US Patent 8032631 Information providing apparatus, information providing method, and program

Terminals are connected to an IM server and a registration Web server through a network. The terminals allow an information storage device to store personal information through the registration Web server. Also, the IM server allows the information storage device to store buddy lists of the terminals, the buddy lists showing relationship among the terminals. When one of the terminals requests obtaining personal information of the user of another terminal, the IM server determines the disclosure level of the requesting terminal based on the buddy list, selects items to be provided from personal information based on the disclosure level, and transmits the selected items to the terminal which has requested the personal information. The present invention can be applied to an IM system.