Patent ID: 7134600

Claim:
A method of setting a validity period of an IC card, comprising: preparing an IC card including a change unit whose state changes with lapse of time starting from an initial state without an external power, a measuring unit configured to measure the state of the change unit so as to generate information indicating whether or not the validity period has elapsed, and an operation unit configured to be operable if the information indicates that the validity period fails to have yet elapsed, and to be inoperable if the information indicates that the validity period has elapsed; preparing an IC card case capable to house the IC card by a user, the IC card case including an identification unit configured to determine whether or not the user is legitimate; performing user identification utilizing the identification unit, when the IC card is housed in the IC card case; and transmitting a signal to the change unit in the IC card depending on a result of the user identification, the signal initializing the change unit to the initial state.