Patent ID: 7647638
Filing Date: 2010-01-12
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for preventing unauthorized use, the apparatus comprising: an authentication unit operable to compare a characteristic obtained from a user's input into a device with a registered characteristic of a person, and determine, as an authentication result, a likelihood of the user being the person, the authentication result being determined based on the comparison; a memory for storing a value that (i) is determined based on an authentication result determined by the authentication unit, and (ii) indicates the likelihood of the user being the person; a first controller operable to update, as a most recent stored value, a previously determined past value stored in the memory and indicating a prior likelihood of the user being the person, the past value being updated based on (i) a present authentication result determined, by the authentication unit, from the user's input including an input other than an input done in response to an input request for authentication, and (ii) the previously determined past value that is stored in the memory and indicates the prior likelihood of the user being the person; and a second controller operable to, in response to an instruction to begin a process which requires authentication, (i) refer to the most recent stored value indicating the likelihood of the user being the person, and (ii) control whether or not to permit execution of the process depending on whether or not the value referred to is more than a certain threshold, wherein the first controller, based on a certain function, decreases the most recent stored value indicating the likelihood of the user being the person as time passes while an authentication result is not determined by the authentication unit.