An information processing apparatus allowing proper communication with a communication partner in accordance with a communication time of the communication partner. A reception control unit receives a random challenge (RC) from a transmission terminal and supplies it to a generation unit. The reception control unit transmits an RC reception message indicating an RC reception to a transmission side. The generation unit executes a Hash process relative to RC and supplies resultant authentication data to a generation unit. A transmission control unit controls the generation unit at a timing before a response request command from the transmission side is received, to make the generation unit generate a response message containing authentication data corresponding to the response request command, and when the response request command is received, transmits the response message to a transmission destination terminal. The apparatus is applicable to a content providing system.