Patent ID: 7357320

Claim:
A reader/writer for communications with at least one of information carriers whose communication characteristics are different from one another, the reader/writer comprising: a plurality of first parameter files each including a plurality of control parameters required for the communications, the plurality of first parameters files respectively meeting the communication characteristics of the information carriers, the communication characteristics being respectively based on a plurality of standard communication specifications for the information carriers; and a plurality of second parameter files each including plurality of control parameters required for the communications, the plurality of second parameters files being based on one of the plurality of communication characteristics and respectively depending on at least one of: different manufacturers for the information carriers, and different circumstances under which the information carriers are used; and an identifying unit configured to try to communicate with the at least one of the information carriers using the plurality of first and second parameter files to identify which one of the first and second parameter files meets the communication characteristic of the at least one of the information carriers based on a result of the trying to communicate.