Patent ID: 6899270

Claim:
A noncontact reader/writer for plural kinds of noncontact information carriers comprising: a transmitter for sending a signal to each of the plural kinds of noncontact information carriers; a receiver for receiving a signal from said each of the plural kinds of noncontact information carriers; a memory for storing information on a kind of at least one of the plural kinds of the noncontact information carriers with which the noncontact reader/writer has communicated; and a controller for determining, based upon the information, a priority order in a communication processing on a kind of noncontact information carrier, among the plural kinds of noncontact information carriers, and for carrying out the communication processing, and a priority memory for storing a priority table for showing a priority order on the kind of the plural kinds of noncontact information carriers with which the noncontact reader/writer communicates, wherein said memory includes a pointer memory to store a pointer value showing a specific priority order in the priority table, as the information; and according to each kind of the plural kinds of noncontact information carriers with which the noncontact reader/writer has communicated, the controller determines the pointer value, and in next communication, the controller carries out communication processing, by determining the priority order in the communication processing based on the priority order shown by the pointer value.