Patent ID: 7448087

Claim:
A portable recording apparatus for connecting to a terminal apparatus and for detecting times and places of connections, said portable recording apparatus comprising: a storage unit configured for prestoring first authentication information relating to and given by an original user, and having a first user area corresponding to the first storage authentication information; a judgment unit configured for, upon detection of a connection of said portable recording apparatus to the terminal apparatus, obtaining (i) a time difference, which is a difference between a time at which the connection was detected and a prestored time at which a prior connection was detected, the time at which the connection was detected being obtained from the terminal apparatus, and the prestored time at which the prior connection was detected being a time previously obtained, and (ii) a place difference, which is a difference between a place at which the connection was detected and a prestored place at which a prior connection was detected, the place at which the connection was detected being obtained from the terminal apparatus, and the prestored place at which the prior connection was detected being a place previously obtained, and for judging whether or not one or both of the obtained time difference and the obtained place difference is greater than or equal to a corresponding predetermined value; a reception unit configured for requesting and receiving authentication information from a current user if said judgment unit judges that one or both of the obtained time difference and the obtained place difference is greater than or equal to the corresponding predetermined value; a tamper-resistant authentication unit configured for authenticating the received authentication information of the current user based on the prestored first authentication information; and a permission unit configured for permitting use of the first user area to the current user if (i) said tamper-resistant authentication unit authenticates the received authentication information of the current user based on the first authentication information, or (ii) said judgment unit judges that one or both of the obtained time difference and the obtained place difference is not greater than or equal to the corresponding predetermined value.