Patent ID: 7552872

Claim:
A reader/writer, which writes data into an RF tag mounted to an end of a fiber-optic cable and reads data from the RF tag, through radio communication, the reader/writer comprising: an optical receiver which converts an optical signal received through the fiber-optic cable into an electric signal; an optical transmitter which converts an electric signal into an optical signal and transmits the optical signal to the fiber-optic cable; a radio communication unit which performs radio communication with the RF tag; and an RF tag control unit which reads, on receiving through the optical receiver a signal that is an instruction to read data, data from the RF tag through the radio communication unit and transmits the read data to the fiber-optic cable through the optical transmitter, and writes, on receiving through the optical receiver a signal that is an instruction to write data and a signal indicating the write data, the write data thus received into the RF tag through the radio communication unit.