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US 2002/0165888 A1Published application
Random number generation method and system
AssigneePortalPlayer, Inc.
InventorJason Seung-Min Kim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A random number generation system and method use the randomness in hardware circuitry start-up to generate a random seed for a random number. In a preferred embodiment, the instability of a phase locked loop is used.
Claims18
A random number generator, comprising an electrical circuit that has an unstable state and a stable state which it settles into after a random period of time;
- a counter that determines the time that it takes for the electrical circuit to settle into the stable state;
- and a generator that generates a random number using the settle time as the random seed.
A random number generation method, comprising:
- providing an electrical circuit that has an unstable state and a stable state which it settles into after a random period of time;
- counting the time that it takes for the electrical circuit to settle into the stable state;
- and
- generating a random seed based on the settle time of the electrical circuit.
1 more element
A random seed generator, comprising:
- an electrical circuit that has an unstable state and a stable state which it settles into after a random period of time;
- and
- a counter that determines the time that it takes for the electrical circuit to settle into the stable state wherein the settle time corresponds to a random seed for generating a random number.
A random seed generation method, comprising:
- providing an electrical circuit that has an unstable state and a stable state which it settles into after a random period of time;
- and
- counting the random time that it takes for the electrical circuit to settle into the stable state wherein the settle time corresponds to a random seed for generating a random number.
A computer system that generates a random number, comprising:
- a phase locked loop circuit that has an unstable state and a stable state that it enters after some random period of time;
- a counter for determining the period of time for the phase locked loop to settle into the stable state, the settle time corresponding to a random seed;
- and
- a generator for applying the random seed to a random number generator in order to generate a random number.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.