When instructions for retrieval is given in a portable information device, together with a camera image obtained by a camera, additional information including position information provided by a CPS device, orientation information of the camera provided by a geomagnetic sensor, lens focal length information and photographing magnification information of the camera is transmitted to a retrieval service server. The retrieval service server, based on the additional information, retrieves a target within a photographing range from the current position of the camera, and recognizes the target by image recognition or character recognition of the camera image, and returns these target-related information as a retrieval result to the portable information device. The portable information device, by specifying a desired target based on the retrieval result, can acquire contents of this target from a contents service server.