Abstract: A system (1) for executing system functions, for example a PC system, contains, firstly, a contact-bound characteristics block-processing stage (9), which is designed to process a contact-bound characteristics block (ATR) transferable from a contactbound data carrier (40) to a contact-bound read-write station (16) and, as a consequence of this processing, to generate at least one control signal (CS 1, CS2, CS3), and, secondly, a contactless read-write device (14, 15) that is designed to co-operate with a contactless data carrier (20, 30) and which contains a contact-bound characteristics block-recognition stage (25, 35) for recognizing a contactless characteristics block (ATS, UID) transferred from the contactless data carrier (20, 30) to the contactless read-write device (14, 15), and, thirdly, a contact-bound characteristics block-generation stage (26, 36), which generates the contactbound characteristics block (ATR) by utilizing the recognized contactless characteristics block (ATS, UID) and feeds it to th