OPTICAL TRANSCEIVER WITH VENDOR AUTHENTICATION

• US 20090138709A1
• Filed: 11/26/2008
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: II-VI Delaware, Inc. (Coherent Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Finisar Corporation (II-VI Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ekkizogloy, Luke M., Dybsetter, Gerald L., Miao, Jason Y.
• Granted Patent: US 8,819,423 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/00 Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/44 Program or device authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/40 Transceivers

Abstract

An optical receiver comprising at least one processor and a memory including at least one of an encryption key or a decryption key and at least one of encryption microcode or decryption microcode that includes processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the optical transceiver to perform the following: an act of performing an encryption or decryption operation on data received from a host computing system to thereby authenticate the optical transceiver.

Claims

1. In an environment that includes an optical transceiver communicatively coupled to a host computing system, wherein the optical transceiver includes a processor and a memory having thereon encryption/decryption microcode that, when executed, causes the optical transceiver to perform an encryption or decryption operation, a method for allowing the optical transceiver to be authenticated by the host, the method comprising:

an act of receiving data from a host computing system; and

an act of performing an encryption or decryption operation on the data to thereby authenticate the optical transceiver.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the act of performing an encryption or decryption operation on data received from a host computing system to thereby authenticate the optical transceiver comprises:

an act of performing an encryption operation using encryption microcode to thereby encrypt the data received from the host computing system; and

an act of providing the encrypted data to the host computing system for verification that the optical transceiver is authentic.

3. The method in accordance with claim 2, wherein the act of providing the encrypted data to the host computing system for verification that the optical transceiver is authentic comprises:

an act of the host computing system decrypting the encrypted data; and

an act of the host computing system comparing the decrypted data with the data provided to the optical transceiver to verify that the decrypted data matches the data provided to the optical transceiver.

4. The method in accordance with claim 2, wherein the optical transceiver is authenticated if the decrypted data matches the data provided to the optical transceiver;

and

wherein the optical transceiver is not authenticated if the decrypted data does not match the data provided to the optical transceiver.

5. The method in accordance with claim 2, wherein the encryption microcode accesses an encryption key that is stored separately from the encryption microcode when performing the encryption operation.

6. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the act of performing an encryption or decryption operation on data received from a host computing system to thereby authenticate the optical transceiver comprises:

an act of performing a decryption operation using decryption microcode to thereby decrypt the data received from the host computing system; and

an act of providing the decrypted data to the host computing system for verification that the optical transceiver is authentic.

7. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein a high speed data link of the optical transceiver is configured to not operate until the optical transceiver is authenticated.

8. In an environment that includes an optical transceiver communicatively coupled to a host computing system, wherein the optical transceiver includes a processor and a memory having thereon decryption microcode that, when executed, causes the optical transceiver to perform a decryption operation, a method for allowing the optical transceiver to be authenticated by the host, the method comprising:

an act of receiving encrypted data from a host computing system;

an act of receiving unencrypted data from the host computing system;

an act of performing a decryption operation using decryption microcode to thereby decrypt the encrypted data; and

an act of comparing the decrypted data with the unencrypted data to verify that the optical transceiver is authentic.

9. The method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the act of comparing the decrypted data with the unencrypted data to verify that the optical transceiver is authentic is performed by the host computing system.

10. The method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the optical transceiver is authenticated if the decrypted data matches the unencrypted data;

and

wherein the optical transceiver is not authenticated if the decrypted data does not match the unencrypted data.

11. The method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the decryption microcode includes a decryption key used in the decryption operation.

12. The method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the decryption microcode accesses a decryption key that is stored separately from the decryption microcode when performing the decryption operation.

13. The method in accordance with claim 12, wherein the decryption key is stored in system memory.

14. The method in accordance with claim 8, wherein a high speed data link of the optical transceiver is configured to not operate until the optical transceiver is authenticated.

15. An optical receiver comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory including at least one of an encryption key or a decryption key and at least one of encryption microcode or decryption microcode that includes processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the optical transceiver to perform the following;

an act of performing an encryption or decryption operation on data received from a host computing system to thereby authenticate the optical transceiver.

16. The optical transceiver in accordance with claim 15, wherein the act of performing an encryption or decryption operation on data received from a host computing system to thereby authenticate the optical transceiver comprises:

an act of encrypting the data received from a host computing system the using encryption microcode and the encryption key; and

an act of providing the encrypted data to the host computing system, wherein the host computing system uses the encrypted data to authenticate the optical transceiver.

17. The optical transceiver in accordance with claim 15, wherein at least some of the data received from the host computing system is encrypted and some of the data received from the host computing system is unencrypted, wherein the act of performing an encryption or decryption operation on data received from a host computing system to thereby authenticate the optical transceiver comprises:

an act of performing the decryption operation using the decryption microcode to thereby decrypt the encrypted data; and

an act of comparing the decrypted data with the unencrypted data to verify that the optical transceiver is authentic.

18. The optical transceiver in accordance with claim 15, wherein the act of performing an encryption or decryption operation on data received from a host computing system to thereby authenticate the optical transceiver comprises:

an act of performing a decryption operation using decryption microcode to thereby decrypt the data received from the host computing system; and

an act of providing the decrypted data to the host computing system for verification that the optical transceiver is authentic.

19. The optical transceiver in accordance with claim 15, wherein the encryption or decryption microcode is stored in a write-protected portion of memory.

20. The method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the encryption or decryption key is stored in system memory.