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. 01, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 22, 2002
Aleksandr Figotin, Irvine, CA (US);
Ilya Vitebskiy, Irvine, CA (US);
Vadim Popovich, Fresh Meadows, NY (US);
Gennady Stetsenko, Marrietta, GA (US);
Stanislav Molchanov, Matthews, NC (US);
Alexander Gordon, Weddington, NC (US);
Joseph Quinn, Charlotte, NC (US);
Nicholas Stavrakas, Charlotte, NC (US);
Other;
Abstract
The present invention is an apparatus and a method for generation of random numbers. The apparatus comprises an alpha-radiation source, such as Am 241, for which the decay product produces no secondary radiation with the energy equal or higher than that of the prime alpha radiation. The alpha particles emitted by the isotope and having reached the detector have a narrow energy spectrum and, hence, produce identical electrical pulses in a detector. An alpha-particle detection system is provided which includes a differential discriminator in combination with a logical selector. This combination of elements allows a positive identification of individual events of alpha-decay in the alpha-radiation source to be made and filters out any other signals produced by different radiation sources both inside and outside the apparatus. An electronic unit processes the stream of identical electric pulses into a stream of random numbers. The digital output of the physical random number generator will be completely free of correlations usually present in the output of other physical sources of random numbers and associated with: a) the physical source of randomness; b) the electronic circuitry; and c) outside and inside electromagnetic and other interference.