Patent ID: 8392719

Claim:
A software execution control method for allowing a predetermined apparatus to execute a target program, comprising: a password reception step of displaying a user interface to obtain an input of a password and accepting an input of the input password; a password generation step of generating a generation password from a fixed value held in the apparatus and a time character string indicating a current time, acquired from a calendar clock provided in the apparatus, by using a predetermined algorithm, wherein the fixed value designates less than full access to functionality of the target program; a match determination step of collating an input password input at the password reception step with the generation password generated at the password generation step, and executing a target program when a character string of the input password matches with a character string of the generation password; a period subtraction step of subtracting one day from the time indicated by the time character string acquired from the calendar clock provided in the apparatus, when a character string of the input password does not match with a character string of the generation password; when the one day is subtracted from the time indicated by the time character string, a step of determining whether or not the time indicated by the time character string is within a validity period of the input password, by incrementing a counter variable by one; another password generation step of generating another password from the fixed value held in the apparatus and a time character string indicating a time resulting from subtraction at the period subtraction step by using the predetermined algorithm; and another match determination step of collating the another password with the input password.