The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 03, 1986
Filed:
Dec. 21, 1984
Theodoor A Kleijne, ZA Dreumel, NL;
NCR Corporation, Dayton, OH (US);
Abstract
A device is disclosed for securely housing and protecting microelectronic circuitry in order to prevent external access to sensitive data stored therein. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the device includes a ceramic housing which encases electronic circuitry. The ceramic housing is comprised of a plurality of individual parts selectively connected together, with each of the parts being comprised of a ceramic substrate and a plurality of ceramic layers disposed thereon. The electronic circuitry includes a memory for storing sensitive data therein and a tamper detection circuit. The tamper detection circuit includes a conductive path selectively provided through the plurality of ceramic layers of each of the plurality of individual parts and is responsive to any attempt to penetrate the ceramic housing which damages the conductive path for clearing the memory of any sensitive data stored therein. The tamper detection circuit further includes a low temperature sensing circuit which is responsive to a decrease in temperature in the ceramic housing below a preselected reference temperature for causing the tamper detection circuit to also clear the memory of any sensitive data stored therein.