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:
Apr. 03, 2007
Filed:
Nov. 09, 2000
Joseph Wayne Freeman, Raleigh, NC (US);
Randall Scott Springfield, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Steven Dale Goodman, Raleigh, NC (US);
Isaac Karpel, Cary, NC (US);
Joseph Wayne Freeman, Raleigh, NC (US);
Randall Scott Springfield, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Steven Dale Goodman, Raleigh, NC (US);
Isaac Karpel, Cary, NC (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
During power up initialization, security data such as passwords and other sensitive data which are stored in a lockable memory device are read and copied to protected system management interrupt (SMI) memory space, subject to verification by code running in the SMI memory space that the call to write the security data originates with a trusted entity. Once copied to SMI memory space, the security data is erased from regular system memory and the lockable storage device is hard locked (requiring a reset to unlock) against direct access prior to starting the operating system. The copy of the security data within the SMI memory space is invisible to the operating system. However, the operating system may initiate a call to code running in the SMI memory space to check a password entered by the user, with the SMI code returning a 'match' or 'no match' indication. The security data may thus be employed after the lockable memory device is hard locked and the operating system is started.