Patent ID: 7696718

Claim:
A charging apparatus for charging a secondary battery incorporated in a portable electronic device, the charging apparatus comprising: a contactless IC card reader configured to supply operating power to a contactless IC card unit incorporated in the portable electronic device and including an authentication function to verify whether the portable electronic device is to be supplied with the operating power; a power supply circuit configured to supply the operating power to the contactless IC card reader; a detection unit configured to detect whether the portable electronic device is in contact with the charging apparatus to produce a detection result; a switching circuit configured to deactivate the power supply circuit when the portable electronic device is not in contact with the charging apparatus and to activate the power supply circuit when the portable electronic device is in contact with the charging apparatus, according to the detection result produced by the detection unit; a charging circuit configured to perform a contactless charging of the secondary battery; and a control unit configured to activate the charging circuit when the switching circuit activates the power supply circuit to supply the operating power to the contactless IC card reader and the contactless IC card reader verifies that the portable electronic device is to be supplied with the operating power, and to not activate the charging circuit when the contactless IC card reader does not verify that the portable electronic device is to be supplied with the operating power.