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:
Mar. 03, 2009
Filed:
Dec. 13, 2002
Adrianus Marinus Gerardus Peeters, Eindhoven, NL;
Markus Feuser, Hamburg, DE;
Adrianus Marinus Gerardus Peeters, Eindhoven, NL;
Markus Feuser, Hamburg, DE;
NXP B.V., Eindhoven, NL;
Abstract
The invention relates to a method and an arrangement for increasing the security of circuits against unauthorized access, both of which can be used in particular to improve the security of cards, and particularly smart cards, against attacks in which the differential power analysis approach (DPA) is followed. DPA is a procedure that makes it possible to obtain not only purely functional details but also internal information stored in integrated circuits (e.g. smart-card controllers). The majority of non-clocked classes of circuit have the property that the performance of the circuit adjusts automatically to the voltage available. The invention adopts a new approach to enable integrated circuits and particularly non-clocked handshake logic to be protected against DPA. Advantage is taken in this case of a special property of self-timed logic by using a special power supply. As a result the processes in the self-timed logic take place in an unpredictable way and current consumption becomes affected by severe noise and DPA cannot be successfully applied.