APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATING FIRMWARE

• US 20080320311A1
• Filed: 12/27/2007
• Published: 12/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: CHO, Ki-seon
• Application Number:
  US11/964,809
• Publication Number:
  US 20080320311A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/187
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

An apparatus and method to authenticate firmware stored in a firmware storage unit. The apparatus includes a controller to commands an authenticator to start firmware authentication, the authenticator, which performs authentication of the firmware using a signature read from the firmware storage unit, and a bus controller to controls a data transmission bus to a decoder. The authenticator prevents data from being transmitted through the data transmission bus if the firmware authentication fails, and the authenticator controls the bus controller to enable data to be transmitted through the data transmission bus if the firmware authentication succeeds. Using the apparatus, illegal use of content can be prevented.

Claims

1. An apparatus to authenticate firmware stored in a firmware storage unit, the apparatus comprising:

an authenticator to perform firmware authentication of the firmware using a signature read from the firmware storage unit;

a controller to command the authenticator to start the firmware authentication; and

a bus controller to control a data transmission bus through which data passes to a decoder,

wherein the authenticator prevents data from being transmitted through the data transmission bus if the firmware authentication fails, and the authenticator controls the bus controller to enable data to be transmitted through the data transmission bus if the firmware authentication succeeds.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the authenticator performs firmware authentication of the firmware using at least one authentication method from among an elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA), a Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA), an advanced encryption standard (AES), and a message authentication code (MAC).

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the authenticator closes the data transmission bus or transmits an error message to the data transmission bus in order to prevent data from being transmitted through the data transmission bus if the firmware authentication fails.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the authenticator authenticates the firmware using a portion of the firmware without using a remaining portion of the firmware.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a content storage unit to store content;

wherein the authenticator controls the bus controller to enable the content read from the content storage unit to be transmitted to the decoder if the firmware authentication succeeds.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an optical disk inserter in which an optical disk is inserted;

wherein the authenticator controls the bus controller to enable content read from the optical disk to be transmitted to the decoder if the firmware authentication succeeds.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory card slot in which an attachable memory card is inserted;

wherein the authenticator controls the bus controller to enable content read from the memory card to be transmitted to the decoder if the firmware authentication succeeds.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising the decoder to decode the data transmitted through the data transmission bus.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller commands the authenticator to start the firmware authentication when power is applied to the apparatus.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is an optical disk drive.

11. A method of authenticating firmware, comprising:

reading firmware and a signature for authenticating the firmware from a storage unit;

authenticating the read firmware using the read signature;

preventing data from being transmitted through a data transmission bus to a decoder if the authentication fails; and

enabling data to be transmitted through the data transmission bus if the authentication succeeds.

12. The method of authenticating firmware of claim 11, wherein the authentication of the firmware is performed using at least one authentication method from among an elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA), a Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA), an advanced encryption standard (AES), and a message authentication code (MAC).

14. The method of authenticating firmware of claim 11, wherein the authentication of the firmware is performed using a portion of the firmware without using a remaining portion of the firmware.

15. The method of authenticating firmware of claim 11, wherein the enabling of the data to be transmitted when the authenticating the firmware succeeds comprises transmitting content read from one of an internal content storage unit, an optical disk, and a memory card to the decoder through the data transmission bus.

16. The method of authenticating firmware of claim 11, wherein the authentication of the firmware begins when power is applied to an apparatus performing the firmware authentication.

13. The method of authenticating firmware of claim 111 wherein the preventing of the data from being transmitted through the data transmission bus comprises closing the data transmission bus or transmitting an error message to the data transmission bus.

17. An apparatus to authenticate firmware, the apparatus comprising:

a bus controller to control a data transmission bus over which content is transmitted; and

an authenticator to authenticate the firmware based on a signature and to control the bus controller to allow or deny transmission of the content via the data transmission bus based on the result of the authentication.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising a controller to control the authenticator to begin the authentication when the apparatus starts up.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a firmware storage unit to store the signature and the firmware;

wherein the authenticator reads the firmware and the signature from the firmware storage unit.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a decoder to receive the content via the data transmission bus and to decode the content for display on a display unit;

a content protector to store a content protection application.

21. A method of distributing firmware, comprising:

preparing a firmware public key based on a firmware private key;

generating a common encryption key based on a public key of an apparatus that will authenticate the firmware;

generating a signature of the firmware based on the firmware private key;

encrypting the signature using the common encryption key; and

distributing the firmware by attaching the firmware public key and the signature to the firmware.

22. A method of authenticating firmware distributed by the method of claim 21, the method comprising:

generating the common encryption key using a private key of an apparatus authenticating the firmware;

decoding the signature using the common encryption key; and

verifying the signature using the firmware public key.