Patent ID: 8078783

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: a card slot to which a card-type medium is inserted; a processing unit in communication with the card slot and comprising a first communication-speed obtaining unit configured to obtain a first communication speed which is a speed of data communication between the information processing apparatus and the card-type medium in a first operation mode; a second communication-speed obtaining unit configured to obtain a second-communication speed which is a speed of data communication between the information processing apparatus and the card-type medium in a second operation mode; a third communication-speed obtaining unit configured to obtain a third communication speed which is a speed of data communication between the information processing apparatus and the card-type medium in a third operation mode; an interruption-preventing maximum data size obtaining unit configured to obtain an interruption-preventing maximum data size which is a maximum data size which allows data communication between the information processing apparatus and the card-type medium without interruption in the second operation mode; and a determination unit configured to determine an operation mode, from among the first to third operation modes, which attains the highest speed of data communication between the information processing apparatus and the card-type medium on the basis of the first to third communication speeds and the interruption-preventing m maximum data size; a data communication unit configured to perform data communication between the information processing apparatus and the card-type medium in the operation mode which attains the highest speed of the data communication and which is selected from among the first to third operation modes by the determination unit; and different mode selection data for a plurality of different interruption-preventing maximum data sizes defined in advance in the second operation mode; wherein each of the mode selection data is used to select an operation mode which attains the highest speed of data communication in accordance with a combination of a value of the first communication speed and a value of the second communication speed when the data communication is performed in the second operation mode on the basis of a corresponding one of the interruption-preventing maximum data sizes; and the determination unit selects one of the mode selection data which corresponds to the interruption-preventing maximum data size of the card-type medium inserted into the card slot, and determines an operation mode, from among the first and second operation modes, which attains the highest speed of data communication between the information processing apparatus and the card-type medium with reference to the selected mode selection data.