Integrated circuit that uses a dynamic characteristic of the circuit
First Claim
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1. A method comprising generating authentication information for a first device from a group of devices that exhibit variation between devices due to fabrication variations, the method comprising:
- selecting one or more configurations of a plurality of circuit components of the device according to selection information provided to the device, the one or more configurations being selected from among a plurality of selectable configurations of the components, wherein each selected configuration of circuit components is associated with one or more signal paths through said components;
for each selected configuration,forming the one or more signal paths associated with said configuration through components configured according to the selected configuration, andpropagating a signal through each of the formed signal paths, each of said signal paths having a dynamic characteristic associated with the propagation of the signal that is unique in the group to that device;
determining authentication information that is specific to the device based on the dynamic characteristics of the formed signal paths, wherein matching authentication information can be regenerated by repeating the forming of the signal paths through the component, and propagating of the signals through the formed signal paths;
wherein the dynamic characteristic of a signal path includes a delay characteristic of the signal path and wherein determining the authentication information includes determining said information based on the delay characteristics of the formed signal paths.
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Abstract
An integrated circuit has a first component that has a dynamic characteristic that varies among like integrated circuits, for example, among integrated circuits fabricated using the same lithography mask. Operating the first component produces an output that is dependent on the dynamic characteristic of the first component. A digital value associated with the integrated circuit is generated using the output of the first component, and then the generated digital value is used in operation of the integrated circuit.
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Citations
69 Claims
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1. A method comprising generating authentication information for a first device from a group of devices that exhibit variation between devices due to fabrication variations, the method comprising:
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selecting one or more configurations of a plurality of circuit components of the device according to selection information provided to the device, the one or more configurations being selected from among a plurality of selectable configurations of the components, wherein each selected configuration of circuit components is associated with one or more signal paths through said components; for each selected configuration, forming the one or more signal paths associated with said configuration through components configured according to the selected configuration, and propagating a signal through each of the formed signal paths, each of said signal paths having a dynamic characteristic associated with the propagation of the signal that is unique in the group to that device; determining authentication information that is specific to the device based on the dynamic characteristics of the formed signal paths, wherein matching authentication information can be regenerated by repeating the forming of the signal paths through the component, and propagating of the signals through the formed signal paths; wherein the dynamic characteristic of a signal path includes a delay characteristic of the signal path and wherein determining the authentication information includes determining said information based on the delay characteristics of the formed signal paths. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 69)
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34. A method comprising:
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providing a first device from a group of devices fabricated based on a common design, each device having a corresponding plurality of measurable characteristics, including a plurality of dynamic characteristics, that is specific to the device in the group, each device having a measurement model for measuring the measurable characteristics; and enabling authentication of the first device by selective measurement of one chosen subset of one or more of the plurality of measurable characteristics of the device and comparing the measured results of the one chosen subset with pre-stored measurements previously selectively measured for the one chosen subset on the first device; wherein the plurality of measurable characteristics includes delay characteristics of a plurality of signal paths in the device. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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Specification