Patent ID: 8400648

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a personal identification method acquisition unit that extracts an identification method for identifying an operator from a first image scanned by an image scanning unit; a verification information extraction unit that extracts verification information with respect to personal identification information of the operator from the first image; a personal identification information acquisition unit that acquires the personal identification information in accordance with the identification method, the personal identification information acquisition unit configured to instruct the image scanning unit to scan a second image and the personal identification information acquisition unit acquiring the personal identification information from the second image scanned by the image scanning unit, if the identification method indicated in the first image instructs the image forming apparatus to identify the operator via the second image, and the personal identification information acquisition unit acquiring the personal identification information from the operator via an operations panel of the image forming apparatus, if the identification method indicated in the first image instructs the image forming apparatus to identify the operator via the operations panel of the image forming apparatus; a verification unit that verifies the acquired personal identification information with the verification information; and an authentication unit that authenticates the operator based on authentication information of the operator extracted from the first image when the personal identification information matches with the verification information.