Operating System for a Chip Card Comprising a Multi-Tasking Kernel

A method for operating a mobile data carrier (C) which is provided with following resources:

• a microprocessor (MP), a data memory (DS), interfaces (SS) for a data exchange between microprocessor (MP) and either or both data memory (DS) and further modules which are associated with the mobile data carrier (C), comprising executing different application programs (A) on the mobile data carrier (C) at the same time, by operating the mobile data carrier (C) while using a central control unit (MTK) to monitor the operation of the mobile data carrier (C), said central control unit (MTK) allocating to one application program (A) at a time resources according to either or both a scheduling mechanism and the data exchange being controlled.

A mobile data carrier (C), on which different application programs (A) can be executed, comprising:

• a microprocessor (MP),
• a data memory (DS),
• interfaces (SS) for a data exchange between microprocessor (MP) and either or both data memory (DS) and further modules, which are associated with the mobile data carrier (C), wherein the mobile data carrier (C) comprises a central control unit (MTK) having a scheduler, the control unit (MTK) either or both controlling and monitoring the operation of the mobile data carrier (C) in such a way that activation of a plurality of application programs (A) at the same time is enabled by the scheduler according to a configurable mechanism allocating resources for either or both one application program at a time and controlling the data exchange.

A computer program product, which is loadable directly into a data memory (DS) of a programmable mobile data carrier (C) or into a control device associated with the mobile data carrier (C), said program including code enabling execution of all or selected steps of the method of claim 1 when the program is executed in either the mobile data carrier (C) or in the control device.

A method for either or both manufacturing and maintaining a mobile data carrier (C) which is operated with a method according to claim 1, wherein components of the mobile data carrier are replaceable by other components even after the mobile data carrier (C) has been issued.