Patent 7949872 was granted and assigned to Sony on May, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An authentication requesting device which includes a battery connecting section to be connected to a battery and a receiving section to be supplied with power from an external power source when connected to the external power source, and executes an authentication process for authenticating a battery connected to the battery connecting section, where the authentication requesting device is arranged to change the authentication process depending on whether or not the receiving section is being supplied with power from the external power source.