Patent · US Active

Method and apparatus for securely saving and restoring the state of a computing platform

US9407636B2 · kind B2 · utility

11Cited by
7References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 19, 2014
Grant dateAug 2, 2016
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 19, 2034

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L63/0876
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An apparatus and method for securely suspending and resuming the state of a processor. For example, one embodiment of a method comprises: generating a data structure including at least the monotonic counter value; generating a message authentication code (MAC) over the data structure using a first key; securely providing the data structure and the MAC to a module executed on the processor; the module verifying the MAC, comparing the monotonic counter value with a counter value stored during a previous suspend operation and, if the counter values match, then loading processor state required for the resume operation to complete. Another embodiment of a method comprises: generating a first key by a processor; securely sharing the first key with an off-processor component; and using the first key to generate a pairing ID usable to identify a pairing between the processor and the off-processor component.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.