Anti-pirate circuit for protection against commercial integrated circuit pirates
USRE44130E1 · kind E1 · reissue
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 21, 2011 |
| Grant date | Apr 2, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 21, 2031 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC —)General
Abstract
Anti-pirate circuitry is provided for combating the theft of intellectual property contained with semiconductor integrated circuits. The anti-pirate circuit includes a unique number generator that provides a multi-bit die ID data string that is unique to the integrated circuit associated with the anti-pirate circuit. One time programmable (OTP) EPROM circuitry reads the die ID data string at wafer sort and writes the data content to nonvolatile memory. During a subsequent verification cycle, ID comparator circuitry compares the data string provided by the unique number generator to the stored contents of the nonvolatile memory. If the comparison results in a mismatch between more than a predefined number of bits, then the integrated circuit associated with the anti-pirate circuit is not enabled for operation.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.