Methods and apparatuses for configuring products

• US 20060136702A1
• Filed: 12/22/2005
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digital Keystone Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Digital Keystone Incorporated
• Inventors: Vantalon, Luc, Siccardo, Paolo
• Granted Patent: US 8,151,110 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/572 Secure firmware programming, e.g. of basic input output system [BIOS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/73 by creating or determining hardware identification, e.g. serial numbers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2129 Authenticate client device independently of the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for configuring products for security. In one aspect, a method of manufacturing a device, includes: determining a first executable code for the device, the first executable code being one of a plurality of different executable codes that are capable of being executed on the device, the plurality of executable codes having a same overall functionality but different operations which generates different results from same input data; and loading the first executable code into the device. In one embodiment, a connection between a data processing system and the device is established while the device is being manufactured; and the connection is used to load the first executable code and a new set of identifier information in a format compatible with the first executable code into the device. For example, the connection includes a secure authenticated channel established using an initial set of identifier information stored in the device.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a product, the method comprising:

establishing a connection between a data processing system and the product while the product is being manufactured;

randomly determining a first executable code for the product, the first executable code being one of a plurality of different executable codes;

loading a first set of identifier information in a format compatible with the first executable code into the product; and

loading the first executable code into the product.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of identifier information is capable of being used to control distribution of media which is received by the product;

wherein the first set of identifier information is unique relative to other products which are otherwise the same as the product; and

wherein the first set of identifier information is used to decrypt or descramble media received by the product when in use.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

verifying that an initial set of identifier information stored within the product is valid to establish a secure authenticated channel;

wherein the loading the first set of identifier information is in response to validly verifying the initial set of identifier information; and

wherein the loading the first set of identifier information is secured through the verifying of the initial set of identifier information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first executable code for the product comprises:

randomly selecting a first compilation key from a plurality of different compilation keys; and

modifying a reference execution code according to the first compilation key to generate the first executable code.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the modifying includes modifying multiple separate locations in the second execution code according to the first compilation key.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first executable code for the product comprises:

randomly selecting a first compilation key from a plurality of different compilation keys; and

selecting the first executable code from the plurality of executable codes according to the first compilation key;

wherein the plurality of executable codes are generated according to the plurality of compilation keys respectively.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of executable codes have a same overall functionality but different operations which generate different results from same input data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of different executable codes have different instructions to perform different algorithmic operations.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of different executable codes have differences in multiple locations in instruction sequences.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of executable codes computes a key for decrypting identifier information stored on a product using a different algorithm which generates a different result from same input data;

and the first set of identifier information in the format is decryptable with a key computed using the first executable code but not decryptable using a key computed using one of the plurality of executable codes that is different from the first executable code.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

loading data in a first format into the device, the first format being one of a plurality of different formats, the first executable code being compatible with the first format, any of the plurality of different executable codes other than the first executable being not compatible with the first format.

11. A method to configure a device, the method comprising:

determining a first executable code for the device, the first executable code being one of a plurality of different executable codes that are capable of being executed on the device, the plurality of executable codes having a same overall functionality but different operations which generate different results from same input data; and

loading the first executable code into the device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first executable code is a random one from the plurality of different executable codes.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

randomly selecting a first set of information from a plurality of sets of information;

wherein the first executable code is generated based on the first set of information; and

wherein the plurality of different executable codes are generated based on the plurality of sets of information respectively.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

verifying that an initial set of identifier information stored within the device is valid to establish a secure authenticated channel; and

loading a new set of identifier information in a first format compatible with the first executable code into the device over the secure authenticated channel;

wherein the first executable code is loaded into the device over the secure authenticated channel.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein any one of the plurality of different executable codes other than the first executable code is not compatible with the first format;

and the first format is an encrypted format.

17. A machine readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method for manufacturing a product, the method comprising:

establishing a connection between the data processing system and the product while the product is being manufactured;

randomly determining a first executable code for the product, the first executable code being one of a plurality of different executable codes;

loading a first set of identifier information in a format compatible with the first executable code into the product; and

loading the first executable code into the product.

18. The medium of claim 17, wherein the first set of identifier information is capable of being used to control distribution of media which is received by the product;

wherein the first set of identifier information is unique relative to other products which are otherwise the same as the product; and

wherein the first set of identifier information is used to decrypt or descramble media received by the product when in use.

19. The medium of claim 17, wherein the determining the first executable code for the product comprises:

randomly selecting a first compilation key from a plurality of different compilation keys;

wherein the plurality of executable codes are generated according to the plurality of compilation keys respectively; and

wherein the plurality of executable codes have a same overall functionality but different operations which generate different results from same input data.

20. The medium of claim 19, wherein the determining the first executable code for the product further comprises:

modifying multiple separate locations in a second execution code according to the first compilation key to generate the first executable code.

21. The medium of claim 19, wherein the determining the first executable code for the product further comprises:

selecting the first executable code from the plurality of executable codes according to the first compilation key.

22. A machine readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method to configure a device, the method comprising:

determining a first executable code for the device, the first executable code being one of a plurality of different executable codes that are capable of being executed on the device, the plurality of executable codes having a same overall functionality but different operations which generate different results from same input data; and

loading the first executable code into the device.

23. The medium of claim 22, wherein the first executable code is a random one from the plurality of different executable codes;

and wherein the method further comprises;

randomly selecting a first set of information from a plurality of sets of information;

wherein the first executable code is generated based on the first set of information;

wherein the plurality of different executable codes are generated based on the plurality of sets of information respectively; and

the plurality of different executable codes occupy a substantially same size of storage space.

24. The medium of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises:

verifying that an initial set of identifier information stored within the device is valid to establish a secure authenticated channel; and

loading a new set of identifier information in a first format compatible with the first executable code into the device over the secure authenticated channel;

wherein the first executable code is loaded into the device over the secure authenticated channel; and

wherein any one of the plurality of different executable codes other than the first executable code is not compatible with the first format.

25. A system for manufacturing a product, the system comprising:

means for establishing a connection between a data processing system and the product while the product is being manufactured;

means for randomly determining a first executable code for the product, the first executable code being one of a plurality of different executable codes;

means for loading a first set of identifier information in a format compatible with the first executable code into the product; and

means for loading the first executable code into the product over the connection.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

means for verifying that an initial set of identifier information stored within the product is valid to establish a secure authenticated channel over the connection;

wherein loading the first set of identifier information into the product is in response to validly verifying the initial set of identifier information;

wherein loading the first set of identifier information into the product is secured through the verifying of the initial set of identifier information; and

wherein the plurality of executable codes have a same overall functionality but different operations which generate different results from same input data.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the means for determining the first executable code for the product comprises:

means for randomly selecting a first compilation key from a plurality of different compilation keys; and

means for patching at multiple separate locations in a second execution code according to the first compilation key to generate the first executable code.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the means for determining the first executable code for the product comprises:

means for randomly selecting a first compilation key from a plurality of different compilation keys; and

means for selecting the first executable code from the plurality of executable codes according to the first compilation key;

wherein the plurality of executable codes are generated according to the plurality of compilation keys respectively.

29. A data processing system to configure a device, the data processing system comprising:

means for determining a first executable code for the device, the first executable code being one of a plurality of different executable codes that are capable of being executed on the device, the plurality of executable codes having a same overall functionality but different operations which generate different results from same input data; and

means for loading the first executable code into the device.

30. The data processing system of claim 29, further comprising:

means for randomly selecting a first set of information from a plurality of sets of information;

wherein the first executable code is generated based on the first set of information; and

wherein the plurality of different executable codes are generated based on the plurality of sets of information respectively.

31. The data processing system of claim 29, further comprising:

means for verifying that an initial set of identifier information stored within the device is valid to establish a secure authenticated channel; and

means for loading a new set of identifier information in a first format compatible with the first executable code into the device over the secure authenticated channel;

wherein the first executable code is loaded into the device over the secure authenticated channel.

32. The data processing system of claim 29, further comprising:

means for loading data in a first format into the device, the first format being one of a plurality of different formats, the first executable code being compatible with the first format, any of the plurality of different executable codes other than the first executable being not compatible with the first format;

wherein the plurality of different executable codes have substantially same code sizes; and

wherein the plurality of different executable codes are cryptographically different.