Patent ID: 8339240

Claim:
A semiconductor element for performing a biometric authentication process by communicating with an external device which obtains biometric information of a user, comprising: a communication portion which communicates with the external device; a memory which stores a user's biometric information pattern used for execution of the biometric authentication process and a residual number of trials indicating a number of allowed failures in the biometric authentication process; and a processor which performs the biometric authentication process, wherein the communication portion transmits processing data to the external device so that the external device can use the processing data when the external device executes part of the biometric authentication process, wherein the memory stores first data indicating whether the residual number of trials has been decreased or not, while the processing data is fed to the external device after start of communication with the external device, wherein the processor: decreases the residual number of trials by a predetermined value while a first type of processing data is output to the external device after the communication portion begins to start communication with the external device, receives a processing result executed by the external device, which uses the processing data, via the communication portion to determine whether or not the biometric authentication process has succeeded using the received processing result, performs the biometric authentication process based on the processing result and decreases the residual number of trials by a predetermined value if the first data indicates that the residual number of trials has not been decreased when the processor has failed in the biometric authentication process, but changes the first data to indicate that the residual number of trials has not been decreased without decreasing the residual number of trials if the first data indicates that the residual number of trials has been decreased, outputs a second type of processing data after performing the biometric authentication process, and when the residual number of trials is 0 after the decrease of the residual number, does not execute the biometric authentication process, and wherein the processing data does not include the biometric information pattern.