Patent ID: 7797547

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: a main body; at least one processor; a first authentication module executing on the at least one processor when the main body is powered on, the first authentication module configured to perform a boot authentication process to determine whether a user is authenticated and further configured to allow an operating system to be booted when the user is authenticated by the boot authentication process, wherein the boot authentication process is performed by a basic input output system (BIOS) when the main body is powered on; a second authentication module configured to perform a logon authentication process to determine whether the user is allowed to log onto the operating system; a counter configured to count time elapsed since the user is authenticated by the logon authentication process; a resetting module configured to reset and restart the counter when the user is authenticated by the logon authentication process; and an authentication skip control module executing when the main body is powered on, the authentication skip control module configured to compare the elapsed time counted by the counter with a given time period in order to determine whether the given time period has elapsed and further configured to skip the boot authentication process in order to allow the operating system to be booted unless the given time period has elapsed.