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. 29, 2016
Filed:
Jan. 20, 2012
Travis R. Hebig, Rochester, MN (US);
Joseph Kuczynski, Rochester, MN (US);
Robert E. Meyer, Iii, Rochester, MN (US);
Steven R. Nickel, Rochester, MN (US);
Travis R. Hebig, Rochester, MN (US);
Joseph Kuczynski, Rochester, MN (US);
Robert E. Meyer, III, Rochester, MN (US);
Steven R. Nickel, Rochester, MN (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A tamper resistant electronic device includes multiple eFuses that are individually blown in each instance the electronic device is tampered with. For example an eFuse is blown when the electronic device is subjected to a temperature that causes solder reflow. Since it is anticipated that the electronic device may be tampered with in an acceptable way and/or an acceptable number of instances, functionality of the electronic device is altered or disabled only after a threshold number of eFuses are blown. In certain implementations, the threshold number is the number of anticipated acceptable tamper events. Upon a tamper event an individual eFuse is blown. If the total number of blown eFuses is less than the threshold, a next eFuse is enabled so that it may be blown upon a next tamper event.