Patent ID: 8499180

Claim:
An IC Card comprising: a plurality of electronic components comprising an internal clock, a hardware timer register, and a low precision clock, said plurality of electronic components configured to receive power and a main clock signal from a reader device, said internal clock, said hardware timer register, and said low precision timer being configured to receive the power during a suspension of the main clock signal, and said low precision clock being configured to generate a clock signal during the main clock signal suspension; a timer configured to measure a period of time during a main clock signal suspension, initialize before the suspension of the main clock signal, and increment based upon the clock signal; and a central processing unit (CPU) configured to execute at least one counting time routine upon expiration of said timer during the suspension of the main clock signal, and have power thereto suspended when the at least one counting time routine is completed; said hardware timer register also being configured to re-initialize when the at least one counting time routine is completed.