one of the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 may be held in advance in the corresponding terminal. In another example, at least one of the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 may be acquired by any device such as an input device or a sensor. For example, the identifier may be obtained by input via the input device. Also, for example, the identifier may be converted into a code, and the identifier may be obtained by reading (decoding) the code.

[0033] (1st server / 2nd server) The first server 2 and the second server 3 may each be configured with one or more server devices. The first server 2 and the second server 3 may each be configured to manage object information (O10, O20) related to each object. The object information (O10, O20) may be held in one or more storage devices arranged at least either inside or outside each server (2, 3).

[0034] In this embodiment, each target information (O10, O20) includes each registered unique information (C10, C20) used for authenticating each target. Each registered unique information (C10, C20) corresponds to each unique information (C1, C2) acquired during authentication. Each unique information (C10, C20) may be registered in advance at any timing before a linking request such as account creation or addition of a new target.

[0035] The success or failure of authentication of each target is determined according to the result of matching each unique information (C1, C2) received from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 with each registered unique information (C10, C20). The matching method may be appropriately selected according to the embodiment. In a simple example, the success or failure of authentication may be determined according to whether the received unique information matches the registered unique information. In another example, the success or failure of authentication may be determined according to the degree of match between the received unique information and the registered unique information. A trained model generated by machine learning may be used for the matching. In the matching, the received unique information and the registered unique information may be directly compared, or may be indirectly compared after being converted into a feature amount or the like.

[0036] The unit for managing each piece of target information (O10, O20) is not particularly limited and may be appropriately determined depending on the embodiment. At least one of the first target information O10 and the second target information O20 may be managed in a centralized (collectively) manner, or may be managed in a decentralized (separate) manner for each arbitrary group. The server device constituting each server (2, 3) is managed by one or more operating organizations ( At least one of the first server 2 and the second server 3 may be deployed by a plurality of operating organizations. When deployed by a plurality of operating organizations, the target information may be shared (i.e., may be managed centrally) or may be managed in a decentralized manner by each operating organization.

[0037] When authentication server devices are distributed, in the step of requesting authentication (step SA30, step SB30), the management server 1 may specify the server device to which authentication is requested by any method. In one example, the request destination information (e.g., the address of the server device) may be included in the received information from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, and the management server 1 may specify the server device to which authentication is requested according to the request destination information included in the received information. In another example, the requested server device may be identifiable by at least one of the identifiers (I10, I20) and the unique information (C1, C2), such as a telephone number or a credit number. In this case, the management server 1 may specify the requested server device by at least one of the identifiers (I10, I20) and the unique information (C1, C2) received from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5.

[0038] (Management Server) The management server 1 may be configured with one or more server devices. The management server 1 of the present disclosure is configured to record information regarding the occurrence and disappearance of a correspondence relationship between a first object and a second object as association information D10. The association information D10 may be held in one or more storage devices arranged at least either inside or outside the management server 1.

[0039] The obtained linking information D10 may be used in various situations. In one example, the linking information D10 may be used to track the relationship between the first object and the second object. As a specific example, the linking information D10 may be used to enable the authority linked to either the first object or the second object (the first object information O10 and the second object information O20) to be exercised from the other object while the corresponding relationship between the first object and the second object is set. That is, the linking information D10 may be used to enable the authority of either the first object or the second object to be exercised from the other object according to the linking between the first object and the second object (FIG. 2 to be described later).

[0040] In this embodiment, the linking information D10 includes information on the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 to indicate a combination of a first target and a second target for which a correspondence relationship is set. The management server 1 may acquire each identifier (I10, I20) of each target as appropriate. In one example, the management server 1 may not hold in advance information on the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 for which a correspondence relationship is set, but may acquire the information each time from at least one of the servers (2, 3) and the terminals (4, 5). In another example, the management server 1 may hold in advance information on at least one of the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 for which a correspondence relationship is set.

[0041] The relationship between the management server 1 and the operating organizations of each server (2, 3) may be arbitrary. In one example, the operating organization of the management server 1 may overlap with the operating organization of at least one of the first server 2 and the second server 3. In another example, the operating organization of the management server 1 may be different from the operating organizations of the first server 2 and the second server 3. The management system 100 of the present disclosure may be produced by connecting the management server 1 to each server (2, 3) and each terminal (4, 5) via a network, and deploying each in a state in which it is capable of executing the above-mentioned information processing, according to the intention of the operating organization of the management server 1.

[0042] (Operation example) In one example, one of the first object and the second object may be a user. One of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 corresponding to the user may be a user terminal related to the user. The other of the first object and the second object may be a usage object used by the user. One of the terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 corresponding to the object may be a loaded terminal loaded on the object. According to one example of the present embodiment, it is possible to track the usage relationship between the user and the object while ensuring security.

[0043] The type of the object of use is not particularly limited as long as it can be used by the user, and may be appropriately selected according to the embodiment. In one example, the object of use may be a moving body (mobility). According to one example of the present embodiment, the usage relationship between the user and the moving body can be tracked. The type of the moving body may be appropriately selected. The moving body may be, for example, a vehicle, a railroad vehicle, an aircraft (aircraft, drone, etc.), a ship, etc. The moving body may be at least one of a manually controlled manned aircraft and an automatically controlled unmanned aircraft. When the moving body is a vehicle, the type of the vehicle may be arbitrarily selected. The type of the vehicle may be, for example, a two-wheeled vehicle, a three-wheeled vehicle, a four-wheeled vehicle, etc. The vehicle may include a private car, a rental car, a shared car, a taxi, a bus, etc. The vehicle may be at least one of an automatic driving vehicle and a manually driving vehicle. The loaded terminal may be called a mobile terminal.

[0044] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a situation in which the management system 100 of the present disclosure is applied. In the example of FIG. 2, the first object is a user, and the second object is a moving object. In the following description of the example of FIG. 2, for convenience, the "first" is treated as relating to the user, and the "second" is treated as relating to the moving object. However, the correspondence between the "first" and the "second" is not limited to the example of FIG. 2. The "first" and the "second" may be interchangeable. That is, the second object may be a user, and the first object may be a moving object.

[0045] When the first object is a user, an example of the first terminal 4 is a user terminal. The user terminal may be any computer, such as a mobile terminal (such as a smartphone), a dedicated device (such as an electronic key device), or other computer device. Typically, the user terminal may be possessed by a user who is the object to be linked (the first object). The user's account may be shared among multiple computers, and accordingly, each computer sharing the account may be used as a user terminal (the first terminal 4) of the same user.

[0046] An example of the first identifier I10 is a user identifier (user ID, My ID). The user identifier may be, for example, a user account ID, a personal number, or identification information of a user terminal (for example, a MAC address or terminal identification information). An example of the first unique information C1 is user unique information. The user unique information may be, for example, biometric information of a user (for example, a face image, a fingerprint, a voiceprint, etc.), identification information of a user terminal, temporarily generated information, or information generated by any other method.

[0047] An example of the first target information O10 is user information O10A. The user information O10A includes registered user-specific information. The registered user-specific information is an example of the first registered specific information C10, and corresponds to the user-specific information acquired at the time of authentication. The user information O10A may include any information related to the user in addition to the registered user-specific information (FIG. 3B described later). In one example, the user information O10A may include information related to the authority of the corresponding user, and may be associated with various information E10 for exercising the authority. The various information E10 may include, for example, information on public personal authentication, payment information, other service-related information, and the like. The information on public personal authentication may include, for example, a personal number, and the like. The payment information may include, for example, credit card information, Internet banking information, electronic payment information, and the like. The other service-related information may include, for example, information on electronic prescriptions (insurer number, prescription information, and the like). The various information E10 may be managed by an external system or may be managed within the management system 100. The first server 2 may be deployed by a public institution, a neutral institution, a business operator (such as a vehicle manufacturer or a service operating company), etc. The first server 2 may be called a user ID server, a my ID server, etc.

[0048] On the other hand, when the second object is a moving object, an example of the second terminal 5 is a moving object terminal (on-board terminal). The moving object terminal may be, for example, a terminal attached inside or outside the moving object, a terminal carried by a person involved in the operation of the moving object (for example, a driver, a conductor, etc.), a device installed in a facility of the moving object (for example, a ticket gate, etc.), etc. When the moving object is a vehicle, the moving object terminal may be called an on-board terminal.

[0049] An example of the second identifier I20 is a mobile body identifier (mobile body ID, car ID). The mobile body identifier may be, for example, an ID of a mobile body account, identification information uniquely assigned to the target mobile body (for example, a vehicle registration number, vehicle identification information, etc.), identification information of a mobile body terminal, etc. An example of the second unique information C2 is mobile body unique information. The mobile body unique information may be, for example, identification information uniquely assigned to the target mobile body, identification information of a mobile body terminal, temporarily generated information, information generated by any other method, etc.

[0050] An example of the second target information O20 is the mobile body information O20A. The mobile body information O20A includes registered mobile body specific information. The registered mobile body specific information is an example of the second registered specific information C20, and corresponds to the mobile body specific information acquired at the time of authentication. The mobile body information O20A may include any information related to the mobile body in addition to the registered mobile body specific information (FIG. 3C described later). In the example of FIG. 2, depending on the setting of the link between the user and the mobile body, it may be enabled (activated) to exercise at least a part of the authority of the various information E10 associated with the user information O10A by the mobile body. The second server 3 may be deployed by a public institution, a neutral institution, each business (vehicle manufacturer, service management company, etc.), etc. The second server 3 may be called a mobile body ID server, a car ID server, etc.

[0051] A mobile object is an example of a use. The embodiment of FIG. 2 may be applied to any case in which the user (occupant) of the use changes dynamically. The use may be, for example, a rental object, an accommodation facility, etc., in addition to a mobile object. The rental object may include a rental office, a rental space, etc.

[0052] The management system 100 may be configured to set a link between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 in response to the start of use of the object, and to release the link in response to the end of use. The start and end of use may be detected by any method, for example, at the timing of getting on and off the vehicle, lending and returning the object, etc. In one example, at least one of the start and end of use may be detected in response to the execution of data exchange between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5.

[0053] In addition, objects to be used can be divided into at least two types: objects that can be used repeatedly over a long period of time, and objects that can be used temporarily. For convenience of explanation, the former will be referred to as "objects to be used regularly" and the latter as "objects to be used temporarily." An example of an object to be used regularly is an object owned by a user, such as a personal car. An example of an object to be used temporarily is an object owned by a person other than the user, such as a rental car, a shared car, a public transportation vehicle, a rental object, or an accommodation facility. Examples of public transportation vehicles include taxis, buses, railroad cars, airplanes, and ships.

[0054] In the management system 100, the type of the object to be used (whether it is a permanent object to be used or a temporary object to be used) may or may not be distinguished. When distinguishing the type of object to be used, the management system 100 may determine the type of the object to be used by any method. In one example, the target information (mobile object information, etc.) may include information indicating the type of the object to be used, and the management system 100 may determine the type of the object to be used from this information. In another example, the type of the object to be used may be determined from at least one of an identifier and unique information. In another example, information transmitted from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 to the management server 1 may include information indicating the type of the object to be used, and the management system 100 may determine the type of the object to be used from this information. In another example, In the case where the operating organization of the server that handles the information on the object (in the example of FIG. 2, the second server 3) is determined according to the type of object, the type of object may be determined according to the affiliation of the operating organization of the server.

[0055] Furthermore, the management system 100 may switch, for example, the form of the linking setting process, the linking release condition, the management method of the linking information D10, the authentication process, etc., depending on the type of the identified use object. In one example, the management system 100 may be configured to execute the linking setting for some types of use objects by the authentication process of the present disclosure, and execute the linking setting for the remaining types of use objects by an authentication process different from that of the present disclosure.

[0056] In addition, the application of the management system 100 of the present disclosure may not be limited to a situation where a relationship between a user and a usage object is tracked. In another example, both the first object and the second object may be robotic devices configured to operate autonomously by automatic control. The robotic device may include a moving body such as an autonomous vehicle or a drone. In a situation where two or more robotic devices autonomously interact with each other, the management system 100 of the present disclosure may be used to track the emergence and extinction of a relationship between the robotic devices.

[0057] As a specific example, one of the first target and the second target may be a large autonomous vehicle, and the other may be a small autonomous vehicle. The large autonomous vehicle may be configured to accommodate a plurality of small autonomous vehicles. The large autonomous vehicle may collect, transport, and release each small autonomous vehicle as appropriate. Each small autonomous vehicle may be operated as appropriate at the release destination. In this case, the management system 100 of the present disclosure may be configured to track whether or not a large autonomous vehicle is being transported (collected) by setting and canceling a correspondence relationship between the large autonomous vehicle and the small autonomous vehicle.

[0058] (Transmission format of each information) In this embodiment, the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2 are transmitted to the management server 1 from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 (step SA20, step SB20). The allocation of data transmission may be appropriately determined depending on the embodiment.

[0059] (A) Divided transmission (A-1) Division pattern In one example, the first terminal 4 may transmit the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and a part of the second unique information C2, and the second terminal 5 may transmit the rest. In this way, data transmission is divided among the terminals (4, 5), and it is expected that data transmission will become more efficient. The items to be transmitted by each terminal (4, 5) may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment. In this embodiment, at least one of the following four patterns may be adopted as a typical example.

[0060] (A-1-1) First pattern In the first pattern, the first terminal 4 may transmit the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2, and the second terminal 5 may transmit the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1. That is, receiving the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2 from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may be configured by receiving the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 from the first terminal 4, and receiving the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 from the second terminal 5.

[0061] In the example of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the second terminal 5 acquires the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 as the process of step SA10, and the second terminal 5 It is assumed that the first terminal 4 transmits the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1. It is also assumed that the first terminal 4 obtains the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 as the process of step SB10, and transmits the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 as the process of step SB20.

[0062] When a usage relationship occurs between the first target and the second target, the first terminal 4 may provide the second terminal 5 with the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 during data exchange with the second terminal 5 (step SA10). As a result, the first terminal 4 may cause the second terminal 5 to transmit the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 to the management server 1 instead of the first terminal 4 (step SA20). In addition, the first terminal 4 may acquire the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 from the second target during data exchange (step SB10). Then, the first terminal 4 may transmit the acquired second identifier I20 and second unique information C2 to the management server 1 (step SB20). As a result, the first terminal 4 may cause the management server 1 to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information C1 and authentication of the second target using the second unique information C2 (steps SA30 to SA40, steps SB30 to SB40), and if authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, set a correspondence (linking) between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 (step SC20).

[0063] When a usage relationship occurs between the first target and the second target, the second terminal 5 may provide the first terminal 4 with the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 during data exchange with the first terminal 4. As a result, the second terminal 5 may cause the first terminal 4 to transmit the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 to the management server 1 instead of the second terminal 5. Also, the second terminal 5 may acquire the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 from the first target during data exchange. Then, the second terminal 5 may transmit the acquired first identifier I10 and first unique information C1 to the management server 1. As a result, the second terminal 5 may cause the management server 1 to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information C1 and authentication of the second target using the second unique information C2, and set a correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 when authentication of both the first target and the second target is established.

[0064] In one example of this embodiment, the second terminal 5 is in charge of transmitting data related to the first object, and the first terminal 4 is in charge of transmitting data related to the second object. This allows each terminal (4, 5) to obtain information on the other party in the usage relationship, thereby increasing the likelihood that a usage relationship has occurred between the first object and the second object, and as a result, it is expected that the reliability of the association information D10 will be improved.

[0065] (A-1-2) Second pattern In the second pattern, the first terminal 4 may transmit the first identifier I10 and the second unique information C2, and the second terminal 5 may transmit the second identifier I20 and the first unique information C1. That is, receiving the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2 from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may be configured by receiving the first identifier I10 and the second unique information C2 from the first terminal 4, and receiving the second identifier I20 and the first unique information C1 from the second terminal 5.

[0066] When a usage relationship occurs between the first target and the second target, the first terminal 4 may provide the second terminal 5 with the first unique information C1 during data exchange with the second terminal 5. As a result, the first terminal 4 may cause the second terminal 5 to transmit the first unique information C1 (and the second identifier I20) to the management server 1 on behalf of the first terminal 4. Furthermore, the first terminal 4 may acquire the second unique information C2 from the second target during data exchange. Then, the first terminal 4 may transmit the acquired second unique information C2 (and the first identifier I10) to the management server 1. As a result, the first terminal 4 may authenticate the first target using the first unique information C1 and transmit the second unique information I20 to the management server 1. Authentication of the second target using the known information C2 may be attempted, and if authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, a correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 may be set.

[0067] The second terminal 5 may provide the first terminal 4 with the second unique information C2 during data exchange with the first terminal 4 when a usage relationship occurs between the first target and the second target. As a result, the second terminal 5 may cause the first terminal 4 to transmit the second unique information C2 (and the first identifier I10) to the management server 1 instead of the second terminal 5. Also, the second terminal 5 may acquire the first unique information C1 from the first target during data exchange. Then, the second terminal 5 may transmit the acquired first unique information C1 (and the second identifier I20) to the management server 1. As a result, the second terminal 5 may cause the management server 1 to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information C1 and authentication of the second target using the second unique information C2, and when authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, to set a correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20.

[0068] In one example of this embodiment, similarly to the above-mentioned first pattern, the second terminal 5 is in charge of transmitting part of the data related to the first target, and the first terminal 4 is in charge of transmitting part of the data related to the second target, thereby increasing the likelihood that a usage relationship has occurred between the first target and the second target. As a result, it is expected that the reliability of the association information D10 will be improved.

[0069] Additionally, in one example of this embodiment, the second identifier I20 may not be transmitted from the first terminal 4 to the management server 1, and the first identifier I10 may not be transmitted from the second terminal 5 to the management server 1. This makes it possible to avoid transmitting data in the form of a combination of data used to authenticate each target ("first identifier I10 and first unique information C1", "second identifier I20 and second unique information C2"). As a result, the combination of data used to authenticate each target cannot be identified from only one of the data transmissions from the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, and therefore further improvement in security can be expected.

[0070] (A-1-3) Third pattern In the third pattern, the first terminal 4 may transmit the second identifier I20 and the first unique information C1, and the second terminal 5 may transmit the first identifier I10 and the second unique information C2. That is, receiving the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2 from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may be configured by receiving the second identifier I20 and the first unique information C1 from the first terminal 4, and receiving the first identifier I10 and the second unique information C2 from the second terminal 5.

[0071] The first terminal 4 may provide the second terminal 5 with the first identifier I10 during data exchange with the second terminal 5 when a usage relationship occurs between the first target and the second target. As a result, the first terminal 4 may cause the second terminal 5 to transmit the first identifier I10 (and the second unique information C2) to the management server 1 instead of the first terminal 4. Also, the first terminal 4 may acquire the second identifier I20 from the second target during data exchange. Then, the first terminal 4 may transmit the acquired second identifier I20 (and the first unique information C1) to the management server 1. As a result, the first terminal 4 may cause the management server 1 to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information C1 and authentication of the second target using the second unique information C2, and when authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, set a correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20.

[0072] The second terminal 5 may provide the first terminal 4 with the second identifier I20 during data exchange with the first terminal 4 when a usage relationship occurs between the first target and the second target. As a result, the second terminal 5 may cause the first terminal 4 to transmit the second identifier I20 (and the first unique information C1) to the management server 1 on behalf of the second terminal 5. Also, the second terminal 5 may acquire the first identifier I10 from the first target during data exchange. Then, the second terminal 5 may transmit the acquired first identifier I10 (and the second unique information C2) to the management server 1. As a result, The second terminal 5 may instruct the management server 1 to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information C1 and authentication of the second target using the second unique information C2, and if authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, set a correspondence between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20.

[0073] In one example of this embodiment, similarly to the above-mentioned first pattern, the second terminal 5 is in charge of transmitting part of the data related to the first target, and the first terminal 4 is in charge of transmitting part of the data related to the second target, thereby increasing the likelihood that a usage relationship has occurred between the first target and the second target. As a result, it is expected that the reliability of the association information D10 will be improved.

[0074] Additionally, in one example of this embodiment, the first identifier I10 may not be transmitted from the first terminal 4 to the management server 1, and the second identifier I20 may not be transmitted from the second terminal 5 to the management server 1. This makes it possible to avoid transmitting data in the form of a combination of data used to authenticate each target, as in the second pattern described above. As a result, it is not possible to identify the combination of data used to authenticate each target from only one of the data transmissions from the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, and therefore further improvement in security can be expected.

[0075] (A-1-4) Fourth pattern In the fourth pattern, the first terminal 4 may transmit the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1, and the second terminal 5 may transmit the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2. That is, receiving the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2 from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may be configured by receiving the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 from the first terminal 4, and receiving the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 from the second terminal 5.

[0076] When a usage relationship occurs between the first target and the second target, the first terminal 4 may cause the second terminal 5 to transmit the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 to the management server 1 in response to data exchange with the second terminal 5. The first terminal 4 may also transmit the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 to the management server 1. As a result, the first terminal 4 may cause the management server 1 to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information C1 and authentication of the second target using the second unique information C2, and when authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, set a correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20.

[0077] When a usage relationship occurs between the first target and the second target, the second terminal 5 may cause the first terminal 4 to transmit the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 to the management server 1 in response to data exchange with the first terminal 4. The second terminal 5 may also transmit the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 to the management server 1. As a result, the second terminal 5 may cause the management server 1 to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information C1 and authentication of the second target using the second unique information C2, and when authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, set a correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20.

[0078] According to one example of this embodiment, the first terminal 4 is responsible for transmitting data related to the first target, and the second terminal 5 is responsible for transmitting data related to the second target, which is expected to improve the efficiency of data transmission.

[0079] (A-1-5)Other The transmission items of each terminal (4, 5) need not be limited to the above four patterns. In another example, one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may transmit the first unique information C1 and the second unique information C2, and the other may transmit the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20. Furthermore, the transmission unit of each terminal (4, 5) does not necessarily have to match the unit of the identifier (I10, I20) and the unique information (C1, C2). For example, if one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 transmits the first unique information C1 and the second unique information C2, the other may transmit the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20. The first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may transmit data in a divided manner for at least any of the items, such as transmitting a part of the information C1 and the other transmitting the remainder of the first unique information C1.

[0080] (A-2) Matching method When the divided transmission mode is adopted, a part of the data used for authenticating the first target and the second target is transmitted from the first terminal 4, and the remaining data is transmitted from the second terminal 5. In order to identify the combination of the first target and the second target for which the setting of the correspondence is currently requested, the management server 1 identifies the correspondence of this data (i.e., determines the combination of corresponding data). Then, when the authentication of the first target and the second target is established by the corresponding data, the correspondence is set between the first target and the second target of the corresponding data.

[0081] The correspondence of data may be specified by any method. In one example, the data transmitted from each terminal (4, 5) may include shared information for specifying the correspondence of data. The shared information may be composed of information having a relationship, such as, for example, a match or a correspondence relationship. The management server 1 may specify the correspondence of data in response to the establishment of a relationship between the shared information included in the data received from one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 and the shared information included in the data received from the other terminal.

[0082] The shared information may be configured arbitrarily. In one example, the shared information may be configured by a combination of a first identifier I10 and a second identifier I20. In this case, the management server 1 may identify the data association in response to a match between a combination of identifiers (I10, I20) included in the data received from the first terminal 4 and a combination of identifiers (I10, I20) included in the data received from the second terminal 5. In another example, the shared information may be configured by temporary information such as a random number, a timestamp, a hash value, etc. In this case, the management server 1 may identify the data association in response to a relationship being established between the temporary information included in the data received from the first terminal 4 and the temporary information included in the data received from the second terminal 5. In the second and third patterns, by adopting the latter, further improvement in security can be expected.

[0083] The shared information may be shared between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 at any timing. In a typical example, the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may share the shared information during data exchange (step SA10, step SB10). After receiving data from one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, if data does not arrive from the other within a predetermined period, the management server 1 may notify at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 of an inquiry to request transmission of the remaining data by any method. Typically, the management server 1 may notify the inquiry to one of the terminals that has received the data. If the other terminal from which data has not been received is identified, the management server 1 may notify the other terminal of the inquiry.

[0084] (B) Bulk sending In one example, one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may transmit the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2. That is, receiving the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2 from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may be configured by receiving the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2 from one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5.

[0085] In the case of bulk transmission from the second terminal 5, the first terminal 4 may provide the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 to the second terminal 5 during data exchange with the second terminal 5 when a usage relationship occurs between the first target and the second target. As a result, the first terminal 4 may transmit to the second terminal 5, The first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2 may be transmitted to the management server 1. Then, in response to this data transmission, the first terminal 4 may cause the management server 1, via the second terminal 5, to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information C1 and authentication of the second target using the second unique information C2, and when authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, to set a correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20.

[0086] In the case of a batch transmission from the first terminal 4, the second terminal 5 may provide the first terminal 4 with the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 during data exchange with the first terminal 4 when a usage relationship occurs between the first target and the second target. As a result, the second terminal 5 may cause the first terminal 4 to transmit the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2 to the management server 1. Then, in response to this data transmission, the second terminal 5 may cause the management server 1, via the first terminal 4, to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information C1 and authentication of the second target using the second unique information C2, and when authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, to set a correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20.

[0087] In one example of this embodiment, the second terminal 5 is in charge of transmitting data related to the first object, or the first terminal 4 is in charge of transmitting data related to the second object. This increases the likelihood that a usage relationship exists between the first object and the second object. As a result, it is expected that the reliability of the association information D10 will be improved.

[0088] (Data Exchange) In this embodiment, a series of processes related to the association setting may be started with a trigger of data exchange (step SA10, step SB10) between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. The method of data exchange is not particularly limited, and may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment.

[0089] In one example, data exchange between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may be performed by wireless or wired data communication. Wireless communication may be performed by, for example, Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth (registered trademark), Wi-fi (registered trademark), etc. Wired communication may be performed by, for example, a wired Local Area Network (LAN), Universal Serial Bus (USB), etc. Data communication may be performed directly between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, or indirectly via another computer. In another example, data exchange may be performed by a method other than data communication, such as reading a two-dimensional code. For example, data exchange may be performed by one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 displaying data on a display, and the other terminal reading the displayed data using a sensor such as an image sensor.

[0090] In data transmission to the management server 1, when one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 is in charge of transmitting data of the other terminal (for example, the above-mentioned first to third patterns of divided transmission, batch transmission, etc.), the one terminal may acquire the data of the other terminal that is in charge of transmission in this data exchange. That is, at least one of the first terminal 4 providing the first target data to the second terminal 5 and the second terminal 5 providing the second target data to the first terminal 4 may be executed in the data exchange. Alternatively, in the data exchange, the first terminal 4 may acquire the second target data by an autonomous operation, and the second terminal 5 may acquire the first target data by an autonomous operation.

[0091] As a specific example, when the first pattern of the divided transmission is adopted, the first terminal 4 may acquire the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 from the second target in the data exchange. In one example, when the second terminal 5 holds at least one of the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2, the first terminal 4 may acquire at least one of the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 from the second terminal 5 by data communication. In another example, the first terminal 4 may acquire the second identifier I20 by a method other than data communication, such as reading data displayed as a two-dimensional code on the second terminal 5. At least one of the identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 may be acquired from the second terminal 5. In yet another example, the first terminal 4 may acquire at least one of the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 from either the second target or the second terminal 5 using a device such as an input device or a sensor in data exchange. Acquiring from the second target may include acquiring by the first target operating a device on behalf of the first target when the first target is a human and the second target is an object. The same applies to acquisition of the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 by the second terminal 5.

[0092] For example, in the example of FIG. 2, the first terminal 4 may acquire the second identifier I20 (mobile identifier) ​​by data communication or reading a code. If the second unique information C2 (mobile unique information) is a vehicle registration number, the first terminal 4 may acquire the second unique information C2 by photographing the license plate with an image sensor and analyzing the obtained image. Also, the second terminal 5 may acquire the first identifier I10 (user identifier) ​​by data communication or reading a code. If the first unique information C1 (user unique information) is a face image, the second terminal 5 may acquire the first unique information C1 by photographing the user's face with an image sensor.

[0093] When an input device is used to acquire data, one terminal acquiring data from another target may include one target acquiring data of the other target by operating an input device in addition to the other target acquiring data of the other target by operating an input device. For example, in the example of Fig. 2 above, when the second unique information C2 (mobile object unique information) is a vehicle registration number and an input device is used to acquire the vehicle registration number, the first terminal 4 may acquire the second unique information C2 from the mobile object (second target) by the user (first target) inputting the vehicle registration number via the input device.

[0094] Note that acquisition of data of the other target by one terminal does not necessarily have to be performed during data exchange. One terminal may acquire data of the other target at any timing other than data exchange. Any of the above methods may be adopted as the data acquisition method. When acquisition of data of the other target by one terminal is not performed within the data exchange (including the fourth pattern of divided transmission described above), the data exchange between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may function simply as a trigger for starting a series of processes related to the linking setting.

[0095] In addition, in data transmission to the management server 1, when the first terminal 4 is in charge of transmitting at least a part of the data of the first target, the first terminal 4 may acquire the data of the first target at any timing before executing the data transmission. Similarly, when the second terminal 5 is in charge of transmitting at least a part of the data of the second target, the second terminal 5 may acquire the data of the second target at any timing before executing the data transmission. The method of acquiring data is not particularly limited and may be appropriately selected according to the embodiment. In one example, when at least one of the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 of the first target is stored in advance in the memory resource of the first terminal 4, the first terminal 4 may acquire at least one of the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 of the first target from the memory resource. In another example, the first terminal 4 may acquire at least one of the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 of the first target using an input device, a sensor, or the like. The same applies to the second terminal 5 acquiring the data of the second target.

[0096] (Linking information) Fig. 3A shows an example of the association information D10 according to the present embodiment. In the example shown in Fig. 3A, the association information D10 includes a first identifier I10, a second identifier I20, a setting time, and a release time. The first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 indicate the first and second targets for which a correspondence (association) is set. The setting time indicates the time at which the correspondence is set. Setting time may be configured by a time stamp. The release time indicates the time when the correspondence is released. The value of the release time may be added when the process of releasing the correspondence is executed. The method of expressing the release is not limited to this example. In another example, the release time may be replaced with at least one of an expiration date and a flag. The expiration date indicates a period during which the setting of the correspondence is valid. In this case, whether the setting of the correspondence is valid or not (i.e., whether the correspondence is set or released) is indicated depending on whether it is within the expiration date or not. The flag indicates whether the correspondence is released or not. The flag may be set when the process of releasing the correspondence is executed. In yet another example, the association information D10 may include at least one of an expiration date and a flag together with a field of the release time. Note that, as long as the setting of the correspondence can be indicated, the configuration of the association information D10 is not limited to the example of FIG. 3A and may be appropriately changed according to the embodiment. In another example, the association information D10 may further include information indicating the type of the usage object (whether it is a regular usage object or a temporary usage object). The type of the object of use does not necessarily have to be identified by separate information. For example, the type of the object of use may be identified by information such as an identifier.

[0097] The data format of the linking information D10 is not particularly limited and may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment. The linking information D10 may be held in any database platform. In one example, the linking information D10 may be held in a relational database such as a table format. In another example, the linking information D10 may be held in a blockchain platform. In this case, each transaction of linking setting and release may be accumulated in the blockchain as the linking information D10. For example, the transaction of linking setting may include a first identifier I10, a second identifier I20, and a setting time. The transaction of releasing the linking may include a first identifier I10, a second identifier I20, and a release time (or information indicating release).

[0098] (First target information) The first target information O10 includes the first registered unique information C10. The first target information O10 may include any information related to the first target other than the first registered unique information C10. The first target information O10 may include, for example, the first identifier I10, attribute information of the first target, information related to authority, etc. In the example of FIG. 2, user information O10A is an example of the first target information O10.

[0099] FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram showing an example of user information O10A according to the present embodiment. In the example of FIG. 3B, the user information O10A includes a user ID (first identifier I10), registered user specific information (first registered specific information C10), attribute information, and authority information. The attribute information may include any information related to the attributes of the corresponding user. The attribute information may include personal information such as name, address, age, sex, and contact information. The authority information is related to the authority of the corresponding user. The authority information may include, for example, information for linking with a server that executes information processing related to the target authority, information indicating association with various information E10, and the like. Note that the configuration of the user information O10A is not limited to the example of FIG. 3B, and may be appropriately changed according to the embodiment.

[0100] The data format of the first target information O10 (user information O10A) is not particularly limited and may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment. The first target information O10 (user information O10A) may be held in any database platform. In one example, the first target information O10 (user information O10A) may be held in a relational database such as a table format. In another example, the first target information O10 (user information O10A) may be held in a blockchain platform.

[0101] (Second target information) The second target information O20 includes the second registered unique information C20. The second object information O20 may include any information related to the second object other than the second registered unique information C20. The second object information O20 may include, for example, the second identifier I20, attribute information of the second object, information related to authority, etc. In the example of Fig. 2, the mobile object information O20A is an example of the second object information O20.

[0102] FIG. 3C is a schematic diagram showing an example of the mobile object information O20A according to the present embodiment. In the example of FIG. 3C, the mobile object information O20A includes a mobile object ID (second identifier I20), registered mobile object specific information (second registered specific information C20), and attribute information. The attribute information includes a number, a type, and owner information. When the mobile object is a vehicle, the number is a vehicle registration number, and the type is a vehicle model. When the vehicle registration number is used as the mobile object specific information, the number may be omitted from the attribute information. The owner information may include any information related to the owner of the mobile object. The owner information may include personal information of the owner, such as, for example, a name, an address, an age, a sex, and a contact address. The owner may be a corporation. Note that the configuration of the mobile object information O20A is not limited to the example of FIG. 3C, and may be appropriately changed according to the embodiment. The configuration of the attribute information may also be appropriately changed. For example, the mobile object information O20A may further include information related to the mobile object terminal, such as a contact address of the mobile object terminal.

[0103] The data format of the second target information O20 (mobile object information O20A) is not particularly limited and may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment. The second target information O20 (mobile object information O20A) may be held in any database platform. In one example, the second target information O20 (mobile object information O20A) may be held in a relational database such as a table format. In another example, the second target information O20 (mobile object information O20A) may be held in a blockchain platform.

[0104] (How to notify pegging settings) The management server 1 may transmit a notification indicating the result of the association process to at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 (step SC30). The transmission path of the notification is not particularly limited and may be determined appropriately depending on the embodiment. In one example, the management server 1 may directly notify at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 (FIGS. 1 and 2). In another example, the management server 1 may indirectly notify at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 via an external computer such as each server (2, 3).

[0105] (Confirmation of continued use) As an optional configuration, after setting the correspondence between the first target and the second target, the management server 1 may further execute a process (confirmation process) for confirming whether or not the correspondence is continuing. The method of confirming the continuation of use may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment.

[0106] In one example, the continuation of the correspondence relationship may be confirmed by authenticating at least one of the first target and the second target via at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. The authentication in the confirmation process may be performed in the same manner as the authentication using the unique information (C1, C2), or may be different. To increase the certainty, the other target may be authenticated via one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, as in the first pattern of the divided transmission described above. In the example of FIG. 2, for example, the user may be authenticated by using an image sensor provided on the mobile object to perform face authentication of the user, using a fingerprint reader attached to the steering wheel to perform fingerprint authentication of the user, having the user speak and performing voiceprint authentication using a microphone provided on the mobile object, or the like. The authentication process may be executed on the terminals (4, 5) or may be executed on the servers (2, 3). When the authentication process is executed on the servers (2, 3), data used for authentication may be directly transmitted from the terminals (4, 5) to the servers (2, 3), or may be indirectly transmitted via an external computer such as the management server 1. The data used for authentication in the confirmation process may be the same as the unique information (C1, C2), or may be different. The management server 1 may acquire the authentication result as appropriate, and in the acquired authentication result, if the authentication of the target is successful, If the authentication is successful, it may be determined that the correspondence continues, and if the authentication is unsuccessful, it may be determined that the correspondence does not continue.

[0107] In another example, when at least one of the first target and the second target is a user (for example, the case of FIG. 2), the management server 1 may directly or indirectly send a confirmation notification including an operator to at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. The operator may be configured to be, for example, a confirmation button, a reply button, a link, or the like. The destination of the confirmation notification does not necessarily correspond to the user. In the case of FIG. 2, the management server 1 may send a confirmation notification to at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. The destination of the confirmation notification may overlap with or may be different from the destination of the notification indicating the result of the association process. The confirmation notification may be configured to directly or indirectly return a response to the management server 1 in response to the operation of the operator by the user. When the management server 1 receives a response to the operation of the operator within a predetermined period, it may determine that the correspondence relationship continues, and when it does not receive a response, it may determine that the correspondence relationship does not continue.

[0108] In yet another example, when tracking the correspondence between a first object and a second object in the real world, each terminal (4, 5) may include a positioning module such as a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) module or a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) module. The first terminal 4 may measure the current position of the first object (first terminal 4) using the positioning module, and the second terminal 5 may measure the current position of the second object (second terminal 5) using the positioning module. Each terminal (4, 5) may transmit the obtained current position of each object to the management server 1 directly or indirectly via an external computer such as each server (2, 3). The management server 1 may determine whether the correspondence continues depending on whether the received current position of each object is close enough to satisfy a predetermined condition of the usage relationship (for example, the user is riding on a moving object). That is, the management server 1 may determine that the correspondence continues when the current positions of each object are close enough to satisfy the predetermined condition, and may determine that the correspondence does not continue when the current positions of each object are not close enough to satisfy the predetermined condition. In addition, when this form is adopted, the management server 1 may store the obtained information of the current position of each object in association with the association information D10. This allows the management server 1 to track the movement history of each object as well as the correspondence between each object. In addition, at least a part of the above processing may be executed by a computer other than the management server 1.

[0109] When it is determined that the correspondence relationship continues, the management server 1 may maintain the setting of the correspondence relationship. On the other hand, when it is determined that the correspondence relationship does not continue, the management server 1 may cancel the correspondence relationship. After the correspondence relationship is set, the management server 1 may be configured to update the status of the correspondence relationship by repeatedly executing the confirmation process periodically or irregularly until the correspondence relationship is canceled.

[0110] (Unlink) In this embodiment, the management server 1 may be configured to cancel the correspondence relationship upon receipt of a cancellation request from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 or upon establishment of a predetermined cancellation condition.

[0111] (I) Cancellation request In one example, the linking release request (demand) includes at least one of the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20. Simply put, the first terminal 4 may send to the management server 1 a release request that includes the first identifier I10 and does not include the second identifier I20. Similarly, the second terminal 5 may send to the management server 1 a release request that includes the second identifier I20 and does not include the first identifier I10. When overlapping of the correspondence setting is permitted, the release request may include both the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20. In one example, the first terminal 4 or the second terminal 5 may send to the management server 1 a release request that includes the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20. In another example, In this case, the first terminal 4 may transmit a release request including one of the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20, and the second terminal 5 may transmit a release request including the other. In yet another example, the management server 1 may assign an identifier to the set correspondence relationship, and may notify at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 of the assigned identifier at any timing, such as a notification indicating the result of the association process. At least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may specify the correspondence relationship to be released by transmitting a release request including this identifier to the management server 1, and may cause the management server 1 to release the specified correspondence relationship. According to one example of this embodiment, the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 can be omitted from the information included in the release request. This can be expected to improve the efficiency of data communication in the release request.

[0112] When the first terminal 4 transmits a release request including the second identifier I20, the first terminal 4 may acquire the second identifier I20 at any timing. In one example, when the first terminal 4 adopts a form in which the first terminal 4 acquires the second identifier I20 when requesting the above-mentioned binding setting (for example, the first pattern of divided transmission, etc.), the first terminal 4 may store the second identifier I20 acquired when requesting the binding setting in the memory resource as the current binding information. Alternatively, when the management server 1 adopts a form in which the management server 1 transmits a notification indicating the result of the binding process to the first terminal 4, the notification may be configured to include the second identifier I20. The first terminal 4 may store the second identifier I20 included in the notification received from the management server 1 in the memory resource as the current binding information. When requesting the binding release, the first terminal 4 may acquire the second identifier I20 from the memory resource. Note that the first terminal 4 may acquire the first identifier I10 at any timing. In one example, the first identifier I10 may be stored in advance in a memory resource. When creating the current binding information, the first terminal 4 may store the second identifier I20 in association with the first identifier I10. When sending the release request, the first terminal 4 may obtain the first identifier I10 from the memory resource.

[0113] Similarly, when the second terminal 5 transmits a release request including the first identifier I10, the second terminal 5 may acquire the first identifier I10 at any timing. In one example, when the second terminal 5 adopts a form in which the second terminal 5 acquires the first identifier I10 when requesting the above-mentioned binding setting (for example, the first pattern of divided transmission, etc.), the second terminal 5 may store the first identifier I10 acquired when requesting the binding setting in the memory resource as the current binding information. Alternatively, when the management server 1 adopts a form in which the second terminal 5 transmits a notification indicating the result of the binding process, the notification may be configured to include the first identifier I10. The second terminal 5 may store the first identifier I10 included in the notification received from the management server 1 in the memory resource as the current binding information. When requesting the release of the binding, the second terminal 5 may acquire the first identifier I10 from the memory resource. Note that the second terminal 5 may acquire the second identifier I20 at any timing. In one example, the second identifier I20 may be stored in advance in a memory resource. When creating the current binding information, the second terminal 5 may store the first identifier I10 in association with the second identifier I20. When sending the release request, the second terminal 5 may obtain the second identifier I20 from the memory resource.

[0114] FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram showing an example of a process of untying according to the present embodiment. In the example of FIG. 4A, as a first route, the first terminal 4 directly transmits an unbinding request to the management server 1 (step SZ10). Also, as a second route, the first terminal 4 gives an instruction to the second terminal 5 (step SZ10A) to cause the second terminal 5 to directly transmit an unbinding request to the management server 1 (step SZ11A). However, the transmission route of the unbinding request is not limited to this example. The first terminal 4 may indirectly transmit the unbinding request to the management server 1 via an external computer such as the first server 2. In the second route, the second terminal 5 may indirectly transmit the unbinding request to the management server 1 via an external computer such as the second server 3. Note that the starting point of untying is not limited to the first terminal 4. In another example, the second terminal 5 may directly or indirectly transmit the unbinding request to the management server 1. Also, the second terminal 5 may An instruction may be given to the first terminal 4 to cause the first terminal 4 to directly or indirectly send a cancellation request to the management server 1. After receiving the cancellation request, the management server 1 refers to the association information D10 and cancels the correspondence specified by the identifier included in the cancellation request. After this cancellation process, the management server 1 may send a notification indicating the result of the cancellation process to at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, in the same manner as when the association was set.

[0115] In one example, the process of the release request may include an authentication process of at least one of the first target and the second target. The authentication process may be the same as the authentication process in the above-mentioned process of setting the association or the process of confirming continued use. However, when making the release request, the authentication process does not necessarily have to be executed. In another example, the process of the release request may be simplified by omitting the authentication process.

[0116] The trigger of the release request may be set appropriately depending on the embodiment. In one example, when at least one of the first target and the second target is a user, the release request may be transmitted from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 by the user operating at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. That is, the trigger of the release request may be an operation by the user. In another example, with the end of the usage relationship, at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may execute an arbitrary information processing. The arbitrary information processing may be used as a trigger to transmit the release request from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. For example, the arbitrary information processing may be data exchange between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. The method of data exchange at the time of the release request may be the same as the data exchange at the time of the link setting (step SA10, step SB10). The data exchange at the time of the link setting and the data exchange at the time of the release request may be appropriately distinguished. For example, in the example of FIG. 2, the second terminal 5 may be provided with separate sensor devices at the entrance and the exit, such as a bus boarding / alighting entrance or a railway ticket gate. In this case, a distinction may be made between when a link is set and when a request to release the link is made depending on the sensor device used for the data exchange. Also, for example, when data exchange is executed by an application of the terminal, the application may be configured to be switchable between a link setting mode and a release request mode. In this case, a distinction may be made between when a link is set and when a request to release the link is made depending on the mode of the application.

[0117] In addition, any internal process may be executed in each terminal (4, 5) in association with the processing of the release request. In one example, when the current association information is created in at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, at least one of the terminals may update the current association information to past association information in association with the processing of the release request. The update process may be set appropriately according to the embodiment. For example, the update process may be to delete the current association information. In this case, the current association information may be completely deleted or may be saved as a past association history. Also, for example, the update process may be to invalidate the current association information by adding invalidation information such as an end time and an end flag setting to the current association information. In a case where one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 transmits the release request, the one terminal may transmit a notification to the other terminal to notify the other terminal of the release of the association in association with the transmission of the release request or the establishment of the release. In a case where the current association information is created in the other terminal, the other terminal may execute the above update process in response to the notification.

[0118] (II) Termination Conditions The cancellation condition indicates a condition for canceling the correspondence relationship of the target, and may be defined as appropriate depending on the embodiment.

[0119] In one example, the release condition may be defined so that the correspondence is released at an arbitrarily set release time. The release time may be given, for example, by a user or another application (such as a scheduler). In this case, the management server 1 may release the target correspondence when the release time arrives. The release time may be set within the validity period of the association information D10. When the release time is set as an expiration date, the management server 1 may handle the target correspondence as having been released when the release time arrives.

[0120] In another example, the release condition may be defined such that, when multiple correspondence relationships are set for the same target due to the interruption of a correspondence relationship setting by at least one of another first target and another second target, one of the overlapping correspondence relationships is released. The number of correspondence relationships (linking) that can be set for the same target is not limited to one, and may be two or more. When the overlap of the correspondence relationship settings exceeds a threshold (upper limit), the management server 1 may release one of the correspondence relationships that was set earlier and maintained. The threshold may be given as appropriate. Which correspondence relationship is to be released may be determined as appropriate according to the priority, order, type of target, etc.

[0121] For example, assume a situation where one of the first object and the second object is a user and the other is a use. In this case, the number of users that can be linked to the same use may be infinite or finite. When the number of users that can be linked is finite, the upper limit of the number of users that can be linked may be appropriately given by a threshold. The threshold may be set according to the attribute of the use. When the management server 1 receives a new correspondence setting for the target use, it may refer to the association information D10 and extract the previous correspondence that has been set and maintained for the target use. When the newly received correspondence setting causes the overlap of the correspondence setting for the target use to exceed the threshold, the management server 1 may discard the request for the newly received correspondence setting or cancel at least one of the extracted previous correspondences. When canceling the previous correspondence, the management server 1 may determine the correspondence to be canceled according to the priority and order of the users (for example, the earlier the correspondence setting is, the more it is canceled).

[0122] As a specific example, in the example of FIG. 2, it is assumed that the moving object is a private car, and that the first user and the second user are, for example, family members, and thus share the target private car. The private car may be interpreted as a constantly used object. For ease of explanation, it is assumed that the number of users that can be linked to the target private car is one. In this case, while a correspondence relationship between one of the first user and the second user and the target private car has been set, in response to receiving the setting of a correspondence relationship between the other user and the target private car, the management server 1 may cancel the previous correspondence relationship (the correspondence relationship between one of the first user and the target private car).

[0123] Similarly, the number of items that can be linked to the same user may be infinite or finite. When the number of items that can be linked is finite, the upper limit of the number of items that can be linked may be appropriately given by a threshold value. When the management server 1 receives a new correspondence setting for the target user, the management server 1 may refer to the association information D10 and extract the previous correspondence setting that has been set and maintained for the target user. When the newly received correspondence setting causes the overlap of the correspondence setting for the target user to exceed a threshold value, the management server 1 may discard the request for the newly received correspondence setting or cancel at least one of the extracted previous correspondences. When canceling the previous correspondence, the management server 1 may determine the correspondence to be canceled according to the priority and type of the item (for example, whether it is a regular use item or a temporary use item), etc.

[0124] 2, it is assumed that the first moving body is a constantly used object (e.g., a personal car, etc.) and the second moving body is a temporarily used object (e.g., a rental car, a shared car, a moving body of a public transportation system, etc.). In this case, while the correspondence relationship between the target user and the first moving body is set, the management server 1 may cancel the previous correspondence relationship (the correspondence relationship with the first moving body) in response to receiving the setting of the correspondence relationship between the target user and the second moving body.

[0125] In this specific example, in response to the cancellation of the correspondence relationship with the second moving object (temporary use object), the management server 1 cancels the previously cancelled correspondence relationship between the first moving object (regular use object) and the target user. The correspondence relationship may be reset. This allows the setting of the correspondence relationship with the constantly used object to be quickly restored. Furthermore, if the first moving object and the second moving object are both constantly used objects or temporarily used objects, the management server 1 may arbitrate the setting of the overlapping correspondence relationship as appropriate. For example, the management server 1 may discard a newly received request for setting a correspondence relationship unless the previous correspondence relationship is released.

[0126] As described above, the management server 1 may cancel the correspondence relationship upon receiving a cancellation request from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 or upon the establishment of a predetermined cancellation condition. According to one example of the present embodiment, it is possible to track the disappearance of the usage relationship between the first target and the second target. Note that the association information D10 after the correspondence relationship is cancelled may be saved as history.

[0127] (Simplified pegging settings) In one example, when a usage relationship is repeatedly created and deleted between the same combination of first and second objects, the management system 100 may execute authentication processing of the first and second objects each time, and repeatedly set and cancel the correspondence relationship. However, when the usage relationship is frequently created and deleted, it may be troublesome to execute authentication processing of the same first and second objects each time. In particular, when one of the first and second objects is a user and the other is a constantly used object, it may be troublesome to execute authentication of both objects each time.

[0128] Therefore, in another example, the management system 100 may be configured to set a correspondence relationship for the same combination of the first target and the second target in the next or subsequent link setting process by omitting authentication processing for at least one of the first target and the second target. That is, the management system 100 may be configured to accept a request to set a correspondence relationship for a combination of the first target and the second target for which a correspondence relationship has been set in the past by omitting authentication processing for at least one of the first target and the second target. For convenience of explanation, the process of setting a correspondence relationship by omitting authentication processing for at least one of the first target and the second target is also referred to as a "simplified link setting process", and the process of the normal route in which the authentication processing is not omitted is also referred to as a "normal link setting process". In one example, in the link setting by the simplified process, authentication processing for one of the first target and the second target may be executed. In another example, in the link setting by the simplified process, authentication processing for both the first target and the second target may be omitted.

[0129] Information on the combination of the first target and the second target for which a correspondence relationship has been set in the past may be managed by at least one of the management server 1, each server (2, 3), and each terminal (4, 5). In one example, the association information D10 may be maintained as a history even after the correspondence relationship is released. The management server 1 may determine whether or not the combination of the first target and the second target for which a request for setting a correspondence relationship has been received is a combination for which a correspondence relationship has been set in the past, based on the history of the association information D10. If it is determined that the combination is a combination for which a correspondence relationship has been set in the past, the management server 1 may perform association setting by simplified processing. In addition, at any timing, such as when setting the association, the first terminal 4 may obtain the second identifier I20 of the second target and store the obtained second identifier I20 as a destination of the simplified processing. The second terminal 5 may also obtain the first identifier I10 of the first target and store the obtained first identifier I10 as a destination of the simplified processing. Thereby, at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may hold information of a counterpart with whom a correspondence relationship was previously established, and may use the held information of the counterpart to request setting of a link by simplified processing. Furthermore, the first server 2 may acquire a second identifier I20 of the second target from at least one of the management server 1 and each terminal (4, 5), and store the acquired second identifier I20 in association with the first target information O10 of the corresponding first target as a counterpart of simplified processing. The second server 3 may also acquire a first identifier I10 of the first target from at least one of the management server 1 and each terminal (4, 5), and store the acquired first identifier I10 in association with the second target information O20 of the corresponding second target as a counterpart of simplified processing. Thus, at least one of the first server 2 and the second server 3 may hold information of a counterpart with whom a correspondence relationship was previously established, and may use the held information of the counterpart to request setting of a link by simplified processing. The information of the other party may be stored, and the stored information of the other party may be used to set up a link using simplified processing.

[0130] Furthermore, the management system 100 may be configured to permit simplified processing for some of the first and second objects, for example, permitting simplified processing for objects used regularly, not permitting simplified processing for objects used temporarily, and linking them every time with normal processing. Whether or not simplified processing is permitted may be switched as appropriate. In one example, whether or not simplified processing is permitted may be switched depending on the type of at least one of the first and second objects. As a specific example, when one of the first and second objects is a user and the other is an object of use, as described above, whether or not simplified processing is permitted may be switched depending on the type of the object of use (whether it is an object of use regularly or an object of use).

[0131] Whether or not simplified processing is permitted may be switched by any method. In one example, at least one of the management server 1, each server (2, 3), and each terminal (4, 5) may identify the type of the object to be used, and may switch whether or not simplified processing is permitted depending on the result of the identification. The type of the object to be used may be identified by individual information included in the target information, or may be identified by information such as an identifier. In another example, a program including a mode that permits simplified processing may be installed only in a terminal of an object to be used that permits simplified processing, such as a terminal of an object to be used at all times (the second terminal 5 in FIG. 2), and whether or not simplified processing is permitted may be switched by the operation of this terminal. Note that the operation of the mode that permits simplified processing may be, for example, storing the information of the other party, transmitting a request for linking setting by simplified processing, etc.

[0132] The request for the simplified processing of the linking setting may be transmitted from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. At least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may transmit the request for the simplified processing of the linking setting to the management server 1 directly, or may transmit the request indirectly to the management server 1 via an external computer such as each server (2, 3). For example, the first terminal 4 may transmit the request for the simplified processing of the linking setting to the management server 1 directly, or may transmit the request indirectly to the management server 1 via an external computer such as the first server 2. The first terminal 4 may instruct the second terminal 5 to transmit the request for the simplified processing of the linking setting to the management server 1 directly, or may transmit the request indirectly to the management server 1 via an external computer such as the second server 3. Similarly, the second terminal 5 may transmit the request for the simplified processing of the linking setting to the management server 1 directly, or may transmit the request indirectly to the management server 1 via an external computer such as the second server 3. The second terminal 5 may give instructions to the first terminal 4 to cause the first terminal 4 to send a request for linking setup using simplified processing directly to the management server 1, or indirectly via an external computer such as the first server 2.

[0133] Whether the request is for simplified processing or normal processing may be determined as appropriate. In one example, the request for linking setting may include information indicating whether it is simplified processing or not. The management server 1 may determine whether it is simplified processing or normal processing depending on this information. In another example, the management server 1 may determine whether it is simplified processing or normal processing depending on the target information included in the request for linking setting (for example, the combination of the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20).

[0134] Basically, the request for setting up a link using simplified processing may include the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20. The first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 included in the request may be obtained from either of the terminals (4, 5) and the servers (2, 3) in the process of being sent from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 to the management server 1. However, the request for setting up a link using simplified processing is not limited to this configuration. At least one of the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 may be omitted from the information included in the request. In another example, similar to the example of the release request described above, the management server 1 may store (register) a combination that allows simplified processing by assigning an identifier to the corresponding relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 when setting up a link in the past. The management server 1 may store (register) the combination that allows simplified processing by assigning the assigned identifier to the corresponding relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 in the linking process. At least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may be notified at any time, such as a notification indicating the result of the association setting. At least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may send a request for binding setting including this identifier to the management server 1, causing the management server 1 to execute binding setting by simplified processing. According to one example of this embodiment, the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 can be omitted from the information included in the request. This can be expected to improve the efficiency of data communication when requesting binding setting.

[0135] In one example, when a form of performing authentication processing of one of the first target and the second target is adopted in the simplified processing, the authentication processing of one of the first target and the second target may be performed in the same transmission form as in the normal processing. For example, when a first pattern of divided transmission is adopted in the normal processing, the first pattern of divided transmission may also be adopted in the simplified processing. However, the form of authentication processing in the simplified processing may not be limited to such an example. In another example, a transmission form different from the transmission form adopted in the normal processing among the above transmission forms may be adopted as the transmission form of the authentication processing in the simplified processing. In yet another example, at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may directly transmit an authentication request to each server (2, 3). The authentication result may be transmitted to the management server 1 from at least one of the servers (2, 3) and each terminal (4, 5).

[0136] In addition, when adopting a form in which authentication processing of one of the first target and the second target is performed, the terminal that transmits the request for the association setting by the simplified processing may store at least a part of the data (identifier, unique information) used for authenticating the one. For example, when adopting the first pattern of the divided transmission, the second terminal 5 may store at least one of the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 of the first target in the memory resource at any timing such as when the association setting was performed in the past. The second terminal 5 may obtain at least one of the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 from the memory resource, and transmit the data used for authentication to the management server 1 using the obtained information. This can further reduce the effort required for the association setting.

[0137] FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram showing an example of the process of the association setting by the simplified processing according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4B assumes a scene in which, in the example of FIG. 2, the authentication processing of the user (first target) is executed, the authentication processing of the moving body (second target) is omitted, and the first pattern of divided transmission is adopted as the transmission form of the authentication processing. In step SA10, in the data exchange, the first terminal 4 provides the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 to the second terminal 5. The second terminal 5 acquires the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 from the user. In step SA20, the second terminal 5 transmits a request for association setting by the simplified processing, including the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1, to the management server 1. This request may also include the second identifier I20. The management server 1 appropriately determines that the request received from the second terminal 5 is a request for association setting by the simplified processing. In step SA30, the management server 1 requests the first server 2 to authenticate the user by transmitting the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 to the first server 2. In step SA40, the management server 1 receives a result of the user authentication from the first server 2. If the received result indicates that the user has been authenticated, the management server 1 sets a correspondence (linking) between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 (step SC20). The process of linking setting by the simplified process is not limited to the example of FIG. 4B and may be appropriately changed depending on the embodiment. For example, as described above, when adopting a form in which authentication processing of one of the first target and the second target is performed, a transmission form other than the first pattern of divided transmission may be adopted. The simplified process may be configured to omit authentication processing of the user (first target) and perform authentication processing of the mobile object (second target). The request for linking setting by the simplified process may be transmitted from the first terminal 4, not from the second terminal 5. The transmission route of the request by the simplified process does not need to be limited to the example of Fig. 4B At least one of the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 may be omitted from the request for linking setting by the simplified process.

[0138] As an optional configuration, the management server 1 may acquire identification information (MAC address, terminal identification information, etc.) of at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 for which simplified processing is permitted as a registration process of targets for which simplified processing is permitted, and store the acquired identification information. This registration process may be executed at any timing, such as when setting up a past association. The management server 1 may be configured to accept requests for setting up association using simplified processing only from terminals identified by the identification information.

[0139] The trigger of the request for the simplified processing of the association setting may be the same as that of the normal processing. That is, the data exchange between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 may be used as a trigger to cause at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 to transmit a request for the simplified processing of the association setting to the management server 1. However, the trigger of the simplified processing may not be limited to such an example. In another example, when at least one of the first target and the second target is a user, a request for the simplified processing of the association setting may be transmitted from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 by the user's operation of at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. That is, the trigger of the request for the simplified processing of the association setting may be an operation by the user. In another example, the trigger of the request for the simplified processing of the association setting may be an instruction by another application (scheduler, etc.). In another example, as with the above-mentioned release request, any information processing may be executed by at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 in response to the occurrence of the usage relationship. This optional information processing may be used as a trigger to transmit a request for linking setting by simplified processing from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5.

[0140] Basically, the process of canceling the correspondence relationship set by the simplified process (the process of canceling the correspondence relationship for the simplified process) may be the same as the process of canceling the association in the normal process (the process of canceling the correspondence relationship for the normal process). However, the process of canceling the correspondence relationship for the simplified process may not necessarily match the process of canceling the correspondence relationship for the normal process. The correspondence relationship set by the simplified process may be canceled as appropriate. In another example, when the transmission route of the request to set the correspondence relationship for the simplified process is different from the transmission route of the request to cancel the correspondence relationship for the normal process, the transmission route of the request to cancel the correspondence relationship for the simplified process may be aligned with the transmission route of the request to set the correspondence relationship for the simplified process.

[0141] (Use of linked information) As described above, the linking information D10 may be used in various situations. In one example, the linking information D10 may be used simply to track the occurrence and disappearance of a relationship between a first object and a second object. In another example, the linking information D10 may be used to enable at least a part of the authority linked to either the first object or the second object to be exercised from the other object while a correspondence relationship between the first object and the second object is set. In the example of FIG. 2, the linking information D10 may be used to enable at least a part of the authority linked to the user to be exercised from the mobile object while a correspondence relationship between the user and the mobile object is set.

[0142] Fig. 5 shows a schematic example of a usage scenario of the association information D10 according to this embodiment. Fig. 5 assumes a scenario in which the authority associated with a user is exercised from a mobile object in the example of Fig. 2. The external system SY1 is deployed in a location where various services are exercised (e.g., a parking lot, etc.), and is configured to execute information processing for providing a target service to a user having the target authority. The configuration and services of the external system SY1 are not particularly limited, and may be appropriately selected according to the embodiment.

[0143] First, in step U10, the external system SY1 acquires a second identifier I20 (mobile body identifier) ​​from the target mobile body. The method of acquiring the second identifier I20 may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment. In one example, the external system SY1 may acquire the second identifier I20 from the second terminal 5 by exchanging data with the second terminal 5. The data exchange method may be the same as that of the first terminal 4. and the second terminal 5. In another example, if the second identifier I20 is a vehicle registration number, the external system SY1 may obtain the second identifier I20 by photographing the license plate with an image sensor and analyzing the obtained image.

[0144] In step U20, the external system SY1 uses the acquired second identifier I20 as a query to inquire of the management server 1 whether or not there is a valid correspondence relationship for the target moving object at the target date and time. "Valid" means that the setting is maintained (not released) at the target date and time. Basically, the target date and time is the present (instant), but is not limited to this. For example, when executing a payment process at a past date and time, the target date and time may be a past date and time. If there is a valid correspondence relationship, the first identifier I10 (user identifier) ​​of the user associated with the target moving object is extracted. On the other hand, if there is no valid correspondence relationship and a user associated with the target moving object is not extracted, this process may end.

[0145] In step U30, the external system SY1 uses the extracted first identifier I10 as a query to inquire of the first server 2 about the exercisable authority of the user associated with the target moving object. The first server 2 refers to the first target information O10 (user information O10A) to extract the exercisable authority associated with the target user. If the exercisable authority is not extracted, this process may end. In the first target information O10 (user information O10A), whether or not to permit the exercise of the authority by the moving object may be set for each authority. The exercisable authority may be extracted according to this setting. Also, if the target authority that the external system SY1 is going to exercise is not included in the exercisable authority, this process may end. The authority to be exercised may be appropriately specified at any timing. In one example, the authority to be exercised may be specified in advance in the external system SY1, or may be specified by the user.

[0146] In step U40, when the exercisable authority includes the target authority, the external system SY1 executes a process for exercising the target authority. As a result, the authority associated with the user is exercised from the mobile body, and the user can receive a service via the mobile body. For example, when the authority information includes information on public personal authentication and the target authority is related to public personal authentication, the user can receive a public service via the mobile body. Also, for example, when the authority information includes payment information and the target authority is related to payment, the user can receive a payment service via the mobile body. The payment service may be, for example, payment for parking fees, highway fees, drive-through fees, public transportation fees, rental fees, and the like. Also, for example, when the authority information includes information on an electronic prescription and the target authority is receipt of medicine prescribed by an electronic prescription, the user can exercise the electronic prescription via the mobile body and receive the medicine.

[0147] The above processing procedure for exercising authority is merely an example, and each step may be modified as much as possible. Steps of the above processing procedure may be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. In addition, in the above processing procedure, the user may be replaced with a first object, and the moving object may be replaced with a second object. Furthermore, in the above processing procedure, "first" and "second" may be interchanged.

[0148] (Data communication between devices) Data communication between each device (management server 1, first server 2, second server 3, first terminal 4, and second terminal 5) is not particularly limited and may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment. The network between each device may be appropriately selected from, for example, the Internet, a wireless communication network, a mobile communication network, a telephone network, a dedicated network, a local area network, etc. Data communication between each device may be encrypted using a method such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer) or TLS (Transport Layer Security). In one example, each terminal (4, 5) is connected to a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module). le), and data communication between the management server 1 and each terminal (4, 5) may be performed by encrypted communication using a SIM.

[0149] [2 Configuration example] [Hardware configuration example] (Management Server) 6A is a schematic diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of the management server 1 according to the present embodiment. The management server 1 according to the present embodiment is a computer to which a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, a communication interface 13, an input device 14, an output device 15, and a drive 16 are electrically connected.

[0150] The control unit 11 includes a hardware processor such as a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), and a read only memory (ROM), and is configured to execute any information processing based on programs and various data. The control unit 11 (CPU) is an example of a processor resource of the management server 1.

[0151] The storage unit 12 may be configured, for example, with a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, a semiconductor memory, etc. The storage unit 12 (as well as RAM and ROM) is an example of a memory resource. In this embodiment, the storage unit 12 stores various information such as a management program 81 and association information D10. The management program 81 is a program for causing the management server 1 to execute information processing (see, for example, Figures 8A to 8B described below) relating to the setting and cancellation of a correspondence relationship between a first object and a second object. The management program 81 includes a series of commands for the information processing.

[0152] The communication interface 13 is configured to perform wired or wireless communication via a network. The communication interface 13 may be configured, for example, by a wired LAN (Local Area Network) module, a wireless LAN module, etc. The management server 1 may perform data communication with other computers (the first server 2, the second server 3, the first terminal 4, and the second terminal 5) via the communication interface 13.

[0153] The input device 14 is, for example, a device for inputting a mouse, a keyboard, an operation button, etc. The output device 15 is, for example, a device for outputting a display, a speaker, etc. An operator can operate the management server 1 by using the input device 14 and the output device 15. The input device 14 and the output device 15 may be integrally configured, for example, by a touch panel display or the like. The input device 14 and the output device 15 may be connected via an external interface. The external interface may be appropriately configured to connect to an external device by wire or wirelessly, for example, by a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, a dedicated port, a wireless communication port, etc.

[0154] The drive 16 is a device for reading various information such as a program stored in the storage medium 91. At least one of the management program 81 and the association information D10 may be stored in the storage medium 91 instead of or together with the storage unit 12. The storage medium 91 is configured to accumulate various information (stored programs, etc.) by electrical, magnetic, optical, mechanical, or chemical action so that a machine such as a computer can read the information. The management server 1 may acquire at least one of the management program 81 and the association information D10 from the storage medium 91. The storage medium 91 may be a disk-type storage medium such as a CD or DVD, or may be a non-disk-type storage medium such as a semiconductor memory (e.g., a flash memory). The type of the drive 16 may be appropriately selected according to the type of the storage medium 91. The drive 16 may be connected via an external interface.

[0155] In addition, regarding the specific hardware configuration of the management server 1, components can be omitted, replaced, and added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. For example, the control unit 11 may include multiple hardware processors. The hardware processor may be configured with a microprocessor, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), a graphics processing unit (GPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or the like. At least one of the input device 14, the output device 15, and the drive 16 may be omitted. The linking information D10 may be stored in an external computer (e.g., NAS: Network Attached Storage, etc.) accessible by the management server 1, instead of the storage unit 12. The management server 1 may be configured with multiple computers. In this case, the hardware configurations of the computers may or may not be the same. The management server 1 may be a general-purpose server device, a general-purpose computer, or the like, in addition to an information processing device designed specifically for the service provided.

[0156] (First server) 6B shows a schematic diagram of an example of a hardware configuration of the first server 2 according to this embodiment. The first server 2 according to this embodiment is a computer in which a control unit 21, a storage unit 22, a communication interface 23, an input device 24, an output device 25, and a drive 26 are electrically connected. The control unit 21 to the drive 26 and the storage medium 92 of the first server 2 may be configured similarly to the control unit 11 to the drive 16 and the storage medium 91 of the management server 1, respectively.

[0157] The control unit 21 (CPU) is an example of a processor resource of the first server 2, and the storage unit 22 (and RAM, ROM) is an example of a memory resource of the first server 2. In this embodiment, the storage unit 22 stores various information such as a program 82 and first target information O10. The program 82 is a program for causing the first server 2 to execute information processing (FIG. 8A, etc., described later) related to the authentication of the first target. The program 82 includes a series of instructions for the information processing. At least one of the program 82 and the first target information O10 may be stored in a storage medium 92 instead of or together with the storage unit 22. The first server 2 may acquire at least one of the program 82 and the first target information O10 from the storage medium 92. The first server 2 may perform data communication with another computer (such as the management server 1) via the communication interface 23. The first server 2 may be operated via an input device 24 and an output device 25.

[0158] Regarding the specific hardware configuration of the first server 2, components can be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. For example, the control unit 21 may include multiple hardware processors. The hardware processor may be configured with a microprocessor, FPGA, DSP, GPU, ASIC, or the like. At least one of the input device 24, the output device 25, and the drive 26 may be omitted. The first target information O10 may be stored in an external computer (e.g., NAS, etc.) accessible by the first server 2, instead of the storage unit 22. The first server 2 may be configured with multiple computers. In this case, the hardware configurations of the computers may or may not be the same. The first server 2 may be an information processing device designed specifically for the service provided, as well as a general-purpose server device, a general-purpose computer, or the like.

[0159] (Second server) 6C shows an example of a hardware configuration of the second server 3 according to this embodiment. The second server 3 according to this embodiment is a computer to which a control unit 31, a storage unit 32, a communication interface 33, an input device 34, an output device 35, and a drive 36 are electrically connected. The control unit 31 to the drive 36 and the storage medium 93 of the second server 3 may be configured similarly to the control unit 11 to the drive 16 and the storage medium 91 of the management server 1, respectively.

[0160] The control unit 31 (CPU) is an example of a processor resource of the second server 3, and the storage unit 32 (and RAM, ROM) is an example of a memory resource of the second server 3. In this embodiment, the storage unit 32 stores various information such as a program 83 and second target information O20. The program 83 is a program for causing the second server 3 to execute information processing (FIG. 8A, etc., described later) related to the authentication of the second target. The program 83 includes a series of instructions for the information processing. At least one of the program 83 and the second target information O20 may be stored in a storage medium 93 instead of or together with the storage unit 32. The second server 3 may acquire at least one of the program 83 and the second target information O20 from the storage medium 93. The second server 3 may perform data communication with another computer (such as the management server 1) via the communication interface 33. The second server 3 may be operated via an input device 34 and an output device 35.

[0161] Regarding the specific hardware configuration of the second server 3, components can be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. For example, the control unit 31 may include multiple hardware processors. The hardware processor may be configured with a microprocessor, FPGA, DSP, GPU, ASIC, or the like. At least one of the input device 34, the output device 35, and the drive 36 may be omitted. The second target information O20 may be stored in an external computer (e.g., NAS, etc.) accessible by the second server 3, instead of the storage unit 32. The second server 3 may be configured with multiple computers. In this case, the hardware configurations of the computers may or may not be the same. The second server 3 may be an information processing device designed specifically for the service provided, as well as a general-purpose server device, a general-purpose computer, or the like.

[0162] (1st terminal) 6D shows a schematic diagram of an example of a hardware configuration of the first terminal 4 according to the present embodiment. The first terminal 4 according to the present embodiment is a computer to which a control unit 41, a storage unit 42, a communication interface 43, an input device 44, an output device 45, and a drive 46 are electrically connected. The control unit 41 to the drive 46 and the storage medium 94 of the first terminal 4 may be configured in the same manner as the control unit 11 to the drive 16 and the storage medium 91 of the management server 1, respectively.

[0163] The control unit 41 (CPU) is an example of a processor resource of the first terminal 4, and the storage unit 42 (and RAM, ROM) is an example of a memory resource of the first terminal 4. In this embodiment, the storage unit 42 stores various information such as a program 84 and a first identifier I10. The program 84 is a program for causing the first terminal 4 to execute information processing related to the association (FIGS. 8A to 8B, etc., described later). The program 84 includes a series of instructions for the information processing. At least one of the program 84 and the first identifier I10 may be stored in a storage medium 94 instead of or together with the storage unit 42. The first terminal 4 may acquire at least one of the program 84 and the first identifier I10 from the storage medium 94. The first terminal 4 may perform data communication with other computers (the management server 1, the second terminal 5, etc.) via the communication interface 43. The first terminal 4 may be operated via an input device 44 and an output device 45.

[0164] Regarding the specific hardware configuration of the first terminal 4, components can be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. For example, the control unit 41 may include multiple hardware processors. The hardware processor may be configured with a microprocessor, FPGA, DSP, GPU, ASIC, ECU (Electronic Control Unit), etc. At least one of the input device 44, the output device 45, and the drive 46 may be omitted. The first identifier I10 does not need to be stored in the memory unit 42. The first identifier I10 may be acquired each time. In order to acquire data such as the identifier and unique information, the first terminal 4 may further include a data acquisition device such as a sensor or a reader. The communication interface 43 may be configured to acquire multiple It may be composed of several kinds of modules. For example, the communication interface 43 may include a short-range wireless communication module and a wireless communication module, and the first terminal 4 may perform data communication with the second terminal 5 via the short-range wireless communication module and perform data communication with the management server 1 via the wireless communication module. The first terminal 4 may be composed of a plurality of computers. In this case, the hardware configurations of the computers may or may not be the same. The first terminal 4 may be an information processing device designed specifically for the service provided, a general-purpose computer, a terminal device (e.g., a smartphone, a tablet PC, etc.), etc.

[0165] (2nd terminal) 6E shows a schematic diagram of an example of a hardware configuration of the second terminal 5 according to the present embodiment. The second terminal 5 according to the present embodiment is a computer to which a control unit 51, a storage unit 52, a communication interface 53, an input device 54, an output device 55, and a drive 56 are electrically connected. The control unit 51 to the drive 56 and the storage medium 95 of the second terminal 5 may be configured in the same manner as the control unit 11 to the drive 16 and the storage medium 91 of the management server 1, respectively.

[0166] The control unit 51 (CPU) is an example of a processor resource of the second terminal 5, and the storage unit 52 (and RAM, ROM) is an example of a memory resource of the second terminal 5. In this embodiment, the storage unit 52 stores various information such as the program 85 and the second identifier I20. The program 85 is a program for causing the second terminal 5 to execute information processing related to the association (FIGS. 8A to 8B, etc., described later). The program 85 includes a series of instructions for the information processing. At least one of the program 85 and the second identifier I20 may be stored in the storage medium 95 instead of the storage unit 52 or together with the storage unit 52. The second terminal 5 may acquire at least one of the program 85 and the second identifier I20 from the storage medium 95. The second terminal 5 may perform data communication with other computers (the management server 1, the first terminal 4, etc.) via the communication interface 53. The second terminal 5 may be operated via the input device 54 and the output device 55.

[0167] Regarding the specific hardware configuration of the second terminal 5, components can be omitted, replaced, and added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. For example, the control unit 51 may include multiple hardware processors. The hardware processor may be configured with a microprocessor, FPGA, DSP, GPU, ASIC, ECU, etc. At least one of the input device 54, the output device 55, and the drive 56 may be omitted. The second identifier I20 may not be stored in the storage unit 52. The second identifier I20 may be acquired each time. In order to acquire data such as the identifier and unique information, the second terminal 5 may further include a data acquisition device such as a sensor or a reading device. The communication interface 53 may be configured with multiple types of modules, similar to the first terminal 4. The second terminal 5 may be configured with multiple computers. In this case, the hardware configurations of the computers may or may not be the same. The second terminal 5 may be a general-purpose computer, a terminal device, etc., in addition to an information processing device designed specifically for the service provided.

[0168] [Software configuration example] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a software configuration of each device (the management server 1, the first server 2, the second server 3, the first terminal 4, and the second terminal 5) according to this embodiment.

[0169] (Management Server) The control unit 11 of the management server 1 loads the management program 81 stored in the storage unit 12 into the RAM, and causes the CPU to execute commands included in the management program 81. As a result, the management server 1 operates as a computer including an authentication unit 111, a setting unit 112, a release unit 113, and a notification unit 114 as software modules.

[0170] The authentication unit 111 is configured to receive the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2 from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 in response to the occurrence of a usage relationship between the first target and the second target. The authentication unit 111 is configured to request the first server 2 to authenticate the first target by transmitting the received first identifier I10 and first unique information C1 to the first server 2. The authentication unit 111 is also configured to request the second server 3 to authenticate the second target in real time by transmitting the received second identifier I20 and second unique information C2 to the second server 3. The authentication unit 111 may also be referred to as an authentication request unit.

[0171] The setting unit 112 is configured to set a correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 when authentication of both the first target and the second target is established. The cancellation unit 113 is configured to cancel the correspondence relationship upon receipt of a cancellation request from at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 or establishment of a predetermined cancellation condition. The notification unit 114 is configured to send a notification indicating a result of the process of setting the correspondence relationship to at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. The notification unit 114 is configured to send a notification indicating a result of the process of canceling the correspondence relationship to at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5.

[0172] (First server) The control unit 21 of the first server 2 executes instructions included in the program 82 by the CPU. As a result, the first server 2 operates as a computer including an authentication unit 211 and a notification unit 212 as software modules. The authentication unit 211 is configured to execute authentication processing of the first target in response to a request for authentication of the first target. The notification unit 212 is configured to transmit a notification indicating a result of the authentication processing.

[0173] (Second server) The control unit 31 of the second server 3 executes instructions included in the program 83 by the CPU. As a result, the second server 3 operates as a computer including an authentication unit 311 and a notification unit 312 as software modules. The authentication unit 311 is configured to execute authentication processing of the second target in response to a request for authentication of the second target. The notification unit 312 is configured to transmit a notification indicating a result of the authentication processing.

[0174] (1st terminal) The control unit 41 of the first terminal 4 executes instructions included in the program 84 by the CPU. As a result, the first terminal 4 operates as a computer including a data exchange unit 411, a setting request unit 412, and a cancellation request unit 413 as software modules. The data exchange unit 411 is configured to execute data exchange with the second terminal 5. The setting request unit 412 is configured to request the management server 1 to set a correspondence relationship between the first target and the second target by transmitting data used for authentication. The cancellation request unit 413 is configured to request the management server 1 to cancel the correspondence relationship.

[0175] (2nd terminal) The control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 executes instructions included in the program 85 by the CPU. As a result, the second terminal 5 operates as a computer including a data exchange unit 511, a setting request unit 512, and a cancellation request unit 513 as software modules. The data exchange unit 511 is configured to execute data exchange with the first terminal 4. The setting request unit 512 is configured to request the management server 1 to set a correspondence relationship between the first target and the second target by transmitting data used for authentication. The cancellation request unit 513 is configured to request the management server 1 to cancel the correspondence relationship.

[0176] (others) In this embodiment, an example is described in which each software module of each device is realized by a general-purpose CPU. However, some or all of the above software modules may be realized by one or more dedicated processors. Each of the above modules may be realized as a hardware module. With respect to the software configuration of each device, modules may be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. For example, when the above-mentioned bulk transmission form is adopted as the transmission form of data used for authentication, the setting request unit (412, 512) may be omitted from one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 (the terminal not responsible for data transmission). Also, for example, when a form in which an release request is transmitted from only one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 is adopted, the release request unit (413, 513) may be omitted from the other terminal.

[0177] [3 Example of operation] (Linking settings) Fig. 8A shows an example of a processing procedure for linking settings by the management system 100 according to this embodiment. The following processing procedure is an example of a management method executed by a computer. Note that in the example of Fig. 8A, it is assumed that the first divided transmission pattern is adopted as the transmission form of data used for authentication, and each terminal (4, 5) adopts a form of acquiring data used for authentication in data exchange.

[0178] In step SAB100, the control unit 41 of the first terminal 4 operates as a data exchange unit 411 and executes data exchange with the second terminal 5. The control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 operates as a data exchange unit 511 and executes data exchange with the first terminal 4. The data exchange may be executed appropriately in response to the occurrence of a usage relationship between the first target and the second target. In step SA10, the control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 acquires the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 from the first target. In step SB10, the control unit 41 of the first terminal 4 acquires the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 from the second target. The processing of steps SA10 and SB10 may be executed within the processing of data exchange.

[0179] In step SA20, the control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 operates as the setting request unit 512 and transmits a request for linking setting including the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 to the management server 1. In response to this, the control unit 11 of the management server 1 operates as the authentication unit 111 and receives the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1. Similarly, in step SB20, the control unit 41 of the first terminal 4 operates as the setting request unit 412 and transmits a request for linking setting including the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 to the management server 1. In response to this, the control unit 11 of the management server 1 operates as the authentication unit 111 and receives the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2. The control unit 11 appropriately associates the data received from the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, respectively, and identifies the combination of the first target and the second target for which the association setting is requested.

[0180] In step SA30, the control unit 11 of the management server 1 operates as the authentication unit 111 and transmits an authentication request for the first target including the received first identifier I10 and first unique information C1 to the first server 2. In response to this, the control unit 21 of the first server 2 receives the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 from the management server 1. In step SA301, the control unit 21 of the first server 2 operates as the authentication unit 211 and executes authentication processing for the first target using the received first identifier I10 and first unique information C1. As an example, the control unit 21 extracts the first registered unique information C10 of the requesting first target by searching the first target information O10 using the received first identifier I10 as a query. The control unit 21 compares the extracted first registered unique information C10 with the received first unique information C1. The control unit 21 determines whether the authentication of the first target is successful or not according to the result of the comparison. In step SA40, the control unit 21 operates as the notification unit 212 and returns the result of the authentication of the first target to the management server 1. In response to this, The control unit 11 of the management server 1 receives from the first server 2 the result of the authentication of the first object.

[0181] In step SB30, the control unit 11 of the management server 1 operates as the authentication unit 111 and transmits an authentication request for the second target including the received second identifier I20 and second unique information C2 to the second server 3. In response to this, the control unit 31 of the second server 3 receives the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 from the management server 1. In step SB301, the control unit 31 of the second server 3 operates as the authentication unit 311 and executes authentication processing for the second target using the received second identifier I20 and second unique information C2. As an example, the control unit 31 extracts the second registered unique information C20 of the requesting second target by searching the second target information O20 using the received second identifier I20 as a query. The control unit 31 compares the extracted second registered unique information C20 with the received second unique information C2. The control unit 31 determines whether the authentication of the second target is successful or not according to the result of the comparison. In step SB40, the control unit 31 operates as a notification unit 312 and returns the result of the authentication of the second target to the management server 1. In response to this, the control unit 11 of the management server 1 receives the result of the authentication of the second target from the second server 3.

[0182] In step SC10, the control unit 11 of the management server 1 operates as the authentication unit 111 and determines whether or not the authentication of both the first target and the second target has been established, depending on the reply contents from each server (2, 3). If the authentication of both the first target and the second target has been established, the control unit 11 proceeds to the next step SC20. On the other hand, if the authentication of at least one of the first target and the second target has not been established, the control unit 11 skips the process of step SC20 and proceeds to step SC30.

[0183] In step SC20, the control unit 11 operates as the setting unit 112 and sets a correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20. In one example, the control unit 11 generates linking information D10 indicating the correspondence relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20, and stores the generated linking information D10. In step SC30, the control unit 11 operates as the notification unit 114 and transmits a notification indicating a result of the process of setting the correspondence relationship to at least one of the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5. When the notification of the result is completed, the processing procedure regarding the linking setting according to this operation example ends.

[0184] The above process is merely an example, and each step may be modified as much as possible. Furthermore, steps may be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate in accordance with the embodiment.

[0185] For example, the order of acquiring the first unique information C1 and the second unique information C2 need not be limited to the example of FIG. 8A. The process of step SA10 may be executed after step SB10. The process of step SA10 may be executed at least partially in parallel with the process of step SB10. The process of step SA20 may be executed at any timing after step SA10. The process of step SA20 may be executed before step SB10. The process of step SB20 may be executed at any timing after step SB10. The process of step SB20 may be executed before step SA10.

[0186] Furthermore, the transmission form of data used for authentication is not limited to the first divided transmission pattern, and may be appropriately selected according to the embodiment. In another example, the transmission form of data used for authentication may be any of the above transmission forms other than the first divided transmission pattern (the second to fourth divided transmission patterns, other divided transmission, batch transmission). In response to this, the processes of steps SA10, SA20, SB10, and SB20 may be appropriately changed.

[0187] In addition, the order of performing the authentication process for the first target and the second target is not limited to the example of FIG. 8A. The processes of steps SA30 to SA40 may be executed at any timing after step SA20. The processes of steps SA30 to SA40 may be executed before step SB10. When a mode in which the first identifier I10 is transmitted from the first terminal 4 in step SB20 is adopted, the processes of steps SA30 to SA40 may be executed at any timing after step SB20. The processes of steps SB30 to SB40 may be executed at any timing after step SB20. The processes of steps SB30 to SB40 may be executed before step SA10. When a mode in which the second identifier I20 is transmitted from the second terminal 5 in step SA20 is adopted, the processes of steps SB30 to SB40 may be executed at any timing after step SA20. The processes of steps SB30 to SB40 may be executed at least partially in parallel with the processes of steps SA30 to SA40. The processes of steps SB30 to SB40 may be executed prior to the processes of steps SA30 to SA40.

[0188] (Unlink) Fig. 8B shows an example of a processing procedure for canceling a link by the management system 100 according to this embodiment. The following processing procedure is an example of a management method executed by a computer. Note that the example of Fig. 8B assumes a situation in which the authentication process is omitted and a cancellation request is sent directly from the first terminal 4 to the management server 1.

[0189] In step SZ10, the control unit 41 of the first terminal 4 operates as the cancellation request unit 413 and transmits a request (demand) to cancel the correspondence to the management server 1. In response to this, the control unit 11 of the management server 1 receives the cancellation request. The correspondence to be requested to be cancelled may be designated as appropriate. The trigger for the cancellation request may be selected as appropriate depending on the embodiment.

[0190] In step SZ20, the control unit 11 operates as the release unit 113 and releases the correspondence specified by the received release request. The release may be configured by generating information indicating the release and recording the generated information. In one example, when the linking information D10 has the configuration of FIG. 3A, the control unit 11 may release the target correspondence by adding a release time to the corresponding linking information D10 or setting a release flag. When the linking information D10 is configured on a blockchain platform, the control unit 11 may release the target correspondence by generating a transaction indicating the release of the link and adding the generated transaction to the blockchain.

[0191] In step SZ30, control unit 11 operates as notification unit 114 and transmits the processing result of the association release to first terminal 4. When the notification of the result is completed, the processing procedure for association release according to this operation example ends.

[0192] The above process is merely an example, and each step may be modified as much as possible. Furthermore, steps may be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate in accordance with the embodiment.

[0193] For example, as described above, the transmission route of the release request is not limited to the example of FIG. 8B, and may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment. The release request may be transmitted from the second terminal 5 (release request unit 513). The process of the release request may include authentication processing of at least one of the first target and the second target. Furthermore, the control unit 11 of the management server 1 may operate as the release unit 113 instead of the above step SZ20, and release the correspondence relationship when a predetermined release condition is met.

[0194] [Features] In this embodiment, in response to the occurrence of a usage relationship between the first target and the second target, authentication of the first target and the second target is performed in steps SA30 to SA40 and steps SB30 to SB40. Security can be expected to be ensured by these two authentications. Furthermore, when authentication of both the first target and the second target is established by the processing of steps SC10 to SC20, a corresponding relationship between the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 is set. The record of this association setting (association information D10) makes it possible to trace the usage relationship between the first target and the second target. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the usage relationship between the first target and the second target can be traced while ensuring security.

[0195] [4 Variations] Although the embodiment of the present disclosure has been described in detail above, the above description is merely an example of the present disclosure in every respect. It goes without saying that various improvements or modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the following modifications are possible. In the following, the same reference numerals are used for the same components as in the above embodiment, and the description of the same points as in the above embodiment is omitted as appropriate. The following modifications can be combined as appropriate.

[0196] <4.1> In the above embodiment, as one of the use cases, the linking information D10 may be used to exercise authority associated with one of the first and second objects from the other. In the examples of Figs. 2 and 5, as one example of the use form, a scene is assumed in which one object (user) exercises its authority through the other object (use object / mobile body). However, the form in which authority is exercised is not limited to such an example. In another example, the management system 100 may be configured so that the first object can exercise the authority of the other first object through the second object. And / or, the management system 100 may be configured so that the second object can exercise the authority of the other second object through the first object. That is, a proxy individual of one of the first and second objects may be configured so that the proxy request individual (target individual) of the one object can exercise the authority of the proxy request individual through the other object (any individual of the other object). In the examples of Figs. 2 and 5, the management system 100 may be configured so that a proxy user can exercise the authority of the target user (proxy requester) from the use object (mobile body).

[0197] The method of proxying the authority may be configured appropriately. As an example, the method of proxying the authority may employ any of the following three methods. In the following, for convenience of explanation, a case is assumed in which the first object and the second object are a user and a use object (moving object). That is, each proxy pattern in the examples of FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 will be explained. However, the scope of application of each proxy pattern may not be limited to a case in which the first object and the second object are a user and a use object. In addition, in each of the following proxy patterns, the user (first object) may be read as one of the first object and the second object, and the use object (second object) may be read as the other of the first object and the second object. Typically, the use object may be the above-mentioned moving object.

[0198] (1) First proxy pattern (proxy authentication / proxy linking) As a first proxy pattern, the management system 100 may be configured to set a correspondence relationship between the target user (proxy requester) and the usage object (second object) in response to authentication of the target user (first object) and the usage object (second object) being established through a proxy authentication process by the proxy user. The management system 100 may then be configured to permit the proxy user to proxy exercise the authority associated with the target user via the usage object while this correspondence relationship is set. The proxy user is an example of a proxy individual, and the target user (proxy requester) is an example of a proxy request individual (target individual).

[0199] That is, the user terminal related to the user (in the example of FIG. 2, the first terminal 4) may be a proxy user terminal possessed by a proxy user who represents the user. In this case, the first target and When a usage relationship between the first target and the second target occurs, data exchange may be appropriately performed between the target user terminal, the proxy user terminal, and the loaded terminal. In one example, the usage relationship between the first target and the second target may occur through at least data communication between the target user terminal and the proxy user terminal possessed by the user, and data communication between the proxy user terminal and the loaded terminal.

[0200] The method of proxy authentication is not particularly limited and may be set appropriately according to the embodiment. The method of proxy authentication may be configured so that at least a part of the authentication process of the target user (first target) and the usage object (second target) in the above embodiment is executed by the proxy user terminal instead of the target user terminal. As an example, the method of proxy authentication may adopt one of the following two methods.

[0201] (1-1) Substitute pattern 1-1 FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a process of linking in the proxy pattern 1-1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a processing procedure of linking in the proxy pattern 1-1 according to the present embodiment. In the examples of FIGS. 9 and 10, the first terminal 4A is a proxy user terminal, and corresponds to the first terminal 4 in the examples of FIGS. 2 and 5 of the above embodiment. The first target is a target user (proxy requester) who requests a proxy. The target user terminal 6A is a terminal possessed by the target user. The hardware configurations of the first terminal 4A and the target user terminal 6A may be similar to the first terminal 4 and the like in the above embodiment. In the examples of FIGS. 9 and 10, a scene is assumed in which a first pattern of divided transmission is adopted as a transmission form of data used for authentication, the first identifier I10 passes through the first terminal 4A, and the first unique information C1 does not pass through the first terminal 4A.

[0202] First, in step SD10, the control unit of the target user terminal 6A operates as a proxy designation unit and accepts the designation of a proxy user for the target user. The proxy user may be designated as appropriate. In a typical example, the target user terminal 6A may store an address book, and a proxy user may be selected from users registered in the address book. In another example, the target user terminal 6A may access a list of users via an external computer such as the first server 2, and accept the selection of a proxy user from users registered in the list. When a proxy user is designated, the control unit of the target user terminal 6A operates as a notification unit, exchanges data with the first terminal 4A of the proxy user designated by the target user, and notifies the target user that the proxy authority has been granted. In response to this, the control unit of the first terminal 4A of the proxy user receives a notification of the grant of proxy authority from the target user terminal 6A. In one example, this notification may include the first identifier I10 (user identifier) ​​and contact information of the target user. The contact information may be a telephone number, an email address, account information of a communication application (e.g., a Social Networking Service application, etc.), an identification number, etc. As with the data exchange between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, the data exchange between the target user terminal 6A and the first terminal 4A may be performed by wireless or wired data communication, or may be performed by a method other than data communication, such as reading a two-dimensional code. In addition, the target user terminal 6A may directly give the notice of the grant of the proxy authority to the first terminal 4A, or may indirectly send it via an external computer such as the first server 2. When data communication is adopted as a method of data exchange, this notice of the grant of the proxy authority is an example of data communication between the target user terminal and the proxy user terminal possessed by the user. As a result, the target user terminal 6A grants the authority to authenticate on behalf of the first terminal 4A and causes the first terminal 4A to execute a process of setting a correspondence relationship with the object of use.

[0203] In step SAB100A, the control unit of the first terminal 4A of the proxy user to which the proxy authority has been granted operates as a data exchange unit, and executes data exchange with the second terminal 5. The control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 operates as a data exchange unit 511, and executes data exchange with the first terminal 4A. As with the data exchange between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, the data exchange between the first terminal 4A and the second terminal 5 may be performed by wireless or wired data communication, or may be performed by the use of a two-dimensional code. The data exchange may be performed by a method other than data communication such as reading. When data communication is adopted as the method of data exchange, the data exchange between the first terminal 4A and the second terminal 5 is an example of data communication between a proxy user terminal and a loaded terminal.

[0204] In step SD20, the control unit of the first terminal 4A provides the first identifier I10 and the contact information to the second terminal 5. In response to this, the control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 acquires the first identifier I10 and the contact information from the proxy user. As a result, the first terminal 4A causes the second terminal 5 to notify the target user terminal 6A of a proxy association approval request including an inquiry about the first unique information C1 (user unique information) of the target user, and to transmit a request for association setting including the acquired first unique information C1 and first identifier I10 to the management server 1. Note that the method by which the second terminal 5 acquires these is not limited to this example. In another example, at least one of the first identifier I10 and the contact information may be input to the second terminal 5 by the proxy user operating the second terminal 5.

[0205] In step SD30, the control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 operates as a data exchange unit 511 and notifies the target user terminal 6A of an approval request for proxy association including an inquiry about the first unique information C1. In response to this, in step SA10A, the control unit of the target user terminal 6A accepts an operation from the target user as to whether or not to approve the proxy association. In response to the target user performing an operation for approval, the control unit of the target user terminal 6A operates as a data exchange unit and provides the second terminal 5 with the result of approval of the proxy association and the first unique information C1 (user unique information) of the target user. As a result, the target user terminal 6A causes the second terminal 5 to cooperate with the first terminal 4A and transmit a request for association setting to the management server 1. On the other hand, if the target user does not approve, the processing procedure for association setting by proxy authentication may be terminated as appropriate.

[0206] Basically, the data exchange in step SD30 and step SA10A may be performed by direct or indirect data communication using wireless or wired connection. In step SA10A, the control unit of the target user terminal 6A may appropriately acquire the first unique information C1 from the target user and directly or indirectly transmit the acquired first unique information C1 to the second terminal 5. However, the method of data exchange between the second terminal 5 and the target user terminal 6A is not limited to this example, and in some cases, a method other than data communication such as reading a two-dimensional code may be used.

[0207] In step SB10, similarly to the above-mentioned first terminal 4, the control unit of the first terminal 4A appropriately acquires the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 from the object of use. In one example, the second terminal 5 may provide the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 to the first terminal 4A. As a result, the second terminal 5 may cause the first terminal 4A to transmit a request for linking setting including the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 to the management server 1.

[0208] In step SB20, the control unit of the first terminal 4A operates as a setting request unit and transmits a linking setting request including the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 to the management server 1. In step SA20, the control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 operates as a setting request unit 512 and transmits a linking setting request including the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 to the management server 1. In response to these, the management server 1 receives the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2. Thereafter, the management server 1, the first server 2, and the second server 3 may execute the processes of steps SA30 and SB30 onward, as in the above embodiment. As a result of the execution, in response to authentication of the target user and the usage object being established, a correspondence relationship between the target user and the usage object is set. When the correspondence relationship is set, the processing procedure for linking setting by proxy authentication is terminated. While the correspondence relationship is set, the proxy user can exercise the authority of the target user (proxy requester) from the usage object.

[0209] In the above-mentioned proxy pattern 1-1, the notification route of the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 may not be limited to the above-mentioned example. The first identifier I10 may be notified directly or indirectly from the target user terminal 6A to the second terminal 5 without passing through the first terminal 4A at any timing such as step SA10A. In this case, the first identifier I10 may be omitted from the notification of the grant of the proxy authority. Also, the first unique information C1 may be given to the first terminal 4A at any timing such as step SD10. As a result, the first unique information C1 may be given from the first terminal 4A to the second terminal 5. In this case, the first unique information C1 may be omitted from the data given to the second terminal 5 in step SA10A. However, in order not to give the first unique information C1 to the proxy user, it is preferable to adopt the form of the above-mentioned FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 that does not pass through the first terminal 4A. Also, the approval process of the proxy association may be omitted. When the approval process for the proxy association is omitted and the first unique information C1 is provided from the first terminal 4A to the second terminal 5, the processes of step SD30 and step SA10A may be omitted. In this case, the contact information of the target user may be omitted from the notification of the proxy authority grant and the data provided to the second terminal 5 in step SD20.

[0210] In addition, in the above-mentioned 1-1 proxy pattern, the transmission form of data used for authentication is not limited to the first pattern of divided transmission, and may be appropriately selected according to the embodiment. In another example, the transmission form of data used for authentication may adopt a form other than the first pattern of divided transmission among the above-mentioned transmission forms (the second to fourth patterns of divided transmission, other divided transmission, and batch transmission). In response to this, the processes of steps SD10 to SD30, step SA10A, step SA20, step SB10, and step SB20 may be appropriately changed. When adopting a form in which the second terminal 5 transmits at least a part of the target user's data (the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1), the second terminal 5 may acquire the target user's data via the first terminal 4A, or may acquire the data from the target user (the target user terminal 6A) without going through the first terminal 4A, as in the above. When the first terminal 4A transmits at least a part of the data of the target user, the first terminal 4A may acquire the data of the target user via the second terminal 5, or may acquire the data from the target user (target user terminal 6A) without passing through the second terminal 5. For example, the first terminal 4A may acquire the data of the target user via the second terminal 5 through the route of step SA10A and step SB10. The first terminal 4A may acquire the data of the target user from the target user (target user terminal 6A) through the route of step SD10 without passing through the second terminal 5. When the first terminal 4A transmits at least a part of the data of the usage object (the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2), the first terminal 4A may appropriately acquire the data of the usage object from the usage object, similarly to the above. Similarly, the second terminal 5 may appropriately acquire the data of the usage object. In either case, if approval of proxy association is omitted and a form in which the target user terminal 6A provides data to the second terminal 5 is not adopted, the processes of steps SD30 and SA10A may be omitted.

[0211] In addition, in the above-mentioned proxy pattern 1-1, in step SD10, at least one of the expiration date of the proxy exercise and the authority (valid authority) permitting the proxy exercise may be specified together with the designation of the proxy user. In response to this, designation information configured to indicate at least one of the designated expiration date and the valid authority may be generated. The designation information of at least one of the designated expiration date and the valid authority may be appropriately managed. In one example, the designation information may be transmitted from the target user terminal 6A to the first server 2, and may be associated with the first target information O10 (user information O10A) and managed in the first server 2. The first server 2 may notify the management server 1 of the designation information as appropriate. In another example, the designation information may be notified from the target user terminal 6A to the management server 1 via at least one of the first terminal 4A and the second terminal 5 (i.e., together with the transmission of data used for authentication), and may be associated with the linking information D10 and managed in the management server 1. In yet another example, the designation information may be transmitted directly or indirectly from the target user terminal 6A to the management server 1, and may be managed in the management server 1. In this case, similar to the divided transmission mode, the management server 1 transmits the divided data to at least one of the first terminal 4A and the second terminal 5. The data used for authentication received from the first terminal 4A and the specified information may be appropriately associated with each other. The method of association may be the same as the method of association in the above-mentioned divided transmission form. In one example, the data and the specified information received from at least one of the first terminal 4A and the second terminal 5 may include proxy information as shared information, and the data used for authentication may be associated with the specified information using this proxy information. The proxy information may be any information related to the proxy user. The proxy information may include, for example, attribute information of the proxy user (for example, personal information such as name, address, age, sex, contact information, etc.), identification information (for example, account name, identifier, etc.), etc. The proxy information may include the same type of information as each of the above-mentioned unique information (C1, C2). Note that the timing of designating the valid authority and the expiration date may not be limited to step SD10. At least one of the valid authority and the expiration date may be designated at any timing until the correspondence is released.

[0212] In the above-mentioned proxy pattern 1-1, the first terminal 4A may directly transmit the proxy information to the management server 1, or may indirectly transmit the proxy information via an external computer such as the second terminal 5. For example, the first terminal 4A may transmit the proxy information to the management server 1 in step SB20. The first terminal 4A may provide the proxy information to the second terminal 5 during data exchange and cause the second terminal 5 to transmit the proxy information to the management server 1. In this way, the management server 1 may distinguish whether the set correspondence is due to proxy association by generating the linking information D10 including the proxy information. Since the linking information D10 includes the proxy information, the proxy user who set the correspondence can be tracked. Using this proxy information, the user who can exercise the authority of the target user by proxy may be limited to the designated proxy user (user identified by the proxy information). Note that the method of distinguishing whether the correspondence is due to proxy association is not limited to this example. In another example, it may be possible to appropriately distinguish whether the request is due to proxy association in the data from each terminal (4, 5). In response to this, the management server 1 may generate association information D10 including information indicating whether or not the correspondence relationship is set by proxy association.

[0213] Also, in the above proxy pattern 1-1, the second terminal 5 may acquire the proxy information from the first terminal 4A. Then, when requesting approval of the proxy association in step SD30, the second terminal 5 may notify the target user terminal 6A of the acquired proxy information. This allows the target user to be informed of the proxy user performing the proxy association. In addition, in step SD10, the target user terminal 6A may generate designated proxy information indicating the designated proxy. The proxy information notified from the second terminal 5 may correspond to this designated proxy information. The target user terminal 6A may determine whether the proxy user performing the proxy association and the designated proxy user match by comparing the designated proxy information with the proxy information notified from the second terminal 5. When it is determined that the proxy user performing the proxy association and the designated proxy user match, the target user terminal 6A may automatically give the second terminal 5 an approval notification of the proxy association including the first unique information, or may permit the target user to perform an approval operation. It should be noted that the second terminal 5 does not necessarily have to acquire the proxy information from the first terminal 4A. For example, the second terminal 5 may acquire the proxy information from the proxy user without using the first terminal 4A, for example, by photographing the proxy user with an image sensor. Also, the verification of the proxy user and the notification of approval including the first unique information C1 do not necessarily have to be performed by the target user terminal 6A. At least one of the verification of the proxy user and the notification of approval may be performed by an external computer such as the first server 2.

[0214] The designated agent information may include authentication information, and the agent information may include agent authentication information corresponding to the authentication information. The authentication information may be the same as the above-mentioned first registered unique information C10 or the second registered unique information C20. In one example, the authentication information may be temporarily generated information composed of, for example, a timestamp, a random number, a hash value, etc. In this case, the authentication information is registered in the target user terminal 6A or may be generated appropriately by an external computer. The target user terminal 6A may provide the authentication information to the first terminal 4A at any timing such as step SD10. The first terminal 4A may hold the authentication information as proxy authentication information and provide proxy information including the proxy authentication information to the second terminal 5. Then, by comparing the authentication information with the proxy authentication information, it may be determined whether the proxy user performing the proxy linking matches the designated proxy user. The method of comparing the designated proxy information and the proxy information may be the same as the method of comparing the unique information and the like described above.

[0215] In addition, in the above-mentioned proxy pattern 1-1, if there is no response from the target user terminal 6A within a certain period of time after notifying the approval request in step SD30, the second terminal 5 may notify the target user terminal 6A of a reminder to prompt the response in step SA10A. In addition, the approval process of the proxy association using the designated proxy information and the proxy information may be executed in an external computer such as the first server 2, not in the target user terminal 6A. In this case, when the proxy user is designated in step SD10, the designated proxy information may be provided to the external computer. If there is no response from the target user terminal 6A, the second terminal 5 may substitute the approval process by inquiring of this external computer. In addition, the first unique information C1 may also be provided to the external computer, and the second terminal 5 may acquire the first unique information C1 from the external computer in response to the proxy association being approved.

[0216] In addition, in the above-mentioned 1-1 proxy pattern, the correspondence relationship set in response to a proxy matching request may be appropriately released. As in the above-mentioned embodiment, the management server 1 may be configured to release the correspondence relationship upon receiving a release request from at least one of the first terminal 4A and the second terminal 5 or upon the establishment of a predetermined release condition. The release request and the predetermined release condition according to the above-mentioned embodiment may also be applied to this modified example. In addition, in this modified example, a predetermined release condition may be set in response to at least one of the expiration date and the valid authority of the proxy authority. For example, the release condition may be defined to release the correspondence relationship in response to the arrival of a specified expiration date. Also, the release condition may be defined to release the correspondence relationship by the exercise of the specified valid authority (i.e., the authority is extinguished / invalidated). Also, the release condition may be defined to release the previous correspondence relationship by proxy matching when the target user attempts to set a correspondence relationship with the use object in order to exercise the valid authority himself, resulting in a duplication of the settings of the correspondence relationship for the target user.

[0217] In addition, the management server 1 may be configured to cancel the correspondence in response to receiving a cancellation request from the target user terminal 6A. The target user terminal 6A may directly transmit the cancellation request to the management server 1, or may indirectly transmit the cancellation request via an external computer such as the first server 2. As in the above embodiment, the cancellation request from the target user terminal 6A may include at least one of the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 that specify the cancellation, or may not include both the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20. In addition, when it is identified whether the correspondence is set by proxy matching, the cancellation request from the target user terminal 6A may include only the first identifier I10 without including the second identifier I20, thereby specifying that the correspondence by proxy matching specified by the first identifier I10 is to be cancelled.

[0218] Furthermore, in the above-mentioned proxy pattern 1-1, after the process of setting the correspondence relationship by proxy matching is completed, the control unit 11 of the management server 1 may operate as a notification unit 114 and directly or indirectly transmit a notification indicating the execution result of the setting process by proxy matching to at least one of the first terminal 4A, the second terminal 5, and the target user terminal 6A. When directly notifying the target user terminal 6A, the management server 1 may acquire the contact information of the target user terminal 6A at any timing. In one example, when adopting a form in which the contact information of the target user terminal 6A is exchanged between the above-mentioned first terminal 4A and the second terminal 5, at least one of the first terminal 4A and the second terminal 5 may transmit the contact information of the target user terminal 6A to the management server 1 at the time of the linking request. When adopting a form in which the target user terminal 6A performs data communication with the management server 1, this data communication In this communication, the management server 1 may acquire the contact information of the target user terminal 6A.

[0219] The processing procedure of FIG. 10 is merely an example, and each step may be changed as much as possible. In addition, the above processing procedure may be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. For example, the processing of step SB20 may be executed at any timing after step SB10. In the case where the process does not wait until the completion of the proxy approval, the processing of steps SB10 and SB20 may be executed at any timing after the second unique information C2 can be acquired from the object of use, and may be executed before step SD20. While the processing of step SB10 is executed before step SD20, the processing of step SB20 may be executed after step SD20. In addition, for example, the processing of step SA20 may be executed at any timing after step SA10A. The processing of step SA20 may be executed before step SB10. In the case where the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 are provided from the first terminal 4A, the processing of step SA20 may be executed at any timing after the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 are acquired.

[0220] (Modification) In the above-mentioned proxy pattern 1-1, at least one of the first terminal 4A and the second terminal 5 acquires the first unique information C1 (user unique information) of the target user, and transmits the acquired first unique information C1 to the management server 1. However, the transmission path of the first unique information C1 does not need to be limited to this example. As a modified example, the authentication process may be continued without the first unique information C1 being present, and the first server 2 may inquire of the target user terminal 6A.

[0221] Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a modified example of the process of linking in the proxy pattern 1-1 according to the present embodiment. In the example of Fig. 11, the first target information O10 (user information O10A) includes the contact information of the target user (first target) as attribute information. Fig. 11 assumes a scene in which the configuration of this modified example is applied to the example of Fig. 9 above.

[0222] First, in step SD10, the target user terminal 6A accepts the designation of a proxy user and gives a notice of the grant of proxy authority to the first terminal 4A of the designated proxy user. In this notice of the grant of proxy authority, the target user's contact information may be omitted. In step SD20B, the second terminal 5 acquires the first identifier I10. In step SB10, the first terminal 4A acquires the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2. The authentication process of the usage object from step SB20 onwards may be executed in the same manner as in the above embodiment. As a result of the execution, the management server 1 receives the authentication result of the usage object from the second server 3.

[0223] On the other hand, in step SA20B, the second terminal 5 transmits a linking setting request including the first identifier I10 but not the first unique information C1 to the management server 1. In response, the management server 1 receives the first identifier I10. In step SA30B, the control unit 11 of the management server 1 operates as the authentication unit 111 and transmits an authentication request for the first target including the received first identifier I10 to the first server 2. In response, the first server 2 receives the first identifier I10 from the management server 1.

[0224] In step SA310B, the control unit 21 of the first server 2 operates as the authentication unit 211, and searches the first target information O10 (user information O10A) using the received first identifier I10 as a query, thereby extracting the first registered unique information C10 and contact information of the target user. The control unit 21 transmits an approval request for proxy matching, including an inquiry about the first unique information C1, to the target user terminal 6A for the extracted contact information. In response to this, the control unit of the target user terminal 6A accepts an operation from the target user to determine whether or not to approve the proxy matching. In step SA311B, in response to the target user performing an operation to approve, The control unit of the user terminal 6A transmits the result of the proxy association approval and the first unique information C1 (user unique information) of the target user to the first server 2. In response to this, the control unit 21 of the first server 2 receives the first unique information C1. On the other hand, if the target user does not approve, the processing procedure for setting association by proxy authentication in this modified example may be terminated as appropriate. Note that the control unit of the target user terminal 6A may acquire the first unique information C1 from the target user as appropriate.

[0225] The control unit 21 of the first server 2 operates as an authentication unit 211 and compares the extracted first registered unique information C10 with the received first unique information C1. The control unit 21 judges whether the authentication of the target user is successful or not according to the result of the comparison. In step SA40, the control unit 21 operates as a notification unit 212 and transmits the authentication result of the target user to the management server 1. In response to this, the management server 1 receives the authentication result of the target user. Thereafter, the management server 1 may execute the process from step SC10 onwards, as in the above embodiment. As a result of the execution, in response to the authentication of the target user and the usage object being established, a correspondence relationship between the target user and the usage object is set. When the correspondence relationship is set, the processing procedure for linking setting by proxy authentication ends.

[0226] In this modified example, the configuration other than the above may be the same as the configuration described above regarding the example of FIG. 9 and FIG. 10. In this modified example, when or after the designation of the proxy user by the processing of step SD10 and before step SA310B, the target user terminal 6A may access the first server 2 to execute the processing of step SA311B in advance. In this case, the processing of step SA310B may be omitted. As in the form of divided transmission, the association request from at least one of the first terminal 4A and the second terminal 5 and the pre-authentication by executing step SA311B in advance may be appropriately associated. In one example, the association request from at least one of the first terminal 4A and the second terminal 5 and the pre-authentication by executing step SA311B in advance may include proxy information as shared information, and the association may be performed using this proxy information. When this embodiment is adopted, the first server 2 may perform the association process in response to an authentication request from the management server 1 by the process of step SA30B, and may return the authentication result of the target user based on the first unique information C1 acquired in advance to the management server 1 as the process of step SA40. Alternatively, the first server 2 may transmit the authentication result of the target user based on the first unique information C1 acquired in advance to the management server 1 in advance. In this case, the process of step SA30B may also be omitted, and the management server 1 may perform the association process and acquire the authentication result of the target user. Furthermore, when this embodiment is adopted, at least a part of the authentication process of the target user may be executed by the target user terminal 6A.

[0227] (1-2) Substitute pattern 1-2 FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a process of linking in the 1-2 proxy pattern according to the present embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a processing procedure of linking in the 1-2 proxy pattern according to the present embodiment. In the examples of FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, the first terminal 4C is a proxy user terminal, and corresponds to the first terminal 4 in the examples of FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 of the above embodiment and the first terminal 4A in the 1-1 proxy pattern. The first target is a target user (proxy requester) who requests a proxy. The target user terminal 6C is a terminal possessed by the target user, and corresponds to the target user terminal 6A in the 1-1 proxy pattern. The hardware configurations of the first terminal 4C and the target user terminal 6C may be the same as the first terminal 4 in the above embodiment. In the examples of FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, a scene is assumed in which the first pattern of divided transmission is adopted as the transmission form of data used for authentication, and the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 are not transmitted via the first terminal 4C.

[0228] First, in step SE10, the control unit of the target user terminal 6C operates as a proxy designation unit and accepts the designation of a proxy user for the target user. The control unit of the target user terminal 6C operates as a notification unit and exchanges data with the first terminal 4C of the proxy user designated by the target user, and notifies the target user that the proxy authority has been granted. In response to this, the first terminal 4C of the proxy user The control unit of C receives a notice of the grant of the proxy authority from the target user terminal 6C. In one example, this notice may include authentication information. The authentication information may be the same as the proxy pattern 1-1 above. For example, the authentication information may be temporarily generated information. The first terminal 4C may hold the authentication information included in the received notice as proxy authentication information. Other processes of step SE10 may be the same as those of step SD10 above. When data communication is adopted as a method of data exchange, this notice of the grant of the proxy authority is an example of data communication between the target user terminal and the proxy user terminal possessed by the user. As a result, the target user terminal 6C grants the first terminal 4C the authority to authenticate on behalf of the first terminal 4C and executes a process of setting a correspondence relationship with the object of use.

[0229] In step SA10C, the control unit of the target user terminal 6C accepts the designation of the usage object for which proxy matching by the proxy user is permitted. The usage object for which proxy matching is permitted may be designated as appropriate according to the embodiment. In one example, the usage object of the second terminal 5, which is the other party of the data exchange, may be designated as the usage object for which proxy matching is permitted by directly exchanging data between the target user terminal 6C and the second terminal 5 using a method such as short-range wireless communication. In another example, the target user terminal 6C may access a list of usage objects via an external computer and designate the usage object for which proxy matching is permitted from the usage objects registered in the list. The list may include information such as identification information of each usage object and contact information of the second terminal 5. The list may be stored in the target user terminal 6C. The usage object may be designated manually by the target user, or may be designated by any information processing such as selecting a usage object that meets a condition. After the use object is designated, the control unit of the target user terminal 6C operates as a data exchange unit and notifies the second terminal 5 of the designated use object of the designated proxy information including the authentication information, the first identifier I10, and the first unique information C1. The designated proxy information may be acquired as appropriate in response to the designation of the proxy user. The designated proxy information may be the same as the proxy pattern 1-1. In response to this, the second terminal 5 of the designated use object receives the designated proxy information including the authentication information, the first identifier I10, and the first unique information C1. Note that, in order for the proxy user to identify the use object designated, the information of the designated use object may be provided to the first terminal 4C from the target user terminal 6C or an external computer as appropriate. By the process of this step SA10C, the target user terminal 6C causes the second terminal 5 of the designated use object to execute a process of verifying the authenticity of the proxy user in response to the use application of the use object, and causes it to cooperate with the first terminal 4C of the proxy user and transmit a request for linking setting to the management server 1.

[0230] In step SAB100C, the control unit of the first terminal 4C of the proxy user who has been granted proxy authority operates as a data exchange unit and executes data exchange with the second terminal 5 of the specified object. The control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 operates as a data exchange unit 511 and executes data exchange with the first terminal 4C. The method of data exchange in step SAB100C may be the same as that of step SAB100A above. When data communication is adopted as the method of data exchange, the data exchange between the first terminal 4C and the second terminal 5 is an example of data communication between a proxy user terminal and a loading terminal.

[0231] In step SE20, the control unit of the first terminal 4C applies for use of the object by providing the proxy information including the proxy authentication information to the second terminal 5. As a result, the first terminal 4C causes the second terminal 5 to verify the authenticity of the proxy, and, in response to the verification of the proxy, causes the second terminal 5 to transmit a request for linking setting using the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 held by the first terminal 4C to the management server 1.

[0232] In step SE201, the control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 verifies the authenticity of the proxy user by comparing the proxy information included in the usage application with the designated proxy information received from the target user terminal 6C (i.e., executes authentication processing of the proxy user). Matching the proxy information with the designated proxy information includes matching the proxy authentication information with the authentication information. The control unit 51 of the terminal 5 judges whether the proxy user has been verified based on the result of the comparison. If the proxy user has been verified, the control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 permits the proxy user to use the object and enables subsequent processing related to proxy association. On the other hand, if the proxy user has not been verified, the processing procedure for setting association by proxy authentication may be terminated as appropriate.

[0233] In step SB10, the control unit of the first terminal 4C appropriately acquires the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 from the object of use. In step SB20, the control unit of the first terminal 4C transmits a request for linking setting including the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 to the management server 1. In step SA20, the control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 transmits a request for linking setting including the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 to the management server 1. The processes of steps SB10, SB20, and SA20 may be similar to those of the proxy pattern 1-1 described above. In response to these, the management server 1 receives the first identifier I10, the first unique information C1, the second identifier I20, and the second unique information C2. Thereafter, similar to the proxy pattern 1-1 described above, the management server 1, the first server 2, and the second server 3 may execute the processes of steps SA30 and steps SB30 and thereafter. As a result of the execution, in response to authentication of the target user and the use object being established, a correspondence relationship between the target user and the use object is set. When the correspondence relationship is set, the processing procedure for setting the link by proxy authentication is completed. While the correspondence relationship is set, the proxy user can exercise the authority of the target user (proxy requester) from the use object.

[0234] In the above-mentioned 1-2 proxy pattern, the notification route of the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 may not be limited to the above-mentioned example. At least one of the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 may be provided to the second terminal 5 via the first terminal 4C. In this case, at least one of the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1 may be omitted from the data provided to the second terminal 5 in step SA10C.

[0235] In addition, in the above-mentioned 1-2 proxy pattern, the transmission form of data used for authentication is not limited to the first pattern of divided transmission, and may be appropriately selected according to the embodiment. In another example, the transmission form of data used for authentication may adopt a form other than the first pattern of divided transmission among the above-mentioned transmission forms (the second to fourth patterns of divided transmission, other divided transmission, and batch transmission). In response to this, the processes of steps SE10, SE20, SA10C, SA20, SB10, and SB20 may be appropriately changed. When adopting a form in which the second terminal 5 transmits at least a part of the target user's data (the first identifier I10 and the first unique information C1), the second terminal 5 may acquire the target user's data via the first terminal 4C, or may acquire the data from the target user (the target user terminal 6C) without passing through the first terminal 4C, as in the above. When the first terminal 4C transmits at least a part of the data of the target user, the first terminal 4C may acquire the data of the target user via the second terminal 5, or may acquire the data from the target user (target user terminal 6C) without passing through the second terminal 5. For example, the first terminal 4C may acquire the data of the target user via the second terminal 5 through the route of step SA10C and step SB10. The first terminal 4C may acquire the data of the target user from the target user (target user terminal 6C) through the route of step SE10 without passing through the second terminal 5. When the first terminal 4C transmits at least a part of the data of the usage object (the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2), the first terminal 4C may appropriately acquire the data of the usage object from the usage object, similarly to the above. Similarly, the second terminal 5 may appropriately acquire the data of the usage object.

[0236] Furthermore, in the above-mentioned proxy pattern 1-2, the use object may typically be specified as a specific individual in the specification of the use object in step SA10C. However, the method of specifying the use object is not limited to this example. In another example, the use object may not be specified as a specific individual, but may be specified in any range, such as belonging to a specific management organization. As an example of this case, the data to be sent in advance, such as the designated agent information, may be transmitted to an external computer, such as the first server 2. The second terminal 5 may hold the data from the target user terminal 6C from an external computer as a pre-processing of step SE20. The data to be downloaded may be selected as appropriate. For example, the target user may be designated by an operation by the proxy user, data from the first terminal 4C, or the like, and the second terminal 5 may download data corresponding to the designated target user. The target user may be designated as appropriate by the first identifier I10, or the like. After downloading the data, the second terminal 5 may accept a use application by the proxy user and execute the processes of step SE201 and thereafter. Note that even when the use object is designated by a specific individual, the second terminal 5 may download data from the target user terminal 6C when the proxy user uses the use object. For example, when the use period of the use object by the proxy user is designated in advance, the second terminal 5 may download data from the target user terminal 6C before the use period arrives.

[0237] The processing procedure of FIG. 13 is merely an example, and each step may be changed as much as possible. In addition, steps of the above processing procedure may be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. For example, the notification of the grant of the power of attorney in step SE10 may be executed after step SA10C. The processing of step SE10 and the processing of step SA10C may be executed at least partially in parallel. The processing of step SA10C may be executed before step SE10. The processing of step SA20 may be executed at any timing after step SE201. The processing of step SA20 may be executed before step SB10. The processing of step SA20 and the processing of steps SB10 and SB20 may be executed at least partially in parallel.

[0238] In addition, the configuration of the above-mentioned 1-1 proxy pattern may be applied as appropriate to the configuration of the 1-2 proxy pattern other than the above. For example, at least one of the expiration date of the proxy exercise and the authority (valid authority) that permits the proxy exercise may be specified in the 1-2 proxy pattern as well. The management server 1 may generate the linking information D10 including the proxy information. The management server 1 may generate the linking information D10 including information indicating whether or not the correspondence relationship is set by proxy linking. The correspondence relationship set in response to a proxy linking request may be released in the same manner as the above-mentioned 1-1 proxy pattern. The control unit 11 of the management server 1 may transmit a notification indicating the execution result of the setting process by proxy linking to at least one of the first terminal 4C, the second terminal 5, and the target user terminal 6C.

[0239] (Modification) As in the modified example of the proxy pattern 1-1, the transmission route of the first unique information C1 is not limited to the example of the proxy pattern 1-2. As a modified example, the authentication process may be carried out without the first unique information C1 being present, and the first server 2 may inquire of the target user terminal 6C.

[0240] Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram showing a modified example of the process of linking in the first-second proxy pattern according to the present embodiment. In the example of Fig. 14, the first target information O10 (user information O10A) includes the contact information of the target user (first target) as attribute information. Fig. 14 assumes a situation in which the configuration of this modified example is applied to the example of Fig. 12 above.

[0241] First, in step SE10, similarly to the examples of Figs. 12 and 13 above, the target user terminal 6C accepts the designation of a proxy user. The target user terminal 6C notifies the first terminal 4C of the designated proxy user of the grant of proxy authority. In step SA10D, the target user terminal 6C accepts the designation of a usage object for which proxy association by the proxy user is permitted. The target user terminal 6C provides the designated proxy information including authentication information and the first identifier I10 to the second terminal 5 of the designated usage object. Except for omitting the first unique information C1, step SA10D may be similar to the above step SA10C.

[0242] Steps SB10 and SE20 are similar to the examples in Figures 12 and 13 above. In step SE20, the first terminal 4C submits a usage application to the second terminal 5 for the specified object of use. The second terminal 5 verifies the authenticity of the agent. If the verification is successful, the second terminal 5 enables subsequent processing related to agent linking. In step SB10, the first terminal 4C appropriately acquires the second identifier I20 and the second unique information C2 from the object of use.

[0243] The authentication process of the use object after step SB20 may be executed in the same manner as in the above embodiment. As a result of the execution, the management server 1 receives the authentication result of the use object from the second server 3. In addition, the processes of steps SA20D, SA30D, SA310D, SA311D, and SA40 may be executed in the same manner as steps SA20B, SA30B, SA310B, SA311B, and SA40 in the modified example of the proxy pattern 1-1. As a result of the execution, the management server 1 receives the authentication result of the target user from the first server 2. Thereafter, as in the above embodiment, the management server 1 may execute the processes after step SC10. As a result of the execution, in response to the authentication of the target user and the use object being established, a correspondence relationship between the target user and the use object is set. When the correspondence relationship is set, the processing procedure of the association setting by proxy authentication is terminated.

[0244] In this modified example, the configuration other than the above may be the same as the configuration described above with respect to the example of Figures 12 and 13. Also, in this modified example, like the modified example of the proxy pattern 1-1, the process of step SA311D may be executed in advance. As a result, the process of step SA310D may be omitted. Furthermore, the process of step SA40 may be executed in advance, so that the process of step SA30D may also be omitted.

[0245] (2) The second proxy pattern As a second proxy pattern, the management system 100 may be configured to grant proxy authority to a proxy user, but to perform authentication processing by the target user. That is, the user terminal related to the user (in the example of FIG. 2, the first terminal 4) may be a target user terminal possessed by the target user. In one example, the usage relationship between the first target and the second target may be created by data communication being performed between the target user terminal and the loading terminal, mediated by a proxy user terminal possessed by a proxy user who represents the target user.

[0246] FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a process of linking in the second proxy pattern according to the present embodiment. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a processing procedure of linking in the second proxy pattern according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, the first target is a target user (proxy requester) who requests a proxy. The first terminal 4E is a target user terminal, and corresponds to the first terminal 4 in the examples of FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 of the above embodiment. The proxy user terminal 6E is a terminal possessed by the proxy user. The proxy user is an example of a proxy individual, and the target user (proxy requester) is an example of a proxy request individual (target individual). The hardware configurations of the first terminal 4E and the proxy user terminal 6E may be the same as those of the first terminal 4 in the above embodiment. In the examples of FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, a scene is assumed in which the first pattern of divided transmission is adopted as the transmission form of data used for authentication.

[0247] First, in step SF10, the control unit of the first terminal 4E operates as a proxy designation unit and accepts the designation of a proxy user for the target user. The designation of a proxy user may be performed in the same manner as in step SD10 and the like. When a proxy user is designated, the control unit of the first terminal 4E operates as a notification unit and exchanges data with the proxy user terminal 6E of the designated proxy user, and notifies the granting of proxy authority. In response, the proxy user terminal 6E receives a notification of the granting of proxy authority from the first terminal 4E. In one example, this notification may include contact information for the target user. Similar to the data exchange between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5 described above, the proxy user terminal 6E and the first terminal Data exchange between the first terminal 4E and the second terminal 5 may be performed by wireless or wired data communication, or may be performed by a method other than data communication, such as reading a two-dimensional code. Furthermore, the first terminal 4E may directly notify the proxy user terminal 6E of the grant of proxy authority, or may indirectly send the notification via an external computer such as the first server 2. As a result, the first terminal 4E may cause the proxy user terminal 6E to execute intermediate processing for data exchange with the second terminal 5.

[0248] In step SF20, the control unit of the proxy user terminal 6E operates as a data exchange unit and executes data exchange with the second terminal 5. The control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 operates as a data exchange unit 511 and executes data exchange with the proxy user terminal 6E. As with the data exchange between the first terminal 4 and the second terminal 5, the data exchange between the proxy user terminal 6E and the second terminal 5 may be performed by wireless or wired data communication, or may be performed by a method other than data communication, such as reading a two-dimensional code. The control unit of the proxy user terminal 6E provides the second terminal 5 with the contact information of the target user. As a result, the proxy user terminal 6E causes the second terminal 5 to start data exchange with the first terminal 4E and to transmit a request for linking setting to the management server 1 by coordinating with the first terminal 4E. The processes of steps SF10 and SF20 are an example of an intermediation by a proxy user terminal possessed by a proxy user.

[0249] In step SAB100E, the control unit 51 of the second terminal 5 operates as a data exchange unit 511 and executes data exchange with the first terminal 4E by accessing the contact information received from the proxy user terminal 6E. The control unit of the first terminal 4E operates as a data exchange unit and executes data exchange with the second terminal 5 in response to the access of the second terminal 5. Basically, the data exchange between the first terminal 4E and the second terminal 5 may be performed by wireless or wired data communication. However, the data exchange in step SAB100E does not necessarily have to be performed by data communication. In another example, the data exchange between the first terminal 4E and the second terminal 5 may be performed by a method other than data communication, such as reading a two-dimensional code. In this case, the contact information of the target user may be omitted from the data in steps SF10 and SF20. The processing of step SF20 may simply trigger the data exchange in step SAB100E.

[0250] The processing of step SA10E and step SB10E may be similar to step SA10 and step SB10 in the above embodiment. The authentication processing of the user from step SA20 onwards and the authentication processing of the use object from step SB20 onwards may be executed similarly to the above embodiment. As a result of executing these authentication processes, the management server 1 receives the authentication results of the user and the use object. Thereafter, similar to the above embodiment, the management server 1 may execute the processing from step SC10 onwards. As a result of the execution, in response to authentication of the target user and the use object being established, a correspondence relationship between the target user and the use object is set. When the correspondence relationship is set, the processing procedure of link setting by the second proxy pattern is terminated. While the correspondence relationship is set, the proxy user can exercise the authority of the target user (proxy requester) from the use object.

[0251] The processing procedure in FIG. 16 is merely an example, and each step may be changed as much as possible. In addition, the above processing procedure may be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. For example, when adopting a form in which data exchange between the first terminal 4E and the second terminal 5 is performed by data communication, the processing of step SA10E and step SA20 may be performed at any timing after access from the second terminal 5. The processing of step SA10E and step SA20 may be performed at least partially in parallel with the processing of step SB10E and step SB20. The processing of step SA20 may be performed before step SB20. When the first terminal 4E and the second terminal 5 are connected before the processing of step SB10E, the processing of step SA10E and step SA20 may be performed before step SB10E.

[0252] In addition, the configuration of the above embodiment may be applied as appropriate to the configuration of the second proxy pattern other than the above. For example, the transmission form of data used for authentication may be a form other than the first divided transmission pattern (the second to fourth patterns of divided transmission, other divided transmission, batch transmission) among the above transmission forms. In response to this, the processes of steps SA10E, SA20, SB10E, and SB20 may be changed as appropriate.

[0253] In addition, the configurations of the above 1-1 proxy pattern and 1-2 proxy pattern may be applied as appropriate to the configurations of the second proxy pattern other than the above. For example, at least one of the expiration date of the proxy exercise and the authority (valid authority) that permits the proxy exercise may also be specified in the second proxy pattern. The management server 1 may generate the linking information D10 including the proxy information. The management server 1 may generate the linking information D10 including information indicating whether or not the correspondence relationship is set by proxy linking. The proxy information may be provided to the first terminal 4E in step SB10E from the proxy user terminal 6E via the second terminal 5. Thereby, the first terminal 4E may check whether or not the access of the second terminal 5 is an access mediated by the designated proxy user. The management server 1 may transmit a notification indicating the execution result of the linking setting to at least one of the first terminal 4E, the second terminal 5, and the proxy user terminal 6E. The set correspondence relationship may be released in the same manner as in the above 1-1 proxy pattern. In another example, the management server 1 may be configured not to accept a cancellation request from the proxy user terminal 6E. In yet another example, the management server 1 may be configured to accept a cancellation request from the proxy user terminal 6E via the first terminal 4E or the second terminal 5.

[0254] (3) The third proxy pattern The first and second proxy patterns allow the proxy user to exercise the authority of the target user while the correspondence between the target user and the usage object is set. In contrast, as a third proxy pattern, the management system 100 may be configured to allow the target user to exercise the proxy authority granted by another user while the correspondence between the target user and the usage object is set. That is, the management system 100 may be configured to link the proxy requester and the usage object, rather than linking the proxy requester and the usage object. In the third proxy pattern, the user terminal related to the user (the first terminal 4 in the example of FIG. 2) may be the target user terminal possessed by the user. One of the first identifier I10 and the second identifier I20 corresponding to the user (the first identifier I10 in the example of FIG. 2) may be associated with the proxy authority of another user other than the user.

[0255] FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a process of linking in the third proxy pattern according to the present embodiment. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a procedure for granting proxy authority in the third proxy pattern according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 17 and FIG. 18, the first target is a user to whom proxy authority is granted. The first terminal 4F is a target user terminal, and corresponds to the first terminal 4 in the examples of FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 in the above embodiment. The other user terminal 6F is a terminal possessed by another user (proxy requester) who requests the target user to act as a proxy. Typically, the other user is a user other than the target user who has an account in the same service (first server 2) as the target user. The target user to whom proxy authority is granted is an example of a proxy individual, and the other user (proxy requester) is an example of a proxy request individual (other individual). The hardware configurations of the first terminal 4F and the other user terminal 6F may be similar to those of the first terminal 4 in the above embodiment.

[0256] First, in step SG10, the control unit of the other user terminal 6F operates as a proxy designation unit and accepts the designation of a proxy user for the proxy requester (other user). The designation of a proxy user may be performed in the same manner as in step SD10 above.

[0257] In step SG101, the control unit of the other user terminal 6F accesses the first server 2. The control unit 21 of the first server 2 operates as an authentication unit 211 and The control unit 21 executes user authentication of the user terminal 6F of the first server 2. The authentication in step SG101 may be the same as the authentication by the identifier and unique information in the above steps SA301 and SB301. Typically, the authentication process in step SG101 is a login process. When the authentication is established, the control unit 21 of the first server 2 grants the proxy authority to the target user designated as the proxy user in response to a request from the other user terminal 6F. The granting of the proxy authority may be expressed in any data format. In one example, the control unit 21 may associate the information of the proxy requester (e.g., the identifier of the proxy requester) with the user information O10A of the target user designated as the proxy user as the process of granting the proxy authority. Associating the information of the proxy requester with the user information O10A of the target user is an example of associating the proxy authority of another user other than the target user with the first identifier I10 of the target user. The management system 100 may be appropriately configured so that the authority can be exercised in the proxy mode by associating the information of the proxy requester.

[0258] In step SG20, the control unit 21 of the first server 2 transmits a notification to the first terminal 4F of the target user designated as the proxy user to inform that the proxy authority of another user has been granted. The control unit 21 may directly transmit the notification of the grant of proxy authority to the first terminal 4F, or may indirectly transmit the notification via an external computer such as another user terminal 6F. When the notification of the grant of proxy authority is completed, the processing procedure of granting proxy authority in the third proxy pattern ends. In one example, the first terminal 4F may execute a linking process for setting a correspondence relationship with the use object by the target user, regardless of the process of granting proxy authority in FIG. 18. In another example, the notification of the grant of proxy authority may be a trigger to execute the linking process. A series of processes for setting a correspondence relationship between the target user (first terminal 4F) and the use object (second terminal 5) may be the same as those in the above embodiment. As a result of executing the linking process, the correspondence relationship between the target user and the use object is set in response to authentication of the target user and the use object being established. When the correspondence is set, the processing procedure for link setting by the third proxy pattern is completed. While the correspondence is set, the target user (proxy user) can exercise the authority of the other user (proxy requester) from the usage object.

[0259] The processing procedure in FIG. 18 is merely an example, and each step may be changed as much as possible. In addition, steps may be omitted, replaced, or added as appropriate to the above processing procedure depending on the embodiment. For example, in a case where a list of users is stored accessible from the first server 2 and a proxy user is designated on the first server 2, the processing of step SG10 may be executed on the first server 2 via the other user terminal 6F after the other user terminal 6F accesses the first server 2. In this case, the processing of step SG101 may be executed prior to step SG10.

[0260] In addition, the configuration of the above-mentioned 1-1 proxy pattern and the like may be applied as appropriate to the configuration of the third proxy pattern other than the above. For example, in the third proxy pattern as well, the management server 1 may generate the linking information D10 including the proxy information. At least one of the expiration date of the proxy exercise and the authority (valid authority) permitting the proxy exercise may be specified. In this case, the proxy authority granted by another user may be extinguished upon the arrival of the specified valid authority. The granted proxy authority may be extinguished by the exercise of the specified valid authority. In addition, the first server 2 may be configured to delete the proxy authority granted by another user in response to a request from the other user (proxy requester).

[0261] (Features) According to this modification, each user can exercise the authority of the proxy requester on behalf of the user through the use object. This can increase the scalability of the authority exercise. For example, assume a situation in which the authority information includes information regarding an electronic prescription and the target authority is to receive medicine prescribed by an electronic prescription. In this case, the user does not have to pick up the prescribed medicine himself / herself. Even if the user does not have to be a user himself / herself, by granting proxy authority to another user, such as a taxi driver, the user can request the other user to collect the prescribed medicine via a mobile object.

[0262] [5 Supplementary Note] The processes and means described in the present disclosure can be freely combined and implemented as long as no technical contradiction occurs.

[0263] Furthermore, a process described as being performed by one device may be shared and executed by multiple devices. Or, a process described as being performed by different devices may be executed by one device. In a computer system, the hardware configuration for implementing each function can be flexibly changed.

[0264] The present disclosure can also be realized by supplying a computer program implementing the functions described in the above embodiments to a computer, and having one or more processors of the computer read and execute the program. Such a computer program may be provided to the computer by a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium connectable to the system bus of the computer, or may be provided to the computer via a network. Non-transitory computer-readable storage media include, for example, any type of disk, such as a magnetic disk (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk drive (HDD), etc.), an optical disk (e.g., a CD-ROM, a DVD disk, a Blu-ray disk, etc.), a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), an EPROM, an EEPROM, a magnetic card, a flash memory, an optical card, a semiconductor drive (e.g., a solid-state drive), and any type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. [Explanation of symbols]

[0265] 1... management server, 11... control unit, 2...first server, 21...control unit, 3... second server, 31... control unit, 4...first terminal, 41...control unit, 5... second terminal, 51... control unit, C1: first unique information; I10: first identifier; O10…First target information, O10A…User information, C10: First registered unique information, C2: second unique information; I20: second identifier; O20…second target information, O20A…mobile information, C20: Second registered unique information, D10: Linking information, E10: Various information

Claims

1. receiving, in response to a usage relationship being established between a first target and a second target, a first identifier of the first target, first unique information of the first target, a second identifier of the second target, and second unique information of the second target from at least one of a first terminal of the first target and a second terminal of the second target; transmitting the received first identifier and the first unique information to a first server, thereby requesting the first server to authenticate the first target; receiving a result of authentication of the first subject from the first server; transmitting the received second identifier and the second unique information to a second server, thereby requesting the second server to authenticate the second target; receiving a result of the authentication of the second subject from the second server; and setting a correspondence relationship between the first identifier and the second identifier when authentication of both the first target and the second target is established in the received authentication result; A control unit configured to execute Management server.

2. The control unit is further configured to cancel the correspondence relationship upon receipt of a cancellation request from at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal or upon establishment of a predetermined cancellation condition. The management server according to claim 1 .

3. Receiving the first identifier, the first unique information, the second identifier, and the second unique information from at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal, receiving the second identifier and the second unique information from the first terminal; and receiving the first identifier and the first unique information from the second terminal; Consists of: The management server according to claim 1 .

4. Receiving the first identifier, the first unique information, the second identifier, and the second unique information from at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal, receiving the first identifier and the second unique information from the first terminal; and receiving the second identifier and the first unique information from the second terminal; Consists of: The management server according to claim 1 .

5. Receiving the first identifier, the first unique information, the second identifier, and the second unique information from at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal, receiving the second identifier and the first unique information from the first terminal; and receiving the first identifier and the second unique information from the second terminal; Consists of: The management server according to claim 1 .

6. Receiving the first identifier, the first unique information, the second identifier, and the second unique information from at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal is configured by receiving the first identifier, the first unique information, the second identifier, and the second unique information from one of the first terminal and the second terminal. The management server according to claim 1 .

7. one of the first object and the second object is a user; The one of the first terminal and the second terminal corresponding to the user is a user terminal associated with the user, the other of the first object and the second object is a use object used by the user, One of the first terminal and the second terminal corresponding to the object is a loading terminal that is loaded on the object. The management server according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. The object of use is a moving object. The management server according to claim 7.

9. The user terminal associated with the user is a proxy user terminal possessed by a proxy user who represents the user. The management server according to claim 7.

10. The usage relationship between the first target and the second target is generated through data communication between a target user terminal possessed by the user and the representative user terminal, and data communication between the representative user terminal and the loaded terminal. The management server according to claim 9.

11. The user terminal related to the user is a target user terminal owned by the user, The usage relationship between the first target and the second target is generated by data communication between the target user terminal and the loaded terminal through a proxy user terminal possessed by a proxy user who represents the user. The management server according to claim 7.

12. The user terminal related to the user is a target user terminal owned by the user, One of the first identifier and the second identifier, which corresponds to the user, is associated with a proxy authority of a user other than the user. The management server according to claim 7.

13. The management server receiving, in response to a usage relationship being established between a first target and a second target, a first identifier of the first target, first unique information of the first target, a second identifier of the second target, and second unique information of the second target from at least one of a first terminal of the first target and a second terminal of the second target; transmitting the received first identifier and the first unique information to a first server, thereby requesting the first server to authenticate the first target; receiving a result of authentication of the first subject from the first server; transmitting the received second identifier and the second unique information to a second server, thereby requesting the second server to authenticate the second target; receiving a result of the authentication of the second subject from the second server; and setting a correspondence relationship between the first identifier and the second identifier when authentication of both the first target and the second target is established in the received authentication result; Execute Management method.

14. the management server further cancels the correspondence relationship upon receipt of a cancellation request from at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal or upon establishment of a predetermined cancellation condition. The management method according to claim 13.

15. The first identifier, the first unique identifier, and the first unique identifier are transmitted from at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal. Receiving the information, the second identifier, and the second unique information includes: receiving the second identifier and the second unique information from the first terminal; and receiving the first identifier and the first unique information from the second terminal; Consists of: The management method according to claim 13.

16. Receiving the first identifier, the first unique information, the second identifier, and the second unique information from at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal, receiving the first identifier and the second unique information from the first terminal; and receiving the second identifier and the first unique information from the second terminal; Consists of: The management method according to claim 13.

17. Receiving the first identifier, the first unique information, the second identifier, and the second unique information from at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal, receiving the second identifier and the first unique information from the first terminal; and receiving the first identifier and the second unique information from the second terminal; Consists of: The management method according to claim 13.

18. one of the first object and the second object is a user; one of the first terminal and the second terminal corresponding to the user is a user terminal related to the user; the other of the first object and the second object is a use object used by the user, One of the first terminal and the second terminal corresponding to the object is a loading terminal that is loaded on the object. The management method according to any one of claims 13 to 17.

19. The object of use is a moving object. The management method according to claim 18.

20. On the first terminal of the first target, Upon the occurrence of a relationship of use between the first object and the second object, providing first unique information of the first target to a second terminal of the second target during data exchange with the second terminal, thereby causing the second terminal to transmit the first unique information to a management server on behalf of the first terminal; acquiring second unique information of the second object from the second object; and transmitting the acquired second unique information to the management server, causing the management server to attempt authentication of the first target using the first unique information and authentication of the second target using the second unique information, and when authentication of both the first target and the second target is successful, causing the management server to set a correspondence relationship between the first identifier of the first target and the second identifier of the second target; In order to execute program.

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