Device process scheduling

A device configured to perform contactless communication with a terminal, comprising:

• an antenna configured to communicate with the terminal;
• an embedded chip configured to communicate with the terminal in accordance with a contactless transmission protocol whereby a message sent by the terminal sets a specified initial waiting time for a response from the embedded chip to maintain a connection with the terminal, the embedded chip being configured to communicate requests to the terminal to extend the waiting time for response;
• and
• a module configured to perform processing formed of a plurality of discrete operations;
• wherein the embedded chip is configured to, for each waiting time extension request sent to the terminal by the embedded chip:
• communicate a first signal to the module indicating the waiting time extension request has been sent to the terminal;
• and communicate a second signal to the module in advance of the extended waiting time resulting from that extension request indicating a further waiting time extension request is scheduled for communication by the embedded chip to the terminal;
• and
• wherein the module is configured to:
• begin processing a subset of one or more discrete operations in response to receiving the first signal from the embedded chip;
• and stop processing the subset of discrete operations in response to receiving the second signal from the embedded chip and prior to the embedded chip communicating a further waiting time extension request to the terminal.