INFORMATION APPARATUS, METHOD OF PROCESSING COMMUNICATION REQUEST, AND CARRIER MEANS

An information apparatus (20, 30, 40, 200, 700, 900) includes a processing unit (201, 701, 901, 160, 162) to process a communication request transmitted from a request source device (14, 500, 110). The communication request is one of a plaintext communication request and a ciphertext communication request. The information apparatus (20, 30, 40, 200, 700, 900) further includes a first communication unit (205, 711, 950, 144, 164) to receive the plaintext communication request, a second communication unit (205, 711, 950, 146, 166) to receive the ciphertext communication request, and a transfer unit (201, 701, 901, 150) to transfer the plaintext communication request for processing in response to receiving the plaintext communication request and transfer another communication request for processing in response to receiving the ciphertext communication request. The another communication request to be transferred for processing is obtained by decrypting the ciphertext communication request.