Secure environment for graphics processing units

US9519803B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Intel Corporation · US

Inventors

• Prashant Dewan · Hillsboro, US
• Uday Savagaonkar · Redmond, US
• David M. Durham · Beaverton, US
• Paul S. Schmitz · North Plains, US
• Jason Martin · Beaverton, US
• Michael A. Goldsmith · Lake Oswego, US
• Ravi L. Sahita · Portland, US
• Francis X. McKeen · Portland, US
• Carlos V. Rozas · Portland, US
• Balaji Vembu · Folsom, US
• Scott Janus · Rocklin, US
• Geoffrey S. Strongin · Austin, US
• Xiaozhu Kang · Fremont, US
• Karanvir S. Grewal · Hillsboro, US
• Siddhartha Chhabra · Portland, US
• Alpha T. Narendra Trivedi · Hillsboro, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Nov 30, 2012
• Grant date: Dec 13, 2016
• Expiry date: May 25, 2033

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F21/56
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

In accordance with some embodiments, a protected execution environment may be defined for a graphics processing unit. This framework not only protects the workloads from malware running on the graphics processing unit but also protects those workloads from malware running on the central processing unit. In addition, the trust framework may facilitate proof of secure execution by measuring the code and data structures used to execute the workload. If a part of the trusted computing base of this framework or protected execution environment is compromised, that part can be patched remotely and the patching can be proven remotely throughout attestation in some embodiments.