Appliance with control board authentication

• US 11,003,759 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2018
• Issued: 05/11/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc. DBA GE Appliances (Haier Group Company)
• Original Assignee: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc. DBA GE Appliances (Haier Group Company)
• Inventors: Brian, Joseph Mark, Suel, II, Richard Dean
• Primary Examiner(s): Getachew, Abiy
• Application Number:
  US16/174,362
• Publication Number:
  US 20200134162A1
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0423 Input/output
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25252 Microprocessor
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25257 Microcontroller
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/44 Program or device authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/73 by creating or determining hardware identification, e.g. serial numbers

Abstract

A method for authenticating control boards in an appliance includes reading a serial number from a memory of a first control board positioned within the appliance, reading a serial number from a memory of a second control board positioned within the appliance and in communication with the first control board, comparing the serial number from the memory of the first control board to the serial number from the memory of the second control board, and authenticating the first and second control boards when the serial number from the memory of the first control board matches the serial number from the memory of the second control board.

Claims

1. A method for authenticating control boards in an appliance, comprising:

reading a serial number from a memory of a first control board, the first control board positioned within the appliance;

reading a serial number from a memory of a second control board, the second control board positioned within the appliance, the second control board in communication with the first control board;

comparing the serial number from the memory of the first control board to the serial number from the memory of the second control board; and

authenticating the first and second control boards when the serial number from the memory of the first control board matches the serial number from the memory of the second control board, further comprising adjusting operation of the appliance when one or both of the serial number from the memory of the first control board and the serial number from the memory of the second control board is blank.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting operation of the appliance when the serial number from the memory of the first control board does not match the serial number from the memory of the second control board.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein adjusting operation of the appliance comprises activating a user alert on the appliance.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the user alert is one or more of a light emitter and a sound emitter.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein adjusting operation of the appliance comprises deactivating one or more operational components of the appliance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second control board is spaced from the first control board within the appliance.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a notification when the serial number from the memory of the first control board does not match the serial number from the memory of the second control board.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein reading the serial number from the memory of the first control board comprises reading the serial number from a boot loader parametric data area of the memory of the first control board.

9. A method for authenticating control boards in an appliance, comprising:

reading a serial number from a memory of a main control board, the main control board positioned within the appliance;

reading a serial number from a memory of each of one or more sub-control boards, the one or more sub-control boards positioned within the appliance, each of the one or more sub-control boards in communication with the main control board;

comparing the serial number from the memory of the main control board to each serial number from the memory of the one or more sub-control boards; and

authenticating the main control board and the one or more sub-control boards when the serial number from the memory of the main control board matches each serial number from the memory of the one or more sub-control boards, further comprising transmitting a notification when the serial number from the memory of the main control board does not match each serial number from the memory of the one or more sub-control boards.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising adjusting operation of the appliance when the serial number from the memory of the main control board does not match each serial number from the memory of the one or more sub-control boards.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein adjusting operation of the appliance comprises activating a user alert on the appliance.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user alert is one or more of a light emitter and a sound emitter.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein adjusting operation of the appliance comprises deactivating one or more operational components of the appliance.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the one or more sub-control boards is spaced from the main control board within the appliance.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein reading the serial number from the memory of the main control board comprises reading the serial number from a boot loader parametric data area of the memory of the main control board.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising adjusting operation of the appliance when one or more of the serial number from the memory of the main control board and the serial number from the memory of the one or more sub-control boards is blank.