A system and method for communicating with contactless IC cards of multiple protocols includes transmitting an IC card polling signal and receiving a data transmission from an IC card. A processor is configured to determine whether or not a data transmission is received in response to the polling signal. The processor is configured to decode the data transmission in real-time if it is received in response to the polling signal. The processor is otherwise configured to first store the received data transmission in a memory and then decode the stored data transmission.