Patent ID: 7543742

Claim:
A reader/writer, comprising: a communicating unit that is able to output first electromagnetic waves to perform a communication based on the first electromagnetic waves with a contactless IC card placed within a communication area of the communicating unit; a judging unit that judges whether or not the contactless IC card placed within the communication area is now in communication with a second reader/writer; and a communication control unit that forbids the communicating unit outputting the first electromagnetic waves in response to a judgment of the judging unit indicating that the contactless IC card is now in communication with the second reader/writer, and that controls the communicating unit, in response to a judgment of the judging unit indicating that the contactless IC card is not in communication with the second reader/writer, to output the first electromagnetic waves to the contactless IC card placed with the communication area in order to start communicating with the contactless IC card.