International Journal of Computer Theory and Engineering

Abstract

In the mobile computing industry, smartphones and iPads have emerged as realistic substitutes for notebook computers. For example, the iPad is designed to support a variety of media, including video, sound, and websites. It is different from a cell phone in that it has the ability to use rich e-learning content. However, the iPad does not include special structures for user authentication. For example, it does not have a camera or a device for fingerprint authentication. The purpose of this paper is to explain how to perform effective personal authentication using the built-in capabilities of the iPad or smartphone. For this purpose, we developed a prototype of the authentication system using location information. Fortunately, the iPad and many smartphones came equipped with a GPS facility that can acquire positional information. We compared the information provided by the known address block with the information provided by the iPad (latitude and longitude coordinates). The test results indicate that the developed prototype is effective.