Patent ID: 7406594

Claim:
A certification method applicable to a networking system constituted by a plurality of terminals respectively operated by a plurality of users, and a certification server connected together via a network, said certification method comprising the steps of: performing a local session sharing process for allowing the plurality of terminals interconnected together via a local network to share a same local session with each other; performing a certification server registration process for controlling the certification server to register the plurality of terminals; and performing a certification process in response to a service use request from a first user of a first terminal within the plurality of terminals belonging to the local session by sending identification information to the first terminal from the certification server and sending authentication requests from the certification server to the other users of the plurality of terminals other than the first terminal asking whether to authenticate the first user of the first terminal, the first user of the first terminal directly communicating the identification information to the other users of the plurality of terminals, a second user of a second terminal within the plurality of terminals receiving the authentication request and the identification information confirms the authentication of the first user with the other users of the plurality of terminals other than the first and second terminals, and transmitting responses to the authentication requests and the identification information to the certification server, which in turn makes a determination whether to certify the first terminal whose user issued the service use request based on the responses to the authentication requests and the identification information.