Secure delegation of processing operations from a smart card to a host

摘要

The invention addresses the problem of limited processing power on smart cards by securely delegating some of the processing burden to a host processing apparatus which is operable in a secure domain. The smart card includes authentication logic operable when connected to the host processing apparatus to determine whether a secure data processing domain having predetermined properties is present within the host and, in response to identifying a suitable secure data processing domain, the smart card delegates at least some data processing operations to be processed within the secure domain. Faster processing is achieved than would otherwise be possible on the smart card alone. The smart card may transmit an application to the host for processing in the secure domain and may transmit scheduling signals to control delegated processing operations. The smart card may comprise an application programming interface (API) implementation. A system comprising the smart card and the host may be a mobile phone or set top box.