Patent ID: 7403765

Claim:
An individual authenticating method for portable communication equipment including plural wireless communication functions, said individual authenticating method comprising: setting plural importance levels for said plural wireless communication functions provided on said portable communication equipment and setting plural authentication levels for fingerprint authentication in accordance with said plural importance levels; judging, by a controlling means on said portable communication equipment, an importance level and an authentication level for fingerprint authentication of a wireless communication function selected by an individual on the portable communication equipment from said plural wireless communication functions; selecting, by said controlling means on said portable communication equipment, one of a fingerprint authentication and both of the fingerprint authentication and a personal identification number authentication in accordance with the importance level judged by said controlling means; and authenticating, by said controlling means on said portable communication equipment, said individual on a basis of authentication information input by the individual on said portable communications equipment in accordance with the authentication selected by said controlling means and in comparison with said authentication level for fingerprint authentication, wherein said portable communication equipment comprises one of a cellular phone and a personal digital assistant, and wherein said plural wireless communication functions comprise one of a telephone communication function, an electronic mail communication function and an electronic commerce transaction function.