Methods and apparatus for a password-protected integrated circuit
AssigneeSemiconductor Components Industries, LLC
InventorCharles Frederic McCord
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various embodiments of the present technology may comprise methods and apparatus for a password-protected integrated circuit. According to various aspects of the present invention, the password-protected integrated circuit may comprise a cryptosystem that is encoded with a password seed and used to authenticate control data prior to being transmitted to a sensor and/or a sensor control circuit, wherein the sensor and/or sensor control circuit responds to authenticated control data.
Claims20
An integrated circuit capable of communicating with a host processor, comprising:
- a cryptosystem encoded with a password seed, and configured to:
- receive control data from the host processor;
- generate a key based on the password seed;
- authenticate the control data utilizing the key;
- and
- transmit status data to the host processor, wherein the status data indicates whether the control data from the host processor was authenticated;
- a sensor control circuit coupled to the cryptosystem and configured to:
- receive the authenticated control data from the cryptosystem;
- and
- generate an operation signal in response to the authenticated control data;
- and
- a sensor coupled to the sensor control circuit, wherein the sensor is configured to:
- operate according to the operation signal;
- generate sensor data;
- and
- transmit the sensor data to the cryptosystem.
A method for operating a sensor according to control data from a host processor, comprising:
- reading the control data from the host processor;
- reading a security code transmitted with the control data;
- generating a key from a password seed;
- decrypting the security code with the key;
- determining whether the security code is valid;
- transmitting status data to the host processor, wherein the status data indicates whether the security code was valid;
- generating an operation signal only if the security code is valid;
- halting receipt of subsequent control data if the security code is invalid;
- and
- operating the sensor according to the operation signal only if the security code is valid.
A vehicle system, comprising:
- a host processor configured to generate control data according to an operation parameter;
- and
- a sensor integrated circuit, coupled to the host processor and configured to transmit status data to the host processor, comprising:
- a cryptosystem coupled to the host processor and encoded with a password seed and configured to:
- receive the control data from the host processor;
- generate a key based on the password seed;
- authenticate the control data utilizing the key;
- transmit status data to the host processor, wherein the status data indicates whether the control data from the host processor was authenticated;
- and
- transmit the authenticated control data;
- and
- a sensor control circuit coupled to the cryptosystem and configured to:
- receive the authenticated control data from the cryptosystem;
- transmit the status data to the cryptosystem;
- and
- transmit an operation signal to an image sensor, wherein the image sensor:
- generates image data according to the operation signal;
- and
- transmits the image data to the cryptosystem.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.