Patent ID: 7574739

Claim:
A password authenticating apparatus comprising: a password storing section that stores a password; a keyboard image storing section that stores an image of a keyboard including multiple character keys; a display section that displays the image of the keyboard including the multiple character keys on a screen; an input section that receives an input of a position on the screen where the image of the keyboard is displayed; a character specifying section that specifies a character corresponding to the input position in connection with the keyboard displayed by the display section; a determining section that checks the specified input character against a character that forms the password to determine whether the input character is correct and hold a determination result; and a display control section that reads the image of the keyboard for receiving an input of a next character from the keyboard image storing section to cause the display section to display the read image after determining the input character, and wherein the determining section determines that authentication is OK when all held determination results are correct in connection with all characters that form the password.