Patent ID: 8143998

Claim:
A contactless-IC-card communication system that is compatible with multiple contactless-IC-card specifications including command classes different from each other, the communication system comprising: a through reader unit configured to communicate with multiple contactless IC cards, each having one of a plurality of different IC-card specifications, and to receive a response from a contactless IC card that is dependent upon the contactless IC card's IC-card specification, wherein the through reader unit encapsulates the response and transmits the encapsulated response without performing a process corresponding to the IC card specification of the IC card by delegating the process corresponding to the IC card specification of the IC card to a controller module unit; and the controller module unit configured to receive the encapsulated card-dependent response from the through reader unit, to selectively execute multiple software modules containing command classes corresponding to the contactless-IC-card specification corresponding to the IC card specification of the contactless IC card, to process the response of the at least one of the multiple contactless IC cards, and to generate a command dependent upon the IC card specification of the contactless IC card, wherein the controller module unit provides an application firewall function for preventing the software modules from interfering with each other and a secure execution environment for preventing the software modules from improperly accessing resources of the controller module unit, wherein the through reader unit is further configured to receive the command from the controller module unit, said through reader unit including an anti-tamper IC chip to prevent unauthorized use of the command, and to transmit the command to the contactless IC card.