A method of operating a contactless integrated circuit card reader includes calculating a first transition time of at least one first magnetic pulse during a first transition interval and calculating a second transition time of a second magnetic pulse during a second transition interval. The scalar transmits a present display data for composing a display frame, and determines whether to generate a refresh request signal according to a state of the display frame. In addition, this disclosure describes techniques for allowing an entity within the distributed environment to test itself, both from its own perspective as well as from the perspective of other entities within the distributed environment.