Patent ID: 8695080

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: a determining circuit to determine position/time information based on signals transmitted from a plurality of external devices; a communication circuit to transmit/receive an identification information to/from each of a plurality of other information processing apparatuses via a communication network; a display circuit configured to display the identification information to a user of the apparatus and to display position information of one of the plurality of other information processing apparatuses when the information processing apparatus is receiving data input by a user of the one of the plurality of other information processing apparatuses; a digital signature circuit to provide a digital signature for the position/time information, the digital signature circuit providing the digital signature using a secret key assigned to a corresponding information processing apparatus; and an authentication circuit to determine to transmit the position/time information having said digital signature attached thereto to the corresponding information processing apparatus by said communication circuit when said corresponding information processing apparatus comprises a legitimate counterpart for connection.