Collection of uncorrelated entropy during a power down sequence
US11017098B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 28, 2018 |
| Grant date | May 25, 2021 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 6, 2039 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L9/0894
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Apparatus and method for managing entropy in a cryptographic processing system, such as but not limited to a solid-state drive (SSD). In some embodiments, a processing device is operated to transfer data between a host device and a non-volatile memory (NVM). In response to the detection of a power down event associated with the processing device, entropy associated with the power down event is collected and stored in a memory. Upon a subsequent reinitialization of the processing device, the entropy is conditioned and used as an input to a cryptographic function to subsequently transfer data between the host device and the NVM. In some embodiments, the entropy is obtained from the state of a hardware timer that provides a monotonically increasing count for timing control. In other embodiments, the entropy is obtained from a RAID buffer used to store data to a die set of the NVM.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.