TOLERANT OF ABSOLUTE OFFSETS PHYSICAL UNCLONABLE FUNCTION DEVICE

• US 20170134175A1
• Filed: 12/09/2015
• Published: 05/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Industry Software Inc. (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Mentor Graphics Corporation (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Skudlarek, Joseph P., Wang, Wei-Che, Chen, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,348,509 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/73 by creating or determining hardware identification, e.g. serial numbers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/588 Random number generators, i.e. based on natural stochastic processes
• CPC Class Codes: G09C 1/00 Apparatus or methods whereby a given sequence of signs, e.g. an intelligible text, is transformed into an unintelligible sequence of signs by transposing the signs or groups of signs or by replacing them by others according to a predetermined system cryptographic typewriters G09C3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/12 Details relating to cryptographic hardware or logic circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/24 Key scheduling, i.e. generating round keys or sub-keys for block encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/10 with particular housing, physical features or manual controls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3278 using physically unclonable functions [PUF]

Abstract

This application discloses a physical unclonable function device including physical unclonable function units, each capable of generating an output. The physical unclonable function device can utilize transforms to derive bits from the outputs and utilize the derived bits to generate an identifier for the physical unclonable function device. An inspection configuration tool can sample multiple outputs from each of the physical unclonable function units, identify a transforms to perform on a future output for each of the physical unclonable function units based on a distribution of values corresponding to the sampled outputs. The inspection configuration tool can configure the physical unclonable function device to perform the transforms on the future outputs of the physical unclonable function units. Embodiments will be described below in greater detail.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sampling a physical unclonable function unit in a physical unclonable function device to identify a plurality of outputs;

identifying a transform for the physical unclonable function unit based, at least in part, on a distribution of values corresponding to the sampled outputs; and

configuring the physical unclonable function device to perform the transform on a future output of the physical unclonable function unit, wherein the physical unclonable function device is configured to generate an identifier based, at least in part, on a result of the performance of the transform on the future output of the physical unclonable function unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the transform further comprising:

determining a width of the distribution of values corresponding to the sampled outputs;

utilizing a preset deviation threshold to set a scale for the physical unclonable function unit based, at least in part, on the width; and

identifying the transform to perform on the future output of the physical unclonable function unit based, at least in part, on a scale.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transform, when applied to the future output by the physical unclonable function device, divides the future output by a value that is based, at least in part, on the scale.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

when the result of the performance of the transform on the future output of the physical unclonable function unit corresponds to a multi-bit value, identifying a different transform to perform on the multi-bit result, which reduces the multi-bit value to a single bit; and

configuring the physical unclonable function device to perform the different transform on the multi-bit result, wherein the physical unclonable function device is configured to generate an identifier based, at least in part, on a result of the different transform on the multi-bit result.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying the transform further comprising dividing a possible value range of the future output into bins having an equal number of bit values in the possible value range.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying the transform further comprising dividing a possible value range of the future output into bins having different numbers of bit values in the possible value range.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical unclonable function circuitry includes one or more components having physical characteristics that randomly fall within a tolerance range during manufacture, and wherein the physical unclonable function circuitry is configured to generate the outputs with values based, at least in part, on the physical characteristics of the one or more components.

8. A device comprising:

physical unclonable function circuitry configured to generate a plurality of outputs; and

identifier generation circuitry configured to derive a bit from each of the outputs based, at least in part, on transforms determined from distributions of output values capable of being generated by the physical unclonable function circuitry, wherein the identifier generation circuitry is configured to generate an identifier with the bits derived from the outputs.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the physical unclonable function circuitry includes multiple physical unclonable function units, each including one or more components having physical characteristics that randomly fall within a tolerance range during manufacture, and each configured to generate a corresponding one of the outputs based, at least in part, on the physical characteristics of the one or more components.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the identifier generation circuitry is configured to sample multiple outputs from one of the physical unclonable function units, determine a distribution of values corresponding to the sampled outputs, and generate a transform to utilize on an output for the physical unclonable function unit.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the identifier generation circuitry is configured to utilize the transform to derive a bit from the output of the physical unclonable function unit.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein the identifier generation circuitry is configured to determine a result of the performance of the transform on the output of the physical unclonable function unit corresponds to a multi-bit value, and identify a different transform to perform on the multi-bit result, which reduces the multi-bit value to a single bit.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the identifier generation circuitry is configured to utilize the different transform to reduce the multi-bit value derived from the output of the physical unclonable function unit into to a single bit.

14. An apparatus comprising at least one computer-readable memory device storing instructions configured to cause one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

determining a distribution of values in outputs sampled from a physical unclonable function unit in a physical unclonable function device;

identifying a transform to perform on a future output of the physical unclonable function unit based, at least in part, on the distribution of values in the sampled outputs; and

configuring the physical unclonable function device to perform the transform on the future output of the physical unclonable function unit, wherein the physical unclonable function device is configured to generate an identifier based, at least in part, on a result of the performance of the transform on the future output of the physical unclonable function unit.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

determining a width of the distribution of values corresponding to the sampled outputs; and

utilizing a preset deviation threshold to set a scale for the physical unclonable function unit based, at least in part, on the width, and wherein identifying the transform is based, at least in part, on a scale.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the transform, when applied to the future output by the physical unclonable function device, divides the future output by a value that is based, at least in part, on the scale.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

when the result of the performance of the transform on the future output of the physical unclonable function unit corresponds to a multi-bit value, identifying a different transform to perform on the multi-bit result, which reduces the multi-bit value to a single bit; and

configuring the physical unclonable function device to perform the different transform on the multi-bit result, wherein the physical unclonable function device is configured to generate an identifier based, at least in part, on a result of the different transform on the multi-bit result.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein identifying the transform further comprising dividing a possible value range of the future output into bins having an equal number of bit values in the possible value range.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein identifying the transform further comprising dividing a possible value range of the future output into bins having different numbers of bit values in the possible value range.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the physical unclonable function device includes one or more components having physical characteristics that randomly fall within a tolerance range during manufacture, and wherein the physical unclonable function device is configured to generate the outputs with values based, at least in part, on the physical characteristics of the one or more components.