Authentication apparatus, method, and computer program

Abstract

To solve the problem of the theft of personal information of a user caused by the theft of a unique common number assigned to the user.SOLUTION: The user device generates a one-time password (S1104). A user delivers a one-time password and individual information to a requesting device (S1106, S1301). The requesting device sends the one-time password and the private information to the authenticating device (S1302, S1206). The authenticating device 200 generates a one-time password (S1205). When the authenticator determines that the one-time password is valid and the private information is valid (S1207), the authenticator generates an authenticator and sends it to the requester (S1208, S1209, S1303).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an authentication technique for verifying whether personal information provided by a user is correct. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art There are various situations where it is necessary to authenticate whether or not personal information provided by a user is correct. For example, when a citizen fills out a document with their name and address and submits it to the city hall to carry out a procedure at the city hall, the city hall may need to determine whether the user's name and address written on the document are correct. A common number system, known in Japan as the "My Number (trademark)" system, is used in various countries for such purposes. The common number system assigns a unique number (this is the common number. A common number is a string of at least one of numbers, letters, and symbols, or a combination of these) to all citizens (users) of the country, and links the user's personal information to that common number. The personal information linked to the common number differs depending on the system design of each country, but typical examples include name, gender, date of birth, and address.

[0003] The common number system will be operated as follows: In countries that adopt a common number system, an authentication device is installed. The authentication device is generally configured as a server device. The server device has a database configured as a recording medium, and the database stores each user's common number and multiple types of personal information about each user in a linked state. The authentication device is capable of communicating with a device (let us call this device the "requesting device") managed by a party that requires authentication of the validity of the user's personal information (in the above example, the city hall). This communication may be realized by a dedicated line, the Internet, or another network. The user hands over the user's personal information and the common number to a party who needs to authenticate the authenticity of the user's personal information (in the above example, the city hall). For example, the user writes their name and address, which are examples of personal information, on the above-mentioned document and hands it over to a city hall official. The user also hands over the common number to the city hall official. The method of handing over the common number is up to the user. For example, the user can hand over a card with the common number printed on it or a card with an IC chip with the common number recorded on it to the city hall official, or the user can hand over the common number to the city hall official by further writing the common number on the above-mentioned document containing personal information and handing it over to the city hall official. A person who needs to authenticate the authenticity of a user's personal information sends the common number of the received personal information and common number to the authentication device via the requesting device. The authentication device then reads the personal information that was linked to the common number received from the requesting device and recorded in the database, and sends the read personal information to the requesting device. For example, the authentication device sends all of the personal information that was linked to the common number in the database to the requesting device. Alternatively, if the requesting device has previously sent an instruction, along with the common number, from the authentication device specifying which of the personal information (e.g., name, gender, date of birth, or address) to return to the requesting device, the authentication device reads the personal information requested by the requesting device that was linked to the common number received from the requesting device and recorded in the database, and returns the read personal information to the requesting device. In any case, the person managing the requesting device can determine whether the personal information provided by the user is correct by comparing the personal information sent from the authentication device with the personal information provided by the user.

[0004] The above-mentioned personal information authentication using a common number unique to each user is used not only by public organizations such as the city hall mentioned above, but also by private companies. For example, a method of using the common number is in practical use, whereby a private bank checks whether or not the personal information of a customer is correct by making an inquiry to an authentication device using the common number. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] As mentioned above, common numbers are already in use in many countries. However, some have pointed out that there are problems with them, mainly from the perspective of security. As mentioned above, the common number is a unique character string assigned to each user. The common number is fixed. Therefore, if the common number is stolen by a malicious third party, the user's personal information linked to the common number may be stolen by the third party. Furthermore, as described above, when a common number is sent from a requesting device, the conventional authentication device returns personal information to the requesting device that sent the common number. Therefore, a malicious third party who has stolen the common number can obtain the personal information of a desired user from the authentication device by using the authentication device's function of returning personal information, without having to hack into the database of the authentication device which stores a large number of users' common numbers and personal information linked to each other.If the malicious third party can make the device they use pretend to be the requesting device, they can obtain the personal information of a desired user from the authentication device.

[0006] The present invention aims to solve the problem of theft of a user's personal information, which is inherent in an authentication device that authenticates a user's personal information in response to a request from a requesting device, and which occurs when a unique common number assigned to the user is stolen. In other words, an object of the present invention is to provide an authentication device that can authenticate a user's personal information in response to a request from a requesting device while minimizing the risk of theft of the user's personal information. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention is an authentication device that combines a user terminal, a portable device including a computer that is possessed by a user and is capable of generating one-time password data, which is data about a one-time password that is a unique string of characters that will be identical when generated under the same conditions based on an initial value unique to each user, with a requesting device, a device including a computer, that requests authentication of the validity of personal information, which is information of multiple types relating to the user who possesses the user terminal, to authenticate the validity of the personal information in response to a request from the requesting device. In other words, the authentication device of the present invention constitutes an authentication system by combining a user terminal possessed by a user with a requesting device that requests authentication of the authenticity of personal information. The requesting device is similar to the requesting device described in the Background Art section and is installed in organizations that require authentication of users' personal information, such as city halls and banks. The user terminal is a device possessed by the user, typically a smartphone. The user terminal is capable of generating one-time password data, which is data about one-time passwords, which are unique character strings generated under the same conditions based on an initial value unique to each user. The one-time password is a sequence of appropriate characters, such as letters and numbers, and symbols. Each user terminal is capable of generating a unique one-time password based on its own unique initial value. One-time passwords generated by each user terminal will be identical if generated under the same conditions. In other words, the one-time passwords generated by each user terminal are pseudo-random numbers. The authentication device includes a recording unit that links and records personal information data, which is data about the multiple types of personal information of the user, and solutions, which are the initial values ​​or values ​​generated from the initial values, for each of the users, one of the personal information data being user ID data, which is data about a user ID, which is a unique identifier for each user that distinguishes each user from other users; a first communication unit that transmits and receives specified data to and from the user terminal; a second communication unit that transmits and receives specified data to and from the requesting device; and a computing device that processes information. The arithmetic unit is configured to generate the one-time password data by the same method as that used by the user terminal, based on the initial value or solution linked to the user ID received from the first communication unit, read from the recording unit, when the first communication unit receives data including at least the user ID data sent from the user terminal, and when the second communication unit receives the one-time password data and personal information data sent from the requesting device and generated by the user terminal of the user who sent the user ID data and handed over to the requesting device by the user, and The authentication device performs an OTP determination as to whether the one-time password data matches the one-time password data generated by the authentication device, and a personal information determination as to whether the personal information data received by the second communication unit matches the user ID of the user that should be linked to the personal information data or the personal information data that has been linked to the user ID and recorded in the recording unit.If both the OTP determination and the personal information determination results are positive, the authentication device generates authentication data indicating that the personal information data sent from the requesting device is legitimate, and returns the generated authentication data from the second communication unit to the requesting device.

[0008] The authentication device includes a recording unit, a first communication unit, a second communication unit, and a computing unit. The recording unit records personal information data, which is data about personal information for each user. The personal information data for the same user is stored in a linked state. There are at least two pieces of personal information data, one of which is user ID data about the user ID. The user ID is a unique identifier for each user that distinguishes each user from other users. The user ID can be a string of appropriate characters and symbols, such as alphabets and numbers. The user ID is fixed and does not change. On the other hand, personal information other than the user ID can include at least one of the user's name, gender, date of birth, address, and facial photograph. The personal information data for these can be data for identifying the user's name, gender, date of birth, address, and facial photograph. The recording unit also records initial values ​​or solutions, which are values ​​generated from initial values, linked to each user. In other words, the recording unit records the user ID for each user and the initial values ​​or solutions for generating one-time passwords in a linked state. By using the initial value or solution corresponding to each user, the authentication device, or more specifically the computing device in the authentication device, is able to generate the same one-time password as is generated at each user terminal. The first communication unit is a communication unit for communicating with a user terminal. The second communication unit is a communication unit for communicating with a requesting device. The communication between the first communication unit and the user terminal and the communication between the second communication unit and the requesting device may be the same type of communication or different types of communication; for example, the former may be communication using the Internet or another network, and the latter may be communication using a dedicated line. In particular, when both types of communication are the same type, the first communication unit may also serve as the second communication unit. The arithmetic device is a computing device that performs information processing. Typically, it is a CPU (central processing unit). The arithmetic device executes the processes described below (or has the functions described below). The arithmetic device may, and generally does, execute the processes described below based on a computer program recorded on a recording device (e.g., a large-capacity recording device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD) or a memory) included in the authentication device.

[0009] When the authentication device according to the present invention determines whether the user's personal information is correct, that is, when authenticating the user's personal information, the arithmetic unit of the authentication device executes the following process. When personal information is authenticated, user ID data is sent from the user terminal to the authentication device. When user ID data is sent from the user terminal to the authentication device, other data may also be sent to the authentication device. The user ID data sent from the user terminal is received by a first communication unit of the authentication device. When the first communication unit receives the user ID data, the calculation device generates one-time password data using the same method as that used to generate the password in the user terminal, based on the initial value or solution linked to the user ID received from the first communication unit and read from the recording unit. The one-time password data generated in this manner will be identical to the one-time password data generated in the user terminal that sent the user ID, unless there is any particular fraudulent activity. One-time passwords that can be generated by the authentication device are basically unique, but this uniqueness does not need to be perfect; it is sufficient if the uniqueness is guaranteed to a degree that does not affect the result of the OTP verification described below. In this way, when personal information is authenticated, a one-time password is generated in the authentication device. However, prior to generating the one-time password, the authentication device may perform a procedure to authenticate the legitimacy of the user terminal. For this authentication, user ID data sent from the user terminal to the authentication device may be used, or other data sent together with the user ID data may be used. Publicly known and well-known technologies can be used to authenticate the legitimacy of the user terminal. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that there are many technologies that can be used for this purpose. Before or after transmitting user ID data from the user terminal to the authentication device, the user passes one-time password data and personal information data to the requesting device or its administrator. The one-time password data is one-time password data generated on the user terminal. The one-time password data and personal information data may or may not be passed from the user to the requesting device or its administrator in electronic data format. When the one-time password data and personal information data are passed in electronic data format, it is generally considered that the data is passed from the user terminal to the requesting device. In this case, appropriate technology can be applied, such as using Bluetooth (trademark) or other short-range wireless communication, or reading a QR code or other barcode displayed on the display of the user terminal with a barcode reader connected to the requesting device. Furthermore, when delivering the one-time password data and personal information data in a format other than electronic data, the user can, for example, write the one-time password and personal information on a specified piece of paper and deliver that paper to the administrator of the requesting device. In this case, the one-time password and personal information do not need to be written on the same piece of paper. Alternatively, the one-time password data and personal information data can be delivered in a format other than electronic data by the user verbally informing the administrator of the requesting device. It goes without saying that the user can deliver either the one-time password data or the personal information data in electronic data format and the other in a format other than electronic data to the requesting device or its administrator. In either case, the one-time password data and personal information data are passed from the user to the requesting device or its administrator. There may be one type of personal information data or multiple types of personal information data. The one-time password data and personal information data are sent from the requesting device to the authentication device. The one-time password data and personal information data are received by the second communication unit of the authentication device. When the second communication unit receives the one-time password data and the personal information data, the calculation unit in the authentication device executes an OTP judgment and a personal information judgment. The OTP determination is a determination as to whether the one-time password data (or the one-time password specified by the data) received by the second communication unit matches the one-time password data (or the one-time password specified by the data) generated by the information processing unit. If they match, and if at least the one-time password sent from the requesting device matches the one-time password generated by the authentication device immediately before that (for example, a predetermined period before the timing at which the OTP determination is made), the calculation device makes a positive determination. On the other hand, the personal information determination is a determination as to whether the personal information data received by the second communication unit matches the user ID of the user that should be linked to the personal information or the personal information that was linked to the user ID and recorded in the recording unit (i.e., the personal information of the user that sent the one-time password data to the authentication device via the request device, including the user ID). If the two match, the calculation device makes a positive determination. The computing device then performs an OTP verification and a personal information verification. If both verification results are positive, i.e., if the one-time password sent from the requesting device matches the one-time password generated in the authentication device based on the initial value for the user terminal that most recently sent the user ID, and if the personal information sent from the requesting device matches the personal information previously recorded in the authentication device's recording unit as the personal information of the user who sent the one-time password data to the authentication device via the requesting device, the computing device generates authentication data indicating that the personal information data sent from the requesting device is valid. This authentication data is then transmitted from the authentication device to the requesting device. This authentication data is data "indicating that the personal information data sent from the requesting device is valid" and need not contain any further information. The authentication data does not, in particular, contain any information that could lead to the identification of the user's personal information. In other words, the authentication data is information unrelated to personal information.

[0010] In an authentication system including an authentication device according to the present invention, a requesting device sends one-time password data and personal information data provided by a user to the authentication device. Even if the one-time password data is stolen by a malicious third party during transmission, the one-time password can only be used once when the requesting device requests authentication of personal information from the authentication device, and the possibility of the stolen one-time password being misused is extremely low. Furthermore, even if personal information data is stolen by a malicious third party during transmission, the personal information identified by the personal information data while it is being transmitted from the requesting device to the authentication device may be correct or incorrect because it is information prior to authentication by the authentication device. From the perspective of a malicious third party, there is no point in stealing potentially incorrect personal information, so a malicious third party has no motivation to steal personal information transmitted from the requesting device to the authentication device, and even if the personal information is stolen, there is little risk that the malicious third party will misuse the personal information. In addition, when this authentication device is used, the data sent from the authentication device to the requesting device is authentication data, as described above, and this authentication data is simply data "indicating that the personal information data sent from the requesting device is legitimate." The authentication data can be made to not include any information that could lead to the identification of the user's personal information, in other words, information unrelated to personal information. Therefore, even if the authentication data sent from the authentication device to the requesting device is stolen by a malicious third party, there is no risk that the authentication data will be misused by the malicious third party. Furthermore, although this authentication device is capable of outputting authentication data, which is data indicating that the personal information data sent from the requesting device is legitimate (it may also be capable of outputting what might be called non-approval data, which is data indicating that the personal information data sent from the requesting device is not legitimate, since this data is also unrelated to the user's personal information), the authentication device does not have a mechanism for transmitting personal information from the authentication device to the requesting device. Therefore, a malicious third party cannot extract a user's personal information from the authentication device by, for example, inputting some data into the authentication device from a device operated by the malicious third party disguised as the requesting device and causing it to output the data. In order for a malicious third party to extract personal information from this authentication device, they would need to perform so-called hacking, i.e., infiltrate the recording unit of the authentication device and steal the data recorded in the recording unit. Therefore, although it naturally depends on the type of security technology applied to the authentication device to prevent hacking, it is generally difficult in principle for a malicious third party to steal a user's personal information from an authentication device according to the present invention.

[0011] As described above, the personal information data sent from the requesting device to the authentication device along with the one-time password data may be multiple types of data relating to multiple types of personal information. The computing device may be configured to execute the OTP determination and the personal information determination when the second communication unit receives the one-time password data and the multiple types of personal information data sent from the requesting device, and the personal information determination may be configured to determine whether the multiple types of personal information data received by the second communication unit match the user ID of the user that should be linked to the personal information data or all of the multiple types of personal information data linked thereto and recorded in the recording unit, and the determination result may be affirmative if all of the multiple types of personal information data received by the second communication unit match the multiple types of personal information data recorded in the recording unit. In other words, the personal information determination may be configured to be affirmative only if all of the multiple types of personal information data sent from the requesting device match the same types of personal information data for that user that was recorded in the recording unit. On the other hand, the calculation device may be configured to perform the OTP judgment and the personal information judgment when the second communication unit receives the one-time password data and the multiple types of personal information data sent from the requesting device, and in the personal information judgment, a judgment is made individually for each piece of personal information as to whether the multiple types of personal information data received by the second communication unit matches the user ID of the user that should be linked to the personal information data or all of the multiple types of personal information data that are linked to the user ID and recorded in the recording unit, and if the result of the OTP judgment is positive, the authentication data may be generated for each piece of personal information for which the result of the personal information judgment is positive. In other words, personal information judgment is performed individually for each of the multiple personal information data sent from the requesting device, and authentication data may also be generated individually for each of the multiple personal information data sent from the requesting device.

[0012] The authentication device may or may not be configured as a single physical device. For example, the authentication device may be configured as a single server device, or may be configured as multiple server devices. As described above, the authentication device includes a calculation device and a recording unit. In this case, the calculation device may be included in one device (the first authentication device or a server device), and the recording unit may be included in another device (the second authentication device or another server device). The one device and the other devices constituting the authentication device do not need to be managed by the same person. The one device and the other devices constituting the authentication device may be located in remote locations and may be able to communicate with each other.

[0013] The present inventors also propose a method executed by the authentication device as one aspect of the present invention, the effects of which are equal to those of the authentication device. One example of such a method is a method executed by a computing device that includes a recording unit, a first communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data to and from the user terminal, a second communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data to and from the requesting device, and an information processing unit that processes information. The recording unit is a portable device including a computer that is possessed by a user and is capable of generating one-time password data, which is data about one-time passwords that are unique strings of characters based on an initial value unique to each user, such that one-time passwords generated under the same conditions will be identical. The recording unit is a requesting device that is a device including a computer that requests authentication of the validity of personal information, which is multiple types of information about the user who possesses the user terminal. The authentication device authenticates the validity of the personal information in response to a request from the requesting device, and records personal information data, which is data about the multiple types of personal information of the user, and the initial values ​​or solutions, which are values ​​generated from the initial values, in association with each of the users, wherein one of the personal information data is user ID data, which is data about a user ID that is a unique identifier for each user that distinguishes each user from other users. The recording unit includes a recording unit, a first communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data to and from the user terminal, a second communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data to and from the requesting device, and an information processing unit that processes information. The method includes the following steps, which are executed by the computing device: The process includes a step of generating the one-time password data by the same method as that used by the user terminal, based on the initial value or solution linked to the user ID received from the first communication unit and read from the recording unit when the first communication unit receives data including at least the user ID data sent from the user terminal; and a step of generating the one-time password data by the same method as that used by the user terminal, based on the initial value or solution linked to the user ID received from the first communication unit, read from the recording unit when the second communication unit receives the one-time password data and personal information data sent from the requesting device and generated by the user terminal of the user who sent the user ID data and handed over to the requesting device by the user. and a process of performing an OTP judgment as to whether the one-time password data matches the one-time password data generated by the authentication device, and a personal information judgment as to whether the personal information data received by the second communication unit matches the user ID of the user that should be linked to the personal information data or the personal information data that has been linked to the user ID and recorded in the recording unit, and if both the OTP judgment and the personal information judgment results are positive, generating authentication data indicating that the personal information data sent from the requesting device is legitimate, and returning the generated authentication data from the second communication unit to the requesting device.

[0014] The inventors of the present application also propose, as one aspect of the present invention, a computer program for causing a general computer device, such as a server device, to function as the authentication device of the present application. The effects of such a computer program are the same as those of the authentication device of the present application, and the effect of causing a general computer device to function as the authentication device of the present application is also an effect of such a computer program. An example of a computer program according to the present invention is a computer program for causing a specified computer device to function as an authentication device, comprising: a user terminal, a portable device including a computer possessed by a user, capable of generating one-time password data, which is data about one-time passwords that are unique strings based on an initial value unique to each user, so that one-time passwords generated under the same conditions will be identical; and a requesting device, a device including a computer, that requests authentication of the validity of personal information, which is multiple types of information about the user possessing the user terminal.The computer program authenticates the validity of the personal information in response to a request from the requesting device, and records personal information data, which is data about multiple types of personal information about the user, and the initial values ​​or solutions, which are values ​​generated from the initial values, linked to each of the users, one of the personal information data being user ID data, which is data about a user ID, which is an identifier unique to each user that distinguishes each user from other users.The computer program includes a recording unit, a first communication unit that transmits and receives specified data to and from the user terminal, a second communication unit that transmits and receives specified data to and from the requesting device, and an arithmetic unit that processes information. The computer program causes the arithmetic unit to perform a process of generating the one-time password data by the same method as that used by the user terminal, based on the initial value or solution linked to the user ID received from the first communication unit and read from the recording unit, when the first communication unit receives data including at least the user ID data sent from the user terminal; and a process of generating the one-time password data by the same method as that used by the user terminal, based on the initial value or solution linked to the user ID received from the first communication unit, when the first communication unit receives data including at least the user ID data sent from the user terminal, based on the initial value or solution read from the recording unit and linked to the user ID received from the first communication unit, when the second communication unit receives the one-time password data generated by the user terminal of the user who sent the user ID data and delivered to the requesting device by the user who sent the user ID data. The authentication device executes an OTP determination as to whether the received one-time password data matches the one-time password data generated by the authentication device, and a personal information determination as to whether the personal information data received by the second communication unit matches the user ID of the user that should be linked to the personal information data or the personal information data that has been linked to the user ID and recorded in the recording unit, and if both the OTP determination and the personal information determination results are positive, generates authentication data indicating that the personal information data sent from the requesting device is legitimate, and returns the generated authentication data from the second communication unit to the requesting device. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an authentication system including an authentication device according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the appearance of a user terminal included in the authentication system shown in FIG. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of a user terminal included in the authentication system shown in FIG. [Figure 4] 2 is a block diagram showing functional blocks generated within a user terminal included in the authentication system shown in FIG. 1. [Figure 5] 2 is a block diagram showing functional blocks generated within an authentication device included in the authentication system shown in FIG. 1. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram conceptually showing the contents of data recorded in the personal information recording unit shown in FIG. 5. [Figure 7] 2 is a block diagram showing functional blocks generated within a requesting device included in the authentication system shown in FIG. 1; [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing executed when the authentication system shown in FIG. 1 authenticates personal information of a user. [Figure 9] 2 is a diagram showing an example of an image displayed on the display of a user terminal when personal information of a user is authenticated by the authentication system shown in FIG. 1. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an outline of the overall configuration of an authentication system according to this embodiment. This authentication system is a system that can determine the validity of a user's personal information. The user can be, for example, all citizens. In this case, the authentication system can be used to achieve the same purpose as the common number system, and the authentication device included in the authentication system, which will be described later, plays a central role.

[0017] The authentication system includes a plurality of user terminals 100-1 to 100-N (hereinafter, each user terminal may be simply referred to as a "user terminal 100"), an authentication device 200, and a plurality of request devices 300-1 to 300-n (hereinafter, each user terminal may be simply referred to as a "request device 300"). Of these, user terminals 100-1 to 100-N and authentication device 200 are capable of communicating with each other. Furthermore, requesting devices 300-1 to 300-n and authentication device 200 are capable of communicating with each other. In this embodiment, user terminals 100-1 to 100-N, authentication device 200, and request devices 300-1 to 300-n are all connectable to network 400, and the above-described communications can be performed via network 400. In this embodiment, network 400 is the Internet, but it may also include other networks, such as a local area network (LAN). The above-described communications, for example, communications between request devices 300-1 to 300-n and authentication device 200, may be performed via a dedicated line, for example, without using network 400. Communications via network 400 using the Internet or the like, and communications not using network 400 using a dedicated line or the like, are both publicly known or well-known, and the above-described communications can all be achieved using these publicly known or well-known communications.

[0018] The user terminal 100 is an example of a user terminal of the present invention, the request device 300 is an example of a request device of the present invention, and the authentication device 200 is an example of an authentication device of the present invention. As described below, the authentication device 200 is configured as a server device when viewed as hardware. However, the authentication device 200 does not need to be configured as a physically integrated device. For example, the authentication device 200 includes a CPU (a processing unit) as an example of a computing device and a personal information recording unit (a recording unit) as an example of a recording unit of the present invention. However, the CPU may be included in one device (a server device, or a first authentication device of the present invention) and the personal information recording unit may be included in another device (another server device, or a second authentication device of the present invention). The devices constituting the authentication device may be managed by the same person, but this is not required. The devices constituting the authentication device may be located remotely from each other and be able to communicate with each other. In other words, the authentication device 200 can be configured by combining multiple computer devices that can communicate with each other. On the other hand, requesting device 300 is generally configured by a computer device, such as a general-purpose personal computer device.

[0019] A user of this authentication system is a person who is required to hand over personal information of the user to the administrator of requesting device 300 in response to a request from the administrator of requesting device 300, for example. On the other hand, requesting device 300 is a device managed by a party that needs to know whether the personal information of the user provided by the user is correct or not. Parties that need to know whether the personal information of the user is correct or not include, for example, the counters of city halls, metropolitan government offices, and other public organizations, as well as private companies such as banks and mobile phone companies.

[0020] Typically, the user terminal 100 is owned by each user. The user terminal 100 includes a computer. The user terminal 100 may be a mobile phone, smartphone, tablet, laptop, wearable device, or the like. Considering that they are portable and suitable for installing programs described below, smartphones or tablets are particularly preferable for use as the user terminal 100. An example of a smartphone is the iPhone manufactured and sold by Apple Japan, LLC. An example of a tablet is the iPad manufactured and sold by Apple Japan, LLC. In the following, although this is not limited to this, the discussion will proceed assuming that the user terminal 100 is a smartphone. The user terminal 100 in this embodiment must be capable of at least receiving data, but may also be capable of transmitting data. Since the user terminal 100 in this embodiment is a smartphone, it is naturally capable of both receiving and transmitting data.

[0021] Next, we will explain the configuration of the user terminal 100. The configuration of each of the user terminals 100-1 to 100-N is the same in terms of the present invention.

[0022] An example of the appearance of the user terminal 100 is shown in FIG. The user terminal 100 includes a display 101. The display 101 is for displaying still images or moving images, and may be a publicly known or well-known display. The display 101 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display or an organic electro-luminescence (EL) display. The user terminal 100 also includes an input device 102. The input device 102 is used by the user to input desired information into the user terminal 100. The input device 102 may be a publicly known or well-known display. In this embodiment, the input device 102 of the user terminal 100 is a button-type device, but is not limited to this. A numeric keypad, keyboard, trackball, mouse, speech-to-text input device, tap key, etc. may also be used. In particular, when the user terminal 100 is a notebook computer, wearable terminal, etc., the input device 102 may often be an external device such as a keyboard, mouse, or tapping switch. However, in this application, the user terminal 100 is still considered to include the input device 102. Furthermore, if the display 101 is a touch panel, the display 101 also functions as the input device 102, which is the case in this embodiment. The data input from the input device 102 will be described in detail later, but for example, there is start data that is ultimately sent to the authentication device 200 as will be described later.

[0023] The hardware configuration of the user terminal 100 is shown in FIG. The hardware includes a CPU (central processing unit) 111, a ROM (read only memory) 112, a RAM (random access memory) 113, and an interface 114, which are interconnected by a bus . The CPU 111 is a computing device that performs calculations or information processing. The CPU 111 executes the processes described below by executing a computer program stored in, for example, the ROM 112 or the RAM 113. Although not shown, the hardware may include a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), or other large-capacity storage device connected to the bus 116, and the computer program may be stored in the large-capacity storage device. The CPU 111 may also be a graphics processing unit (GPU) or general purpose computing on GPU (GPGPU) depending on the required processing power. In the present application, a so-called CPU is used as the CPU 111 as an example of an embodiment. The computer program here includes at least a computer program for causing the user terminal 100 to execute the processes described below (for example, processes for causing the user terminal 100 to function as a user terminal according to the present invention). This computer program may be pre-installed in the user terminal 100, or may be post-installed in the user terminal 100. This computer program may be installed in the user terminal 100 via a predetermined recording medium such as a memory card, or via a network such as a LAN or the Internet. The computer program may include data used when the CPU 111 executes information processing in accordance with instructions based on the computer program. ROM 112 stores computer programs and data necessary for CPU 111 to execute the processes described below. The computer programs stored in ROM 112 are not limited to the above, and if user terminal 100 is a smartphone, computer programs and data necessary for user terminal 100 to function as a smartphone, for example, for implementing functions such as calling and e-mail, are stored. User terminal 100 is also capable of browsing homepages based on data received via network 400, and is equipped with a known web browser to enable this. The RAM 113 is a type of memory that provides a work area necessary for the CPU 111 to perform processing. Data stored in the RAM 113 can be rewritten. In some cases, the RAM 113 may also store (part of) the computer programs and data described above. When the CPU 111 executes processing based on a computer program (described later), the computer program is expanded on the RAM 113. The interface 114 exchanges data between the CPU 111, RAM 113, etc., which are connected via a bus 116, and the outside. The interface 114 is connected to the display 101 and the input device 102. Operational content input from the input device 102 is input from the interface 114 to the bus 116. As is well known, image data for displaying an image on the display 101 is sent from the bus 116 to the interface 114 and output from the interface 114 to the display 101. The interface 114 is also connected to a transmission / reception mechanism (not shown), which is a well-known means for communicating with the outside via a network 400, i.e., the Internet. This enables the user terminal 100 to transmit data via the network 400 and receive data via the network 400. Data transmission and reception via the network 400 may be performed either wired or wirelessly. For example, if the user terminal 100 is a smartphone, such communication would typically be performed wirelessly. To the extent possible, the configuration of the transmission / reception mechanism may be publicly known or well-known. Data received by the transmitting / receiving mechanism from the network 400 is received by the interface 114, and data passed from the interface 114 to the transmitting / receiving mechanism is sent by the transmitting / receiving mechanism via the network 400 to an external party, for example, the authentication device 200.

[0024] 4 is generated within the user terminal 100. Note that the following functional blocks may be generated by the standalone functions of the above-described computer program for causing the user terminal 100 to function as the user terminal of the present invention, or may be generated by cooperation between the above-described computer program and an OS or other computer program installed in the user terminal 100. In the user terminal 100, an input unit 121, a control unit 122, an image generation unit 123, an output unit 124, a user ID recording unit 125, and an OTP generation unit 126 are created in relation to the functions of the present invention. Of these, the functional blocks that perform information processing, i.e., the control unit 122, the image generation unit 123, and the OTP generation unit 126, correspond to the arithmetic unit (CPU 111) in terms of hardware, or are realized by the functions of the arithmetic unit that executes information processing in accordance with the instructions of the computer program described above. However, if the functional blocks that perform information processing require some data that is at least temporarily recorded in order to perform the information processing, some kind of recording device, for example, RAM 113 or a large-capacity recording device in this embodiment, may be required to record the data. In other words, when viewed as hardware, some of the functional blocks that perform information processing may include some kind of recording device as a component. When viewed as hardware, the input unit 121 and the output unit 124 correspond to the interface 114, or are realized by the functions of the interface 114. More specifically, the input unit 121 and the output unit 124 conceptually correspond to the connection between the interface 114 and the bus 116. The functional block for recording data, that is, the user ID recording unit 125, is realized as hardware by a recording device, in this embodiment, the RAM 113 or a large-capacity recording device.

[0025] The input unit 121 receives input from the interface 114 . The input to the input unit 121 from the interface 114 includes an input from the input device 102. The input from the input device 102 includes, for example, start data. In some cases, the user ID of the user using the user terminal 100 may be input from the input device 102. Furthermore, the data input from the interface 114 to the input unit 121 includes data input from the transmitting and receiving mechanism to the interface 114. The transmitting and receiving mechanism may receive data (for example, user authentication data, which will be described later) sent from the authentication device 200 via the network 400. However, in some cases, the transmitting and receiving mechanism may not receive data from the network 400. In such cases, there will be no data input from the transmitting and receiving mechanism to the input unit 121 via the interface 114. In any case, the input unit 121 sends the data received from the interface 114 to the control unit 122 .

[0026] The control unit 122 controls all of the functional blocks created in the user terminal 100 . The control unit 122 has the following functions, for example. User ID data and start data may be input to control unit 122. When control unit 122 receives the user ID data, it records the data in user ID recording unit 125. When control unit 122 receives the start data, it reads out the user ID data from user ID recording unit 125, attaches data for specifying authentication device 200 as the destination to the read user ID data, and sends the linked data to output unit 124. The control unit 122 may instruct the OTP generation unit 126 to generate one-time password data, which is data about a one-time password. The timing at which the control unit 122 instructs the OTP generation unit 126 to generate one-time password data is a predetermined timing after start data is input to the control unit 122. For example, but not limited to, in this embodiment, the control unit 122 instructs the OTP generation unit 126 to generate one-time password data immediately after user authentication data is input to the control unit 122. The control unit 122 may receive one-time password data from the OTP generation unit 126. When the control unit 122 receives the one-time password data, it instructs the image generation unit 123 to generate image data for displaying the one-time password on the display 101. The image generation unit 123 has a function of generating image data based on instructions from the control unit 122. The image data is, for example, as described above, for displaying a one-time password on the display 101. In this embodiment, although not limited to this, the one-time password is displayed on the display 101 of the user terminal 100 in two formats: text format and barcode format. Details of the image displayed on the display 101 based on the image data will be described later. The image generating unit 123 sends the generated image data to the output unit 124 .

[0027] As described above, the user ID recording unit 125 may record user ID data by the control unit 122. In other words, the user ID recording unit 125 has the function of recording user ID data. Also, although not limited to this, the user ID recording unit 125 records an initial value that is unique for each user of each user terminal 100. The initial value is a value used to generate a one-time password. The initial value recorded in the user ID recording unit 125 may be replaced with a value generated based on the initial value (this may be referred to as a "solution"). In this case, the solution may be recorded in place of the initial value in the user ID recording unit 125. If the initial value is replaced with a solution, it occurs after the first one-time password data is generated. The OTP generating unit 126 has a function of generating one-time password data, which is data associated with a one-time password. The OTP generating unit 126 generates one-time password data when instructed to do so by the control unit 122. The one-time password is a character string of an appropriate length. The length of the character string of the one-time password may or may not always be the same, but in this embodiment, it is always the same. The one-time password is a sequence of appropriate characters, such as letters and numbers, and symbols. Any method for generating the one-time password may be used. For example, a pseudo-random number sequence with initial value dependency, which always generates the same under the same conditions, may be used. For example, pseudo-random numbers generated using a publicly known or well-known technique for generating pseudo-random numbers may be extracted in batches of a predetermined number of digits and used as the one-time password. The reason why the one-time password generated by the OTP generation unit 126 is "a pseudo-random number sequence with initial value dependency, which always generates the same under the same conditions," is to enable the authentication device 200 to generate a one-time password identical to the one-time password generated by the OTP generation unit 126 in each user terminal 100. Technology for generating the same one-time password at a remote location has been put into practical use, for example, in the field of Internet banking, as a technology for generating the same one-time password on both a user's token and a bank server. Such a technique can be applied to the user terminal 100 and the authentication device 200. The technique that can be used when the OTP generation unit 126 of the user terminal 100 generates a one-time password is a method called event synchronization or a method called time synchronization, which will be described later. When generating one-time password data, the OTP generation unit 126 reads out the initial value or solution recorded in the user ID recording unit 125 and uses it to generate the one-time password data. How the OTP generation unit 126 generates the one-time password data will be described later. After generating the one-time password data, the OTP generating unit 126 sends it to the control unit 122 .

[0028] The output unit 124 outputs data generated by the functional blocks in the user terminal 100 to the interface 114 . As described above, there are cases where user ID data accompanied by data specifying authentication device 200 as the destination is sent from control unit 122 to output unit 124. Upon receiving this data, output unit 124 sends the data to the transmitting / receiving mechanism via interface 114. The transmitting / receiving mechanism sends the user ID data to authentication device 200 via network 400. Furthermore, image data may be sent to the output unit 124 from the image generation unit 123. Upon receiving this, the output unit 124 sends it to the interface 114. The image data is sent from the interface 114 to the display 101, and an image based on the image data is displayed on the display 101.

[0029] Next, the configuration of authentication device 200 will be described. When viewed as hardware, authentication device 200 may be an existing publicly known or well-known server device. However, by executing a computer program described below, authentication device 200 performs operations and functions different from those of conventional servers or server devices. In this respect, authentication device 200 can be said to be different from conventional server devices. The hardware configuration of the authentication device 200 may be a general one, and roughly speaking, it can follow the hardware configuration of the user terminal 100, in which a CPU 111, a ROM 112, a RAM 113, and an interface 114 are connected via a bus 116. However, the authentication device 200 generally has a large-capacity storage device such as an HDD or SSD. The configurations and functions of the CPU, ROM, RAM, interface, bus, and mass storage device of the authentication device 200 are the same as those of the user terminal 100. Furthermore, a transmitting / receiving mechanism, similar to that of the user terminal 100, is connected to the interface of the authentication device 200 for communicating with devices outside the authentication device 200 via the network 400. Information (data) sent from the bus to the interface is sent to the transmitting / receiving mechanism, and then sent from the transmitting / receiving mechanism to the user terminal 100 or the requesting device 300 via the network 400. Furthermore, data sent from the user terminal 100 or the requesting device 300 via the network 400 and received by the transmitting / receiving mechanism is sent from the transmitting / receiving mechanism to the interface, and then from the interface to the bus. The transmission / reception mechanism included in the authentication device 200 in this embodiment corresponds to the first communication unit of the present invention in the sense that it communicates with the user terminal 100, and corresponds to the second communication unit of the present invention in the sense that it communicates with the requesting device 300. In other words, the transmission / reception mechanism in the authentication device 200 serves as both the first communication unit and the second communication unit of the present invention. This is because, as described above in this embodiment, communication between the authentication device 200 and the user terminal 100 or the requesting device 300 is performed over a common network 400 such as the Internet, although this is not limited thereto. If communication between the authentication device 200 and the user terminal 100 and communication between the authentication device 200 and the requesting device 300 are performed using different lines, the authentication device 200 would generally be configured to include two transmission / reception mechanisms corresponding to the first communication unit and the second communication unit described above, respectively. The interface of the authentication device 200 may be connected to a display and input device similar to those of the user terminal 100, but as this is not particularly relevant to the present application, a description of these will be omitted.

[0030] By executing a computer program stored in a ROM, mass storage device, or the like within authentication device 200, for causing a server device serving as authentication device 200 to function as the authentication device of the present invention, functional blocks such as those described below are generated within authentication device 200. The functional blocks may be generated by a standalone computer program for causing a server device serving as authentication device 200 to function as the authentication device of the present invention, or may be generated by cooperation between the computer program and an OS or other computer programs installed in authentication device 200. The computer program may be pre-installed in authentication device 200 or may be post-installed in authentication device 200. If the computer program is post-installed, it may be installed in authentication device 200 via a predetermined recording medium such as a memory card, or via a network such as a LAN or the Internet. When the CPU executes processing based on the computer program, the computer program is expanded in RAM. These circumstances are similar to those in the case of user terminal 100.

[0031] In the authentication device 200, an input unit 221, a control unit 222, an OTP generation unit 223, an OTP judgment unit 224, a personal information judgment unit 225, a personal information recording unit 226, and an output unit 227 are created in relation to the functions of the present invention. Of these, the functional blocks that perform information processing, i.e., the control unit 222, the OTP generation unit 223, the OTP determination unit 224, and the personal information determination unit 225, correspond to a computing device (CPU) in terms of hardware, or are realized by the functions of a computing device that executes information processing in accordance with the instructions of the computer program described above. However, if the functional blocks that perform information processing require some data that is at least temporarily recorded in order to perform the information processing, some kind of recording device, for example, RAM or a large-capacity recording device in this embodiment, may be required to record the data. In other words, when viewed as hardware, some of the functional blocks that perform information processing may include some kind of recording device as a component. When viewed as hardware, the input unit 221 and the output unit 227 correspond to an interface or are realized by the function of an interface. More specifically, the input unit 221 and the output unit 227 conceptually correspond to the connection between the interface and the bus. The functional block for recording data, that is, the personal information recording unit 226, is realized as hardware by a recording device, in this embodiment, a RAM or a large-capacity recording device.

[0032] The input unit 221 receives input from the interface. Inputs to the input unit 221 from the interface include data input to the interface from the transmitting / receiving mechanism. The transmitting / receiving mechanism may receive data sent from the user terminal 100 or the requesting device 300 via the network 400. As will be described in more detail later, user ID data is sent from the user terminal 100. As will be described in more detail later, one-time password data and personal information data are sent from the requesting device 300. All of this data is received by the transmitting / receiving mechanism and sent to the input unit 221 via the interface. In any case, the input unit 221 sends the data received from the interface to the control unit 222.

[0033] The control unit 222 controls all of the functional blocks created in the authentication device 200 . The control unit 222 has the following functions, for example. User ID data may be sent to the control unit 222 from the input unit 221. When the control unit 222 receives the user ID data, it executes a user authentication process to determine whether the user ID data is valid, in other words, whether the user who sent the user ID data is a valid person. In this embodiment, but not limited to, the control unit 222 uses data recorded in the personal information recording unit 226 to execute the user authentication. How the control unit 222 executes the user authentication will be described later. The control unit 222 also performs user authentication, and if it determines that the user who sent the user ID data is a legitimate person, it generates user authentication data and sends it to the output unit 227, and also instructs the OTP generation unit 223 to generate a one-time password. At this time, the control unit 222 links the user ID data to the instruction to the OTP generation unit 223 and sends it to the OTP generation unit 223. Control unit 222 may also receive one-time password data and personal information data from input unit 221, both of which have been sent from requesting device 300. When control unit 222 receives one-time password data, it sends the data to OTP determination unit 224. When control unit 222 receives personal information data, it sends the data to personal information determination unit 225. The timing at which control unit 222 sends one-time password data to OTP determination unit 224 and the timing at which control unit 222 sends personal information data to personal information determination unit 225 will be described later. The control unit 222 may also receive data indicating the result of the OTP judgment (described later) from the OTP judgment unit 224 and data indicating the result of the personal information judgment (described later) from the personal information judgment unit 225. Upon receiving the data indicating the result of the OTP judgment and the data indicating the result of the personal information judgment, the control unit 222 generates authentication data (described later) or denial data (described later). The control unit 222 sends the generated authentication data or denial data to the output unit 227.

[0034] As described above, the OTP generation unit 223 is configured to receive user ID data and an instruction to generate a one-time password from the control unit 222. When receiving the instruction, the OTP generation unit 223 generates a one-time password. One-time passwords are essentially unique. "In essence," this means that the multiple one-time passwords generated during the "determination period" described below will be different from other one-time passwords generated during the determination period. Like the one-time password created by the user terminal 100, the one-time password created by the authentication device 200 is a character string of an appropriate length. The length of the character string of the one-time password may or may not always be the same, but in this embodiment it is always the same. The one-time password is a string of appropriate letters, such as alphabets and numbers, and symbols. The method by which the OTP generation unit 223 generates a one-time password may be any method as long as it is the same as the method by which the OTP generation unit 126 in the user terminal 100 generates a one-time password. As a result, although a detailed explanation will be given later, the OTP generation unit 223 in the authentication device 200 will be able to generate the same one-time password as that generated by the OTP generation unit 126 in all user terminals 100. The method executed when the OTP generation unit 223 generates one-time password data will be explained later, but when generating one-time password data, the OTP generation unit 223 in this embodiment uses data recorded in the personal information recording unit 226. What data recorded in the personal information recording unit 226 the OTP generation unit 223 uses to generate one-time password data will be explained later. After generating a one-time password, the OTP generation unit 223 identifies the one-time password or sends one-time password data, which is data corresponding to the one-time password, to the OTP determination unit 224 together with the user ID data sent from the control unit 222 along with the instruction to generate the one-time password data.

[0035] OTP determination unit 224 is configured to perform OTP determination, which will be described later. As described above, OTP determination unit 224 may receive one-time password data from control unit 222. This one-time password data is data sent from request device 300 to authentication device 200. Upon receiving the one-time password data from control unit 222, OTP determination unit 224 performs OTP determination. When performing OTP judgment, the OTP judgment unit 224 uses the one-time password data and user ID data received from the OTP generation unit 223 before receiving the one-time password data from the control unit 222. How the OTP judgment unit 224 performs OTP judgment using these pieces of data will be described later. The OTP determination unit 224 is configured to send data indicating the result of the OTP determination obtained by performing the OTP determination to the control unit 222. The result of the OTP determination can be either positive or negative. The determination result sent from the OTP determination unit 224 to the control unit 222 will be one of these. Furthermore, if the result of the OTP determination performed by the OTP determination unit 224 is positive, the OTP determination unit 224 is configured to send user ID data to the personal information determination unit 225.

[0036] The personal information determination unit 225 is configured to perform personal information determination, which will be described later. As described above, the personal information determination unit 225 may receive personal information data from the control unit 222. When the personal information data is received, the personal information determination unit 225 performs personal information determination. When making a personal information judgment, the personal information judgment unit 225 uses the personal information data, as well as the user ID data received from the OTP judgment unit 224 and the data recorded in the personal information recording unit 226. How the personal information judgment unit 225 makes the personal information judgment will be described later. The personal information determination unit 225 is configured to send data indicating the result of the personal information determination obtained by performing the personal information determination to the control unit 222. The result of the personal information determination can be either positive or negative. The result of the determination sent from the personal information determination unit 225 to the control unit 222 will be either of these.

[0037] The personal information recording unit 226 records personal information of each user, more specifically, personal information data, which is data about the personal information of each user. An example of personal information data recorded in the personal information recording unit 226 is shown in FIG. In the personal information recording unit 226 according to this embodiment, data on the user ID, name, sex, new year's date, address, and facial photograph of the user are registered, but are not limited to these. A series of data written side by side in Fig. 6 is personal information data on the personal information of the same user. Of course, the data of the user ID, name, gender, date of birth, address, and facial photograph of the user are merely examples. Among these, the data of the user ID is essential, and the data of the name, gender, date of birth, address, and facial photograph of the user are not necessarily essential. In addition to the data shown in FIG. 6, personal information of each user, for example, medical-related information such as medical history and medication status, and property-related information such as income and tax status, may also be recorded as personal information in the personal information recording unit 226. This depends on the institutional design of the authentication system. It is necessary to record data on personal information that is the subject of a determination of authenticity in an authentication system including the authentication device 200 in the personal information recording unit 226. A brief explanation of each of the data items, including user ID, name, gender, date of birth, address, and face photo of the user, will be given below. The user ID is a fixed and unique identifier for distinguishing each user from other users. The user ID is assigned to every user by, for example, the authentication device 200 or its administrator. The user ID is, for example, a list of appropriate characters, such as alphabets and numbers, and symbols. The name, gender, date of birth, and address are the name, gender, date of birth, and address of the user. These are not considered necessary to explain, so they will be omitted. The user's facial photo data is image data that includes the user's face. It is preferable that the facial photo data be such that the user's face can be authenticated using the facial photo. In this embodiment, the data format of the facial photo data is "jpg," but of course, this is not limited to this. The personal information recording unit 226 also records initial values ​​assigned to each user, in addition to personal information data about each user, including user ID data. Since each user is assigned a unique user ID, the initial values ​​of each user are in one-to-one correspondence with the user ID of each user. The initial values ​​are unique for each user. After the first one-time password data is generated, each initial value may be replaced with a solution generated based on the initial value. User IDs corresponding to the user IDs recorded in the user ID recording unit 125 of each of all user terminals 100 (i.e., user IDs assigned to all users) are recorded in the personal information recording unit 226. In addition, the same initial value as the initial value recorded together with the user ID in the user ID recording unit 125 of each user terminal 100 is also recorded in the personal information recording unit 226 in a state linked to the same user ID as the user ID recorded in the user ID recording unit 125. The control unit 222, the OTP generation unit 223, and the personal information determination unit 225 are each capable of reading out data recorded in the personal information recording unit 226, which will be described later.

[0038] As described above, there are cases where authentication data or denial data is sent from control unit 222 to output unit 227. Upon receiving this, output unit 227 sends the authentication data or denial data to the transmitting / receiving mechanism via the interface. Upon receiving the authentication data or denial data, the transmitting / receiving mechanism sends the authentication data or denial data to requesting device 300. As described above, the output unit 227 may receive user authentication data from the control unit 222. Upon receiving the user authentication data, the output unit 227 transmits the user authentication data to the transmission / reception mechanism via the interface. Upon receiving the user authentication data, the transmission / reception mechanism transmits the user authentication data to the user terminal 100 that transmitted the user ID data that triggered the generation of the user authentication data.

[0039] Next, the configuration of requesting device 300 will be described. From the perspective of hardware, the requesting device 300 may be an existing, publicly known, desktop or notebook personal computer or a server device. In short, the requesting device 300 can be configured using a general computer device. However, by executing a computer program described below, the requesting device 300 may operate differently from conventional computer devices and may perform functions different from conventional servers or server devices. In this respect, the requesting device 300 may differ from conventional computer devices. The hardware configuration of requesting device 300 may be a general one, and roughly speaking, it can follow the hardware configuration of user terminal 100, in which CPU 111, ROM 112, RAM 113, and interface 114 are connected via bus 116. However, requesting device 300 generally has a large-capacity storage device such as an HDD, SSD, or the like. The configurations and functions of the CPU, ROM, RAM, interface, bus, and mass storage device of requesting device 300 are the same as those of user terminal 100. A transmitting / receiving mechanism, similar to that of user terminal 100, is connected to the interface of requesting device 300 for communicating with devices outside requesting device 300 via network 400. Information (data) sent from the bus to the interface is sent to the transmitting / receiving mechanism, and then sent from the transmitting / receiving mechanism to authentication device 200 via network 400. Data sent from authentication device 200 via network 400 and received by the transmitting / receiving mechanism is sent from the transmitting / receiving mechanism to the interface, and then sent from the interface to the bus. It is sufficient for the transmitting / receiving mechanism in this embodiment to be able to communicate with authentication device 200. As will be described later, a one-time password or one-time password data that identifies a one-time password is input to the requesting device 300. A device for accepting input of a one-time password or the like is connected to the requesting device 300, and the device is also connected to the interface. Examples of devices for accepting a one-time password or the like include input devices with functions equivalent to those provided in the user terminal 100 (e.g., a touch panel display, a numeric keypad, a keyboard, a trackball, a mouse, a speech-to-text input device, a tap key), a barcode reader capable of reading two-dimensional barcodes, a short-range communication mechanism for short-range communication such as Bluetooth (trademark), and an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) device capable of reading characters written on paper. It is sufficient for at least one of the four types of devices exemplified above to be connected to the interface as needed, and other devices for accepting a one-time password or the like may also be connected. Although not limited to this, in this embodiment, all of the four types of devices exemplified above are connected to the interface of the requesting device 300. A display similar to that provided in user terminal 100 is connected to the interface provided in requesting device 300. The display may be a part of requesting device 300 or may be external.

[0040] By executing a computer program stored in a ROM, mass storage device, or the like within requesting device 300, which causes a computer device serving as requesting device 300 to function as the requesting device of the present invention, functional blocks such as those described below are generated within requesting device 300. The functional blocks may be generated by a standalone computer program for causing a computer device serving as requesting device 300 to function as the requesting device of the present invention, or may be generated by cooperation between the computer program and an OS or other computer program installed on requesting device 300. The computer program may be pre-installed on requesting device 300 or may be post-installed on requesting device 300. If the computer program is post-installed, it may be installed on requesting device 300 via a predetermined recording medium such as a memory card, or via a network such as a LAN or the Internet. When the CPU executes processing based on the computer program, the computer program is expanded on RAM. These circumstances are similar to those in user terminal 100.

[0041] In the requesting device 300, an input unit 321, a control unit 322, an image generating unit 323, and an output unit 324 are generated in relation to the functions of the present invention. Of these, the functional blocks that perform information processing, i.e., the control unit 322 and the image generation unit 323, correspond to a computing unit (CPU) in terms of hardware, or are realized by the functions of a computing unit that executes information processing in accordance with the instructions of the computer program described above. However, if the functional block that performs information processing requires some data that is at least temporarily recorded in order to perform the information processing, some kind of recording device, for example, RAM or a large-capacity recording device in this embodiment, may be required to record the data. In other words, when viewed as hardware, some of the functional blocks that perform information processing may include some kind of recording device as a component. When viewed from the perspective of hardware, the input unit 321 and the output unit 324 correspond to an interface or are realized by the function of an interface. More specifically, the input unit 321 and the output unit 324 conceptually correspond to the connection between the interface and the bus. In addition, when the control unit 322 and the image generation unit 323 need to record data even temporarily, the function of recording data is realized by a hardware recording device, in this embodiment, a RAM or a large-capacity recording device.

[0042] The input unit 321 receives input from the interface. The input to the input unit 321 from the interface includes data input to the interface from the transmitting and receiving mechanism. The transmitting and receiving mechanism receives authentication data or denial data from the authentication device 200 via the network 400. Upon receiving this data, the input unit 321 sends the data to the control unit 322. As described above, devices for accepting input of one-time passwords and the like, specifically, an input device, a barcode reader, a near-field communication mechanism, and an OCR device, are connected to the interface. Input from these devices for accepting input of one-time passwords and the like is also input to input unit 321 via the interface. Input from these devices for accepting input of one-time passwords and the like is one-time password data, personal information data, or both. In any case, data input to the input unit 321 via the interface from these devices for accepting input of a one-time password or the like is sent from the input unit 321 to the control unit 322.

[0043] The control unit 322 controls all of the functional blocks created in the requesting device 300 . The control unit 322 has the following functions, for example. The control unit 322 may receive one-time password data and personal information data from the input unit 321. The one-time password data and personal information data may be sent simultaneously, or may be sent at an interval. Upon receiving the one-time password data and personal information data, the control unit 322 links them together and sends them to the output unit 324. There are cases where authentication data or denial data is sent to the control unit 322 from the input unit 321. Upon receiving this, the control unit 322 sends the authentication data or denial data to the image generation unit 323.

[0044] The image generating unit 323 has a function of generating image data for an image to be displayed on a display provided in the requesting device 300 . As described above, authentication data or denial data is sent to image generation unit 323 from control unit 322. When image generation unit 323 receives authentication data, it generates image data for displaying an image corresponding to the authentication data on the display, and when it receives denial data, it generates image data for displaying an image corresponding to the authentication data on the display. In either case, the image generating unit 323 sends the generated image data to the output unit 324 .

[0045] As described above, one-time password data and personal information data that are linked to each other may be sent from the control unit 322 to the output unit 324. Upon receiving this, the output unit 324 sends the one-time password data and personal information data to the transmission / reception mechanism via the interface. The transmission / reception mechanism that receives the one-time password data and personal information data then sends the received one-time password data and personal information data to the authentication device 200. As described above, image data may be sent to the output unit 324 from the image generation unit 323. Upon receiving the image data, the output unit 324 sends the image data to the display via an interface. An image corresponding to the image data is displayed on the display. Details of the image displayed on the display will be described later.

[0046] Next, the operation and usage of the authentication system described above will be explained. In the explanation of the operation and usage of the authentication system, the operation and usage of authentication device 200 will also be explained.

[0047] (Advance preparation) First, make advance preparations. The preparation needs to be performed by the authentication device 200 and the user terminal 100 . First, a user ID is assigned to each user. As described above, the user ID is unique to each user. The user ID may be selected by each user, but in this embodiment, the user ID is assigned to each user by, but not limited to, a person who manages the authentication device 200 or a person who has a cooperative relationship with a person who manages the authentication device 200. It is preferable that the user ID is notified to each user in a manner that enables identity verification (KYC: Know Your Customer). For example, the user ID is notified by mailing a letter containing the user ID to the user. Regardless of the notification method, once a user has learned their own user ID, they register the user ID in the user terminal 100 used in the authentication system. For example, the user operates the input device 102 of the user terminal 100 to input the user ID that he or she has grasped into the user terminal 100. Then, data specifying the user ID input from the input device 102 passes from the input device 102 through the interface to the input unit 121 and further to the control unit 122. Control unit 122 records the user ID data in user ID recording unit 125. This completes the registration of the user ID in user terminal 100. Registration of the user ID in user terminal 100 only needs to be performed once at the beginning. The user ID recording unit 125 also records an initial value assigned to the user for generating one-time password data. The initial value is recorded in the user ID recording unit 125 before the first one-time password data is generated by the user terminal 100. Any method can be used to record the initial value in the user ID recording unit 125. For example, the user can record the initial value in the user ID recording unit 125 by operating the input device 102 to input the initial value data, just as when the user records user ID data in the user ID recording unit 125. For example, if the above-mentioned letter is printed with not only the user ID but also the initial value assigned to the user, the user can enter the initial value after understanding it. In this case, the flow of data for the initial value from the input device 102 to the user ID recording unit 125 can be the same as the flow of data for the user ID. Alternatively, for example, the authentication device 200 to which the user connects the user terminal 100 using the user ID data can automatically send the initial value data to the user terminal 100 via the network 400. In this case, the initial value data received by the transmitting / receiving mechanism of the user terminal 100 may be sent from the transmitting / receiving mechanism to the control unit 122 via the interface 114 and the input device 102, and may be automatically recorded in the user ID recording unit 125 by the control unit 122. In any case, it is sufficient to use any appropriate publicly known technology as the technology used to record the user ID data and the initial value data in the user ID recording unit 125. In the authentication device 200, personal information data is recorded in the personal information recording unit 226. As described above, the personal information data is, for example, as shown in Fig. 6. In this embodiment, the data of the user ID, name, sex, date of birth, address, and a facial photograph of the user are recorded in the personal information recording unit 226. The personal information recording unit 226 also records data of an initial value assigned to each user (or each user ID). This has already been described with reference to FIG. 6. The initial value can be a string of at least one of numbers, letters, and symbols, or a combination thereof. Although not limited to this, in this embodiment, the initial value is a string of 20 digits containing a mixture of numbers and lowercase English letters. Note that personal information recording unit 226 does not necessarily have to be configured as a single physical recording device, but may be configured as multiple recording devices. The multiple recording devices constituting personal information recording unit 226 may each be included in a different computer device and cooperate to constitute personal information recording unit 226. For example, an institution or corporation that possesses and manages the user ID and initial value data recorded in a certain recording device may be different from an institution or corporation that possesses and manages the user's name, gender, date of birth, and address data recorded in a certain recording device, and an institution or corporation that possesses and manages the user's facial photo data recorded in a certain recording device. In such a case, the three institutions or corporations may cooperate to constitute personal information recording unit 226, for example, by enabling three recording devices located in remote locations to cooperate. Furthermore, regardless of whether personal information recording unit 226 is made up of a plurality of computers, authentication device 200 can also be configured so that the arithmetic unit (CPU, etc.) of authentication device 200 is included in a computer separate from the computer that makes up personal information recording unit 226. In other words, authentication device 200 can also be configured to include a first authentication device that includes a arithmetic unit (CPU, etc.) and a second authentication device that includes personal information recording unit 226. In this case, the first authentication device and the second authentication device may be located remotely from each other and may be able to communicate with each other via network 400, for example, as described above. Although the explanation has become somewhat redundant, what is meant is that the authentication device 200 does not have to be configured from a single server device, but can be configured by combining a single server device with at least one computer device (or multiple server devices).

[0048] (Personal information authentication) Once the above preparations are complete, personal information authentication using the authentication system becomes possible. In the following example, it is assumed that requesting device 300 is located in a city hall. It is also assumed that a user visits the city hall to obtain a resident registration card. How personal information authentication is performed in this case will be described below with reference to FIG. 8.

[0049] The user arrives at the city hall counter. The user fills out a resident registration application form available at the city hall counter. In this case, the resident registration application form may contain other fields, but it is assumed that it contains fields for the applicant's name, address, and date of birth. The user fills in their name, address, and date of birth in the fields provided on the application form as requested.

[0050] On the other hand, the user operates the user terminal 100, which is the user's own smartphone, to launch a computer program (application) for personal information authentication. Specifically, the user operates input device 102 of user terminal 100 to input data to start up a computer program. In response, start data is sent from input device 102 to control unit 122 via the interface and input unit 121. Upon receiving the data to start up the computer program, control unit 122 reads out user ID data from user ID recording unit 125 (S1101). The control unit 122 instructs the image generation unit 123 to generate image data for displaying an image (initial image) of the state when the computer program is launched on the display 101 together with the user ID data. The image generation unit 123 generates image data based on the instruction. The generated image data is sent from the image generation unit 123 to the display 101 via the output unit 124 and the interface 114. An image based on the image data is displayed on the display 101. An example of an image displayed on the display 101 is shown in FIG. In the initial image displayed on the display 101, below the characters "User ID" 501, a user ID 502 specified by the user ID data read from the user ID recording unit 125 is displayed. In the example of Fig. 9(A), the user ID is "111aaaa." The initial image also displays a button 503 with the word "Send" written on it. When the user touches a position on the display 101 corresponding to the button 503, start data is input from the input device 102. The start data reaches the control unit 122 from the input device 102 via the interface and input unit 121, in the same manner as the data for launching a computer program described above. Upon receiving the start data, the control unit 122 sends user ID data to the output unit 124. The control unit 122 adds data (destination data) to the user ID data to specify the authentication device 200 as the destination of the data. The user ID data with the destination data attached is sent from the output unit 124 to the transmitting / receiving mechanism via the interface 114. The user ID data is sent from the transmitting / receiving mechanism via the network 400 to the authentication device 200, which is the destination specified in the destination data (S1102). In this embodiment, the user ID data to be transmitted to authentication device 200 is automatically read from the user ID recording unit 125. However, instead of this, it is possible to have the user input the user ID data to be transmitted to authentication device 200 by input device 102 every time it is necessary to transmit user ID data to authentication device 200.

[0051] The user ID data sent from the user terminal 100 via the network 400 is received by the transmission / reception mechanism of the authentication device 200 (S1201). The user ID data received by the transmission / reception mechanism passes through the interface and input unit 221 within the authentication device 200 and reaches the control unit 222. Upon receiving the user ID data, the control unit 222 executes user authentication processing (S1202). User authentication is a determination as to whether the user ID data is valid, in other words, a determination as to whether the user who sent the user ID data is valid. To perform user authentication, the control unit 222, upon receiving the user ID data, searches for user ID data identical to the received user ID data among the data recorded in the personal information recording unit 226. If the same user ID data as the user ID data received by the control unit 222 exists among the many pieces of data recorded as user ID data in the personal information recording unit 226, it is determined that the user ID data received by the authentication device 200 from the user terminal 100, or the user who sent the data, is valid. This completes the user authentication. On the other hand, if the same user ID data as the user ID data received by the control unit 222 is not recorded as user ID data in the personal information recording unit 226, it is determined that the user ID data received by the authentication device 200 from the user terminal 100, or the user who sent the data, is invalid. In such a case, the user authentication is considered to have failed. If the user authentication has failed, subsequent processing in the authentication device 200 is stopped. However, if the user authentication has failed, the authentication device 200 may execute publicly known or well-known processing, such as notifying the user terminal 100 of the fact that the user authentication has failed and the reason for the failure, in order to send some data from the authentication device 200 to the user terminal 100. Although only user ID data is used in the above-described user authentication process, it is of course possible to perform user authentication using other data. Furthermore, two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication using data other than the user ID is also possible. For example, by having the user terminal 100 send not only user ID data but also user ID and password data to the authentication device 200, user authentication using not only the user ID but also the password can be realized. Furthermore, by having the user terminal 100 send a facial photograph of the user to the authentication device 200, facial authentication can be performed in the authentication device 200. Alternatively, the user terminal 100 may send location information about the location of the user terminal 100, obtained by the user terminal 100 using a GPS (Global Positioning System) mechanism, in addition to the user ID data, to the authentication device 200, thereby allowing the authentication device 200 to perform two-factor authentication using the user ID and location information.

[0052] In either case, if the user authentication determines that the user ID data received by authentication device 200 from user terminal 100 or the user who sent that data is legitimate, control unit 222 in authentication device 200 generates user authentication data (S1203). The user authentication data travels from control unit 222 to output unit 227 and then to the transmission / reception mechanism, from which it is sent to user terminal 100 via network 400 (S1204). The user terminal 100 receives the user authentication data via its transmission / reception mechanism (S1103). The user authentication data is sent from the transmission / reception mechanism to the control unit 122 via the interface 114 and input unit 121. Upon receiving the user authentication data, the control unit 122 promptly sends an instruction to the OTP generation unit 126 to generate one-time password data. Upon receiving this instruction, the OTP generating unit 126 generates one-time password data (S1104). The method used by the OTP generation unit 126 in the user terminal 100 to generate one-time password data is such that data generated under the same conditions will be identical. In this embodiment, the initial value and the calculation method (algorithm) executed using the initial value are fixed, and the one-time password obtained as a result of the calculation is a pseudo-random number. Although not limited to this, in this embodiment, one-time passwords are generated using either the time-synchronized or event-synchronized methods described below. Data that identifies a one-time password or corresponds to a one-time password is one-time password data. When one-time password data is generated by time synchronization, the OTP generation unit 126 generates the one-time password data as follows. The OTP generation unit 126 reads an initial value from the user ID recording unit 125. The data for the initial value is, for example, a character string of 20 digits containing a mixture of numbers and lowercase English letters. This is the same for both the initial value and the one-time password. Such an initial value is unique for each user device 100. There may be one initial value, but there may also be multiple initial values. Although not limited to this, in this embodiment there is one initial value, so the OTP generation unit 126 reads one initial value from the user ID recording unit 125. The OTP generation unit 126 performs an operation on the initial value to generate a solution at that time. Note that hereinafter, the term "solution" refers to a one-time password. First, the initial value is changed to numbers only so that calculations can be performed. If the initial value contains any alphabetic characters, they are replaced with two-digit numbers. The numbers to be replaced are those in the alphabetical order of the alphabetic characters. For example, "a" is replaced with "01", "b" with "02", and "z" with "26". For example, suppose the initial value is "5a6458p6556ff4272149". In this case, if the initial value is changed to numbers only according to the rules above, it becomes "501645816655606064272149". The number of digits when changed to numbers only increases according to the number of alphabetic characters contained in the initial value. Note that if you want to include symbols such as (, ), !, &, and : in the solution, you can simply assign appropriate numbers such as "27" to "(", "28" to ")", and "29" to "!". Next, an operation is performed on the numbers. The result of this operation is a string of numbers that is the basis for the solution. If this string of numbers is X, X is found according to the date and time at which the solution is generated. Specifically, the solution is found as follows according to the year, month, day, hour, and minute in the Gregorian calendar at that time. X1 in the following formula is the initial value converted into a number. In this embodiment, there are five initial values ​​because the solution is changed according to the five elements of the Gregorian calendar: year, month, day, hour, and minute. "X1" in the following formula is the initial value. X=X1 P X1 Q +X1 R X1 S +X1 T Here, P = the year number in the Gregorian calendar divided by 5 and added 1 remainder, Q = the month number divided by 5 and added 1 remainder, R = the day number divided by 5 and added 1 remainder, S = the hour number divided by 5 and added 1 remainder, and T = the minute number divided by 5 and added 1 remainder. By doing this, a different sequence of numbers can be obtained depending on the time of day. Note that the process of adding 1 is added to all of P through T to avoid the final solution X being 5 if all of P through T happen to be 0, but this is to avoid such simple numbers appearing frequently. As a result of the above calculation, we obtain a sequence of numbers X, which is the source of the solution. Next, if any two digits in that sequence contain numbers between 01 and 26, we replace them with letters a through z, following the opposite rule to the previous rule for replacing letters with numbers. The string of numbers and lowercase letters obtained in this way usually has 20 or more digits. When it has 20 or more digits, for example, the first 20 characters are extracted from the string and used as the solution. If the string of numbers and lowercase letters obtained in the above manner has exactly 20 digits, it is used as the solution as is. Also, if the string of numbers and lowercase letters obtained in the above manner has fewer than 20 digits, the number of digits is increased based on some rule. For example, some number or letter may be inserted into the string based on the first number or letter of the string until the number of digits reaches 20. Alternatively, one could swap P and T in the above formula, perform an operation on the resulting string of numbers, and then perform the above process of replacing the numbers with letters to generate a new string of numbers and lowercase letters, and then concatenate this after the original string of numbers and lowercase letters. This process could be repeated until the number of digits is at least 20, and then extract 20 characters from the beginning to use as the solution. In either case, this results in the generation of a solution based on the initial value that corresponds to the date and time immediately after user terminal 100 receives user authentication data from authentication device 200. Because the initial value and the above-mentioned calculation method are fixed, the generated one-time password data will be the same as long as the condition of the generation date and time remains the same. When generating one-time password data in synchronization with an event, the OTP generating unit 126 generates the one-time password data as follows. To generate a solution, use an initial solution (there may be two or more solutions, as in (a) and (c) below), and substitute past solutions into a specified function to generate new solutions sequentially, and this method can be performed every time a solution is needed. By doing so, the above solutions can be generated continuously. In this case, the solutions will be pseudo-random numbers that are dependent on the initial solution. When the OTP generation unit 126 generates a solution for the first time, it reads an initial value from the user ID recording unit 125. Then, it substitutes the initial value into the following formula. In the following formula, the initial value is, for example, "X0". The following (a) to (c) are examples of functions used to create the above solutions. All of the following (a) to (c) are functions that generate the Nth solution, X N where P, Q, R, and S are appropriate natural numbers. (a)(X N )=(X N-1 ) P +(X N-2 ) Q (b)(X N )=(X N-1 ) P (c)(X N )=(X N-1 ) P (X N-2 ) Q (X N-3 ) R (X N-4 ) S In (a), a new solution is generated by using two previous solutions and raising them to the Pth and Qth powers, respectively, and adding them together. To be precise, adding two previous solutions and raising them to the Pth and Qth powers usually increases the number of digits, so in practice, a new solution is generated by extracting an appropriate number of digits from the beginning of the obtained value, extracting an appropriate number of digits from the end, or extracting an appropriate number of digits from an appropriate part of the value. Although not limited to this, in this embodiment, the solution is assumed to have 20 digits. (b) uses one past solution, raises it to the Pth power, and rearranges the number of digits as described above to obtain a new solution. (c) uses four previous solutions, raises them to the Pth, Qth, Rth, and Sth powers, and multiplies them. Then, rearranges the digits as described above to obtain the new solution. The above (a) to (c) are examples of algorithms for generating solutions, and it is possible to make changes to the algorithm when generating a solution, such as using the above (a) to (c) in order. The above-mentioned methods using the formulas (a) to (c) can be used when the solution consists of only numbers. If you want to include letters and symbols in the solution, you can use the method of assigning numbers to letters and symbols described in the embodiment. According to the method of generating successive solutions using the above-described formulas, solutions generated in the same order will always be the same if the initial solution is the same. When generating one-time password data by the event synchronization method, the OTP generation unit 126 generates one-time password data by using the initial value recorded in the user ID recording unit 125 as the first solution, or by using a solution (X N ) to the solution (X N+1 This allows the OTP generation unit 126 to always generate the next solution using the previous solution recorded in the user ID recording unit 125.

[0053] In either case, the OTP generation unit 126 sends the generated one-time password data to the control unit 122. Upon receiving the one-time password, the control unit 122 instructs the image generation unit 123 to generate image data for displaying the one-time password on the display 101. Upon receiving this instruction, the image generation unit 123 generates image data based on the instruction from the control unit 122. The image generation unit 123 sends the generated image data to the output unit 124. The image data is sent from the output unit 124 to the display 101 via the interface 114. The one-time password is displayed on the display 101 (S1105). An example of the image displayed on the display 101 at this time is shown in FIG. 9(B). This image includes the characters "user ID" 501 and the user ID "111aaaa" 502, which were also present in the initial image shown in Fig. 9(A). On the other hand, this image does not have the button 503 that was present in the initial image shown in Fig. 9(A), and instead displays the characters "one-time password" 504, a one-time password 505 (the character string "2g39uab46k3rmk65dakj" in this example) shown below the characters 504, and a two-dimensional barcode 506. One-time password 505, which is the character string written below the word one-time password 504, is a one-time password identified by the one-time password data. Two-dimensional barcode 506 is used to assist the user in handing over the one-time password data to city hall. Information corresponding to the one-time password data is included in two-dimensional barcode 506. Two-dimensional barcode 506 is, for example, a QR code (trademark). Of course, two-dimensional barcode 506 can also be replaced with a one-dimensional barcode.

[0054] Next, the user hands over the one-time password (or one-time password data) and personal information (or personal information data) to the city hall (S1106). The city hall receives them. Here, it is assumed that the requesting device 300 receives them (S1301). Here, "delivering" means that when a one-time password (or one-time password data) and personal information (or personal information data) are transferred from the user to the city hall, it is not necessary for the two parties to send and receive electronic data. In other words, the one-time password data and personal information data may be sent from the user's device, and the city hall's device may receive the data, but this is not required.

[0055] As described above, the user fills out their name, address, and date of birth on a resident registration application form. By handing the application form to a clerk at the city hall counter, the user can hand over their personal information (in this case, their name, address, and date of birth) to the city hall. For example, by scanning the application form using an OCR device included in requesting device 300, the city hall can input the three pieces of personal information, namely, the user's name, address, and date of birth, into requesting device 300. Furthermore, by a city hall clerk inputting the user's name, address, and date of birth written on the application form using a keyboard or other input device, the city hall can input the three pieces of personal information, namely, the user's name, address, and date of birth, into requesting device 300. This is an example of when a user hands over personal information to a city hall. To hand over their personal information to the city hall, the user can also verbally communicate their name, address, and date of birth to the city hall clerk. In this case, the city hall can use a voice input device, or a city hall employee who hears the voice can input the user's name, address, and date of birth using a keyboard or other input device, and these three pieces of personal information can be input into the requesting device 300. However, the user can also use the user terminal 100 to send his or her personal information in electronic data format (as personal information data) to the requesting device 300 managed by the city hall, for example, a city hall official. The method for transferring personal information data in electronic data format from the user terminal 100 to the requesting device 300 can be similar to the method described below for transferring one-time password data in electronic data format from the user terminal 100 to the requesting device 300. On the other hand, the one-time password (one-time password data) can be handed over from the user to the city hall as follows. Assume that the above-mentioned application form further includes a field for the user to enter the one-time password provided by authentication device 200, and that the user copies the one-time password displayed on the display of user terminal 100 (the character string "2g39uab46k3rmk65dakj" in the example of FIG. 9(B)) onto the application form handed over to city hall. In this case, when the user hands over the application form to city hall, the user simultaneously hands over the one-time password and personal information written on the application form to city hall. The city hall official can input the one-time password data, in addition to the personal information data, into requesting device 300 by scanning the personal information and one-time password with an OCR device or by inputting them with a keyboard or other input device. A two-dimensional barcode 506 displayed on the display 101 of the user terminal 100 held by the user may be used to deliver the one-time password from the user to the city hall. The user shows the screen shown in FIG. 9(B) displayed on the display 101 of the user terminal 100. A city hall official reads the two-dimensional barcode 506 with a barcode reader (not shown) that can read two-dimensional barcodes. When the barcode reader reads the two-dimensional barcode 506 with a barcode reader connected to the requesting device 300, the one-time password data contained in the two-dimensional barcode 506 is input from the barcode reader to the requesting device 300. In this case, the one-time password data can be delivered from the user terminal 100 to the requesting device 300 in the form of electronic data. This is also true when a short-range communication mechanism, described next, is used. The one-time password data can also be transmitted from the user terminal 100 to the requesting device 300 via a short-range communication mechanism, such as Bluetooth (trademark), that the user terminal 100 has. When the one-time password data is received by the short-range communication mechanism on requesting device 300, the one-time password data is considered to have been handed over from the user to city hall. If a short-range communication mechanism is used, personal information data and one-time password data can be sent from the user to city hall simultaneously.

[0056] In either case, as described above, the user delivers the one-time password (or one-time password data) and personal information (or personal information data) to the city hall, and the city hall receives them. As described above, the delivery of the one-time password (or one-time password data) from the user to the city hall and the delivery of the personal information (or personal information data) from the user to the city hall may or may not be performed in the same way. Furthermore, the delivery of the one-time password (or one-time password data) from the user to the city hall and the delivery of the personal information (or personal information data) from the user to the city hall may or may not be performed simultaneously. For example, the delivery of the one-time password (or one-time password data) from the user to the city hall can only be performed after the one-time password data generated by the authentication device 200 has arrived at the user terminal 100, but the delivery of the personal information (or personal information data) from the user to the city hall can be performed at an earlier stage, for example, before the processing of "S1101" is executed. As a result, both the one-time password data and the personal information data are input to requesting device 300 from an appropriate device for accepting input of a one-time password or the like (in this embodiment, an input device, a barcode reader, a near-field communication mechanism, or an OCR device). The data travels from the device for accepting input of a one-time password or the like through an interface and input unit 321 to control unit 322.

[0057] The control unit 322 receives the one-time password data and the personal information data. As described above, the one-time password data and the personal information data may be sent to the control unit 322 simultaneously, or may be sent at intervals. In either case, the control unit 322 links the one-time password data and personal information data received from the same user and sends them to the output unit 324. The one-time password data and personal information data are sent from the output unit 324 to the transmission / reception mechanism via an interface. The one-time password data and personal information data are then sent from the transmitting / receiving mechanism to the authentication device 200 via the network 400 (S1302).

[0058] The one-time password data and personal information data are received by the transmitting and receiving mechanism of the authentication device 200 (S1206). The one-time password data and personal information data are sent from the transmission / reception mechanism in authentication device 200 via an interface to input unit 221 and then to control unit 222 . Next, the OTP determination unit 224 performs OTP determination, and the personal information determination unit 225 performs personal information determination (S1207).

[0059] In the authentication device 200, one-time password data is generated (S1205) at an appropriate timing after user authentication (S1202) and before OTP verification. In this embodiment, the control unit 222 executes user authentication, and when it determines that the user who sent the user ID data is a legitimate person, it immediately issues an instruction to the OTP generation unit 223 to generate a one-time password. At this time, the control unit 222 sends the user ID data to the OTP generation unit 223 in association with the instruction. Upon receiving an instruction to generate one-time password data, the OTP generation unit 223 generates the one-time password data. The OTP generation unit 223 generates the one-time password data in the same manner as the OTP generation unit 126 of the user terminal 100 generates the one-time password data. In this embodiment, since the OTP generation unit 126 of the user terminal 100 generates the one-time password data by the time synchronization or event synchronization method as described above, the OTP generation unit 223 of the authentication device 200 also generates the one-time password data by the same method. Regardless of whether the OTP generation unit 223 generates one-time password data using the event synchronization or time synchronization method, when generating one-time password data, the OTP generation unit 223 first reads from the personal information recording unit 226 the initial value (if the event synchronization method is adopted, this may be a solution in which the initial value has been overwritten) that is recorded in the personal information recording unit 226 and is linked to the user ID data received from the control unit 222. When the time synchronization technique is employed, the OTP generation unit 223 generates a one-time password for the current date and time using the same initial value and the same mathematical formula as used in the user terminal 100. Therefore, as long as the timing at which the OTP generation unit 126 of the user terminal 100 generates one-time password data matches the timing at which the OTP generation unit 223 of the authentication device 200 generates one-time password data, the one-time password data generated by the OTP generation unit 126 of the user terminal 100 and the one-time password data generated by the OTP generation unit 223 of the authentication device 200 will match. Although the timing at which the one-time password data is generated by the user terminal 100 may be slightly delayed from the timing at which the one-time password data is generated by the authentication device 200 depending on the time required to transmit the user authentication data, the timing at which the OTP generation unit 126 of the user terminal 100 generates one-time password data matches the timing at which the OTP generation unit 223 of the authentication device 200 generates one-time password data. As a result, essentially the same one-time password data is generated by the user terminal 100 and the authentication device 200. When the event synchronization method is adopted, the OTP generation unit 223 generates a one-time password for the current date and time using the same initial value (or the previously generated solution) used in the user terminal 100 and the same mathematical formula used in the user terminal 100. When the event synchronization method is adopted, the OTP generation unit 223 in the authentication device 200 also overwrites the initial value or solution recorded in the personal information recording unit 226 with the newly generated solution. Therefore, the initial value or solution recorded in the user ID recording unit 125 of a certain user terminal 100 and the initial value or solution recorded in the personal information recording unit 226 of the authentication device 200 are always the same when linked to the user ID given to the user who owns that user terminal 100. Therefore, as long as the number of times that the OTP generation unit 126 of the user terminal 100 has generated one-time password data matches the number of times that the OTP generation unit 223 of the authentication device 200 has generated one-time password data, the one-time password data generated by the OTP generation unit 126 of the user terminal 100 will match the one-time password data generated by the OTP generation unit 223 of the authentication device 200. Since one-time password data is never generated by only one of the user terminal 100 and the authentication device 200, the number of times that the OTP generation unit 126 of the user terminal 100 has generated one-time password data always matches the number of times that the OTP generation unit 223 of the authentication device 200 has generated one-time password data. Therefore, the one-time password data generated by the OTP generation unit 223 of the authentication device 200 using the event synchronization technique always matches the one-time password data generated by the OTP generation unit 126 of the user terminal 100. In either case, once the OTP generation unit 223 generates the one-time password data, it sends the one-time password data to the OTP judgment unit 224 together with the user ID data that was sent from the control unit 222 along with the instruction to generate the one-time password data.

[0060] The OTP check is performed as follows: Control unit 222 sends the one-time password data out of the one-time password data and personal information data sent from requesting device 300 to OTP determination unit 224 . Upon receiving one-time password data from control unit 222, OTP determination unit 224 performs OTP determination. When performing OTP determination, OTP determination unit 224 uses the one-time password previously received from OTP generation unit 223. The one-time password data received by OTP determination unit 224 from control unit 222 is the one-time password data sent from requesting device 300, and is the one-time password data generated by OTP generation unit 126 of user terminal 100. On the other hand, the one-time password data previously received by OTP determination unit 224 from OTP generation unit 223 is the one-time password data generated by OTP generation unit 223 in authentication device 200. As described above, the one-time password data generated by the user terminal 100 and the one-time password data generated in the authentication device 200 to be compared with it will match regardless of the generation method, as long as there is no fraud or other irregularities. If the two pieces of one-time password data to be compared match, the OTP determination unit 224 determines that the one-time password data sent from the requesting device 300 is valid. In this case, the result of the OTP determination is positive. On the other hand, if the two pieces of one-time password data do not match, the OTP determination unit 224 determines that the one-time password data sent from the requesting device 300 is not valid. In this case, the result of the OTP determination is negative. Whether the result of the OTP judgment is positive or negative, the OTP judgment unit 224 sends the result of the OTP judgment to the control unit 222. Furthermore, if the result of the OTP judgment is positive, the OTP judgment unit 224 sends the user ID data to the personal information judgment unit 225. This user ID data is the user ID data that was sent in advance from the OTP generation unit 223 together with the one-time password data used in the OTP judgment that resulted in a positive result.

[0061] If this authentication system were used to achieve the same purpose as the universal number system, it would be possible that a huge number of one-time password data would be sent to authentication device 200 continuously, from all over Japan. In such a case, it would be difficult to guarantee that all one-time password data generated successively by an authentication system operated continuously, for example, for many years, are unique. For example, the above problem can be avoided by determining the validity period of one-time password data that can be used for OTP verification (e.g., a predetermined period of time (e.g., two minutes) after one-time password data is generated by OTP generation unit 223 of authentication device 200, or a predetermined period of time (e.g., three minutes) after user authentication data is transmitted from authentication device 200 to user terminal 100). For example, if one-time password data is generated by OTP generation unit 223 of authentication device 200, one-time password data identical to that one-time password data would be generated by one of user terminals 100. If the one-time password data generated within authentication device 200 is the same as the one-time password data generated by user terminal 100 and sent to authentication device 200 via request device 300, the result of the OTP judgment is positive. However, suppose that the above-mentioned authentication device 200 or authentication system is operated in such a way that one-time password data is invalid if three minutes have passed since the one-time password data was generated by OTP generation unit 223. For example, if three minutes have already passed since the one-time password data was generated by OTP generation unit 223 when the one-time password data generated by user terminal 100 and sent to authentication device 200 via request device 300 reaches OTP judgment unit 224, OTP judgment unit 224 may not perform OTP judgment using the one-time password data, or may make the result of the judgment negative.In this type of operation, the uniqueness required for one-time password data generated by OTP generation unit 223 is sufficient if there is a guarantee that no one-time password data identical to that one-time password data will be generated within the validity period of that one-time password data. Although this level of uniqueness of one-time password data depends on the method used to generate the one-time password data, it can be mathematically guaranteed. We stated earlier that "One-time passwords are essentially unique." The meaning of "essentially" in this sentence is as explained in this paragraph. Note that if a time synchronization technique is used to generate one-time password data between the OTP generation unit 126 of the user terminal 100 and the OTP generation unit 223 of the authentication device 200, it may be difficult to perfectly synchronize the timing at which the OTP generation unit 126 and the OTP generation unit 223 generate one-time password data, and the one-time password data generated by the two units may differ. Even in this case, for example, by having the OTP generation unit 223 of the authentication device 200 generate two solutions (one-time password data) corresponding to the actual date and time at that time and the date and time one minute later, and determining that the OTP judgment result is positive if either of these solutions matches the one-time password data generated by the user terminal 100, it becomes possible to match the one-time password data generated by the user terminal 100 and the one-time password data generated by the authentication device 200 in the absence of fraud, etc. Furthermore, if certain conditions are met, the date and time used when generating one-time password data between user terminal 100 and authentication device 200 can be changed to a date and time previously agreed upon between the two devices (for example, an appropriate date and time such as one hour before or three minutes after the current date and time) rather than the correct date and time at that time, thereby making it possible to match the date and time used to generate one-time password data between OTP generation unit 126 and OTP generation unit 223. With this technique, it becomes possible to match the one-time password data generated by user terminal 100 and the one-time password data generated by authentication device 200, provided that no fraud or other irregularities have occurred.

[0062] The control unit 222 receives data on the result of the OTP check. If the result of the OTP check is negative, the control unit 222 performs the process described below. If the result of the OTP judgment is positive, the control unit 222 sends the previously received personal information data to the personal information judgment unit 225. The personal information judgment unit 225 receives the user ID data from the OTP judgment unit 224 around the time of receiving the personal information data from the control unit 222. In this embodiment, the personal information judgment unit 225 executes personal information judgment upon receiving the user ID data and the personal information data. The personal information determination unit 225 executes the personal information determination as follows. As described above, personal information determination unit 225 receives user ID data from OTP determination unit 224 and personal information data from control unit 222. Then, personal information determination unit 225 searches personal information recording unit 226 to find user ID data that matches the received user ID data. Then, personal information determination unit 225 determines whether the personal information data linked to the found user ID data matches the personal information data received from control unit 222. As a result, if the personal information data sent from requesting device 300 matches the personal information data recorded in personal information recording unit 226 in association with the user ID associated with the personal information data, personal information determination unit 225 determines the result of the personal information determination as positive. On the other hand, if the two pieces of personal information data do not match, personal information determination unit 225 determines the result of the personal information determination as negative. The user identified by the user ID data received by personal information determination unit 225 prior to performing the personal information determination is the user ID data of the user who provided the personal information data sent from requesting device 300 to requesting device 300, unless there is any particular fraud. Therefore, the fact that the personal information data sent from requesting device 300 matches the personal information data recorded in personal information recording unit 226 in association with the user ID associated with that personal information data means that the personal information provided by the user to the city hall side that operates requesting device 300 is correct, although of course this is premised on the fact that the personal information data including the user ID recorded in personal information recording unit 226 is guaranteed to be correct. Therefore, there is legitimacy in personal information determination unit 225 making a positive result determination and a negative result determination in each of the above cases.

[0063] For example, suppose the user ID data received by the personal information determination unit 225 is "111aaaa." In this case, the personal information data received by the personal information determination unit 225 in association with the user ID is the personal information data corresponding to the user's name, address, and date of birth written on the application form. In this case, if the personal information (name, address, date of birth) identified by the personal information data received by the personal information determination unit 225 matches the personal information data for name, address, and date of birth recorded in the personal information recording unit 226 in association with the user ID "111aaaa," the result of the personal information determination will be positive. Although not limited to this, in this embodiment, if the personal information (which may be multiple) identified by the personal information data received by the personal information determination unit 225 matches the personal information recorded in the personal information recording unit 226 in a state linked to the user ID sent from the user terminal 100 to the authentication device 200 (if there is multiple personal information, all of the personal information matches), the personal information determination unit 225 determines the result of the personal information determination to be positive. On the other hand, in this embodiment, if the personal information (which may be multiple) identified by the personal information data received by the personal information determination unit 225 does not match the personal information recorded in the personal information recording unit 226 in a state linked to the user ID sent from the user terminal 100 to the authentication device 200 (if there is multiple personal information, at least one of the personal information does not match), the personal information determination unit 225 determines the result of the personal information determination to be negative. The personal information determination unit 225 sends data indicating the result of the personal information determination obtained by performing the personal information determination to the control unit 222, regardless of whether the result of the determination is positive or negative.

[0064] As a result, data on the result of the OTP judgment from the OTP judgment unit 224 and data on the result of the personal information judgment from the personal information judgment unit 225 are sent to the control unit 222. If the data on the results of these two determinations are both positive, the control unit 222 generates authentication data (S1208). The authentication data indicates that the personal information data sent from the requesting device 300 to the authentication device 200 for authentication is correct as the personal information data of the user for which the authentication device 200 performed personal authentication prior to receiving the personal information data. In other words, the authentication data indicates that the personal information data sent from the requesting device 300 is valid. On the other hand, if at least one of the data on the results of these two determinations is negative, the control unit 222 generates denial data (S1208). The denial data indicates that the personal information data sent from the requesting device 300 to the authentication device 200 for authentication is not correct as the personal information data of the user for which the authentication device 200 performed personal authentication prior to receiving the personal information data. Neither the authentication data nor the denial data contains any personal information about the user, nor any information that could lead to the identification of the user's personal information.

[0065] Control unit 222 sends the generated authentication data or denial data to output unit 227. The authentication data or denial data is sent to the transmission / reception mechanism via output unit 227, and then transmitted from the transmission / reception mechanism via network 400 to requesting device 300 that sent the personal information data that triggered the generation of the authentication data or denial data (S1209).

[0066] The requesting device 300 receives the authentication data or denial data via its transmission / reception mechanism (S1303). The authentication data or denial data is sent from the transmitting / receiving mechanism in the requesting device 300 to the control unit 322 via the interface. In this embodiment, the control unit 322 is adapted to send the authentication data or the denial data to the image generation unit 323 . The image generation unit 323 generates image data for displaying on a display an image indicating whether the data received by the request device 300 from the authentication device 200 was authentication data or denial data. Of course, if the received data is authentication data, the image generation unit 323 generates image data for displaying on a display an image indicating that the data received by the request device 300 from the authentication device 200 is authentication data, and if the received data is denial data, the image generation unit 323 generates image data for displaying on a display an image indicating that the data received by the request device 300 from the authentication device 200 is denial data. The image generation unit 323 sends the generated image data to the output unit 324 . The image data sent to the output unit 324 is sent from the output unit 324 to the display via an interface. An image based on the image data generated by the image generation unit 323 is displayed on the display. As described above, the image indicates whether the data received by requesting device 300 from authentication device 200 is authentication data or denial data. For example, if the data received by requesting device 300 from authentication device 200 is authentication data, the image may be an image containing the words "Authenticated" or only such words, and if the data received by requesting device 300 from authentication device 200 is denial data, the image may be an image containing the words "Not Authenticated" or only such words.

[0067] In this embodiment, as described above, when multiple pieces of personal information data are sent from the requesting device 300 to the authentication device 200 to request authentication of personal information, the personal information determination unit 225 determines the result of the personal information determination as positive only if all of the sent personal information data are valid, and determines the result of the personal information determination as negative only if at least one of the personal information data is invalid. In other words, when multiple pieces of personal information data are sent from the requesting device 300 to the authentication device 200 to request authentication of personal information, the personal information determination is performed on all of the multiple pieces of personal information data as a whole. On the other hand, when multiple pieces of personal information data are sent from the requesting device 300 to the authentication device 200 to request authentication of personal information, it is also possible to perform the personal information determination on each of the multiple pieces of personal information data. In the above example, the personal information data sent from requesting device 300 to authentication device 200 was about the user's name, address, and date of birth. In such a case, personal information determination unit 225 of authentication device 200 may be configured to perform personal information determination on each of the personal information data about the user's name, address, and date of birth. In this case, personal information determination unit 225 outputs a determination result for each piece of personal information data. For example, three determination results may be output: positive for name, negative for address, and positive for date of birth. After generating data about the results of multiple personal information determinations, personal information determination unit 225 sends the data about the results of multiple personal information determinations to control unit 222. Control unit 222 then generates authentication data or denial data based on each of the three personal information judgment results. Therefore, the amount of personal information data sent from requesting device 300 to authentication device 200 in response to an authentication request will match the amount of authentication data or denial data returned from authentication device 200 to requesting device 300. In the above example, authentication device 200 will send authentication data for name, denial data for address, and authentication data for date of birth to requesting device 300. In this case, the image displayed on the display of requesting device 300 will be an image that allows the user to understand that, for example, the name, address, and date of birth are "authenticated" or "not authenticated." There is no need to explain that such image data is generated by image generating unit 323, and that the data required for image generating unit 323 to generate such image data is sent from control unit 322 to image generating unit 323. As described above, the user may hand over one piece of personal information (or personal information data) to the city hall, or multiple pieces of personal information may be delivered. The personal information delivered by the user to the city hall may also include a user ID. In the present application, the user ID is the user's personal information. When the user delivers a user ID to the city hall, the authentication device 200 verifies the authenticity of the user ID delivered by the user to the city hall, in response to a request from the request device 300. There may also be cases where the user delivers only one piece of personal information to the city hall, and that single piece of personal information is the user ID. In this case, the authenticity of the user ID is verified by the authentication device 200. This verification is an authentication of the personal information, and at the same time, serves as a confirmation of the user's identity. [Explanation of symbols]

[0068] 100 user terminals 101 Display 102 Input Device 111 CPU 112 ROM 113 RAM 114 Interface Bus 116 121 Input section 122 Control Unit 123 Image Generation Unit 124 Output section 125 User ID Recording Section 126 OTP generation section 221 Input section 222 Control Unit 223 OTP generation section 224 OTP judgment section 225 Personal Information Judgment Department 226 Personal Information Records Department 227 Output section 321 Input section 322 Control Unit 323 Image Generation Unit 324 Output Section

Claims

1. An authentication device that combines a user terminal, which is a portable device including a computer and owned by a user, capable of generating one-time password data, which is data about a one-time password that is a unique character string, such that one-time passwords generated under the same conditions will be identical based on an initial value unique to each user, with a requesting device, which is a device including a computer, that requests authentication of the validity of personal information, which is information of multiple types relating to the user who owns the user terminal, and authenticates the validity of the personal information in response to a request from the requesting device, a recording unit that records personal information data, which is data on the multiple types of personal information of the user, and the initial values ​​or solutions, which are values ​​generated from the initial values, in association with each other for each of the users, and one of the personal information data is user ID data, which is data on a user ID, which is a unique identifier for each user that distinguishes each user from other users; a first communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data to and from the user terminal; a second communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data to and from the requesting device; a computing device for performing information processing; It also includes The computing device When the first communication unit receives data including at least the user ID data sent from the user terminal, the one-time password data is generated by the same method as that used by the user terminal, based on the initial value or solution linked to the user ID received from the first communication unit and read from the recording unit; When the second communication unit receives the one-time password data and the personal information data sent from the requesting device, which have been generated on the user terminal of the user who sent the user ID data and handed over to the requesting device by the user who sent the user ID data, the second communication unit executes an OTP determination as to whether the one-time password data received by the second communication unit matches the one-time password data generated on the authentication device, and a personal information determination as to whether the personal information data received by the second communication unit matches the user ID of the user that should be linked to the personal information data or the personal information data that has been linked to the user ID and recorded in the recording unit; if both the OTP determination and the personal information determination results are positive, the second communication unit generates authentication data indicating that the personal information data sent from the requesting device is valid, and returns the generated authentication data to the requesting device from the second communication unit. Authentication device.

2. The computing device when the second communication unit receives the one-time password data and the plurality of types of personal information data sent from the requesting device, the OTP determination and the personal information determination are executed, In the personal information determination, a determination is made as to whether or not the multiple types of personal information data received by the second communication unit match the user ID of the user that should be linked to the personal information data or all of the multiple types of personal information data that have been linked to the user ID and recorded in the recording unit, and the determination result is deemed positive if all of the multiple types of personal information data received by the second communication unit match the multiple types of personal information data that have been recorded in the recording unit. The authentication device according to claim 1 .

3. The arithmetic unit and the recording unit are included in other devices, The authentication device according to claim 1 .

4. The computing device and the device including the recording unit are located in remote locations and are capable of communicating with each other. The authentication device according to claim 1 .

5. 4. The authentication device according to claim 3, wherein the authentication device includes a first authentication device including the arithmetic unit and a second authentication device including the recording unit, First authentication device.

6. The plurality of types of personal information data, excluding the user ID, is at least one of the user's name, gender, date of birth, address, and facial photograph. The authentication device according to claim 1 .

7. An authentication device that combines a user terminal, which is a portable device including a computer and owned by a user, capable of generating one-time password data, which is data about a one-time password that is a unique character string based on an initial value unique to each user, so that one-time passwords generated under the same conditions will be identical, with a requesting device, which is a device including a computer, that requests authentication of the validity of personal information, which is information of multiple types relating to the user who owns the user terminal, and authenticates the validity of the personal information in response to a request from the requesting device; a recording unit that records personal information data, which is data on the multiple types of personal information of the user, and the initial values ​​or solutions, which are values ​​generated from the initial values, in association with each other for each of the users, and one of the personal information data is user ID data, which is data on a user ID, which is a unique identifier for each user that distinguishes each user from other users; a first communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data to and from the user terminal; a second communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data to and from the requesting device; a computing device for performing information processing; a method executed by the computing device, the method comprising: The computing device executes: a step of generating the one-time password data by the same method as that used by the user terminal, based on the initial value or solution linked to the user ID received from the first communication unit and read from the recording unit, when the first communication unit receives data including at least the user ID data sent from the user terminal; a step of, when the second communication unit receives the one-time password data and the personal information data sent from the requesting device, generated on the user terminal of the user who sent the user ID data and handed over to the requesting device by the user who sent the user ID data, performing an OTP determination as to whether the one-time password data received by the second communication unit matches the one-time password data generated on the authentication device, and a personal information determination as to whether the personal information data received by the second communication unit matches the user ID of the user that should be linked to the personal information data or the personal information data that has been linked to the user ID and recorded in the recording unit, and if both the OTP determination and the personal information determination results are positive, generating authentication data indicating that the personal information data sent from the requesting device is valid, and returning the generated authentication data to the requesting device from the second communication unit; A method comprising:

8. a user terminal, which is a portable device including a computer and owned by a user, capable of generating one-time password data, which is data about one-time passwords that are unique character strings based on an initial value unique to each user and that are identical when generated under the same conditions; and a requesting device, which is a device including a computer that requests authentication of the validity of personal information, which is multiple types of information about the user who owns the user terminal; and a recording unit that records personal information data, which is data about multiple types of personal information about the user, and the initial values ​​or solutions, which are values ​​generated from the initial values, in association with each other for each user, wherein one of the personal information data is user ID data, which is data about a user ID, which is an identifier unique to each user that distinguishes each user from other users; a first communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data to and from the user terminal; a second communication unit that transmits and receives predetermined data to and from the requesting device; and an arithmetic unit that performs information processing, The computer program causes the arithmetic device to: a step of generating the one-time password data by the same method as that used by the user terminal, based on the initial value or solution linked to the user ID received from the first communication unit and read from the recording unit, when the first communication unit receives data including at least the user ID data sent from the user terminal; a step of, when the second communication unit receives the one-time password data and the personal information data sent from the requesting device, generated on the user terminal of the user who sent the user ID data and handed over to the requesting device by the user who sent the user ID data, performing an OTP determination as to whether the one-time password data received by the second communication unit matches the one-time password data generated on the authentication device, and a personal information determination as to whether the personal information data received by the second communication unit matches the user ID of the user that should be linked to the personal information data or the personal information data that has been linked to the user ID and recorded in the recording unit, and if both the OTP determination and the personal information determination results are positive, generating authentication data indicating that the personal information data sent from the requesting device is valid, and returning the generated authentication data to the requesting device from the second communication unit; A computer program that executes the following:

Images