Nxp B.v.

Lutz Pape

Nikita Veshchikov

Tobias Richard Erich Nink

A method is provided for detecting tampering of a printed circuit board (PCB) using a tamper detection circuit implemented in an integrated circuit (IC) mounted on the PCB. In the method, a reference signal is generated and provided to a terminal of the IC. The terminal is connected to another circuit mounted on the PCB. A first response signal is received in response to the reference signal at the terminal. One or more characteristics of the first response signal are stored in a memory. The reference signal is again provided to the terminal of the integrated circuit and a second response signal is received at the terminal. The stored characteristics of the first response signal are compared to corresponding characteristics of the second response signal to generate a comparison result. The comparison result is used to detect tampering. When tampering is detected, an indication is provided.

Integrated circuit and method for detecting tampering of a printed circuit board

In order to further develop a method of and a system () for controlling the programming of, in particular the erase/write access to, a memory device () comprising multiple memory cells (), said memory cells () being exposed to wear resulting from repeated programming, in such way that an increased lifetime of the memory device (), in particular on an integrated circuit, is provided even under exceptional stress of the memory device (), it is proposed to provide&#x2014;at least one quality measuring/determining means () being assigned to each memory cell () in order to measure and/or to determine the quality of the respective memory cell (), in particular in order to measure and/or to determine the prospective endurance specified according to a number of change cycles which the respective memory cell () can endure within a performance tolerance, and&#x2014;at least one control means (), in particular by at least one access load distributor, &#x2014;being coupled to each quality measuring/determining means (), and&#x2014;deciding depending on the measured and/or determined quality of the memory cells (), which one is selected for programming.

Growing community of inventors

Pinneberg, Germany

Lutz Pape