Systems and methods for providing and detecting thermal energy patterns in electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10176316-B2
Application number	US-201615067909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2016
Priority date	Mar 11, 2016
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for verifying an authenticity of an electronic device are disclosed. An apparatus includes one or more heat generating components coupled to an electronic device and arranged in a particular configuration such that, when selectively activated, the one or more heat generating components emit thermal radiation in a specific heat pattern that corresponds to the particular configuration and the selective activation. The specific heat pattern is readable by a thermal reading device to obtain information regarding the apparatus.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
one or more heat generating components coupled to an electronic device and arranged in a particular configuration such that, when selectively activated, the one or more heat generating components emit thermal radiation in a specific heat pattern that corresponds to the particular configuration and the selective activation, wherein the specific heat pattern is encoded with information regarding the apparatus such that a code generated by the specific heat pattern is readable by a thermal reading device to obtain the information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising the electronic device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the electronic device is a semiconductor device, an integrated circuit, one or more electronic circuits, or a system on a chip.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more heat generating components comprise one or more of a diode, a transistor, an integrated circuit, an optoelectronic device, a resistive heater, a vacuum tube, a discharge tube, a power source, a resistor, a capacitor, an inductive device, a transducer, an antenna, and an electromechanical device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more heat generating components are selectively activated when the electronic device is powered on.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more heat generating components are integrated with the electronic device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more heat generating components are disposed on a surface of the electronic device.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more heat generating components are located within a recess of the electronic device.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selective activation selects a portion of the one or more heat generating components to emit the thermal radiation in the heat pattern.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the selected portion is selected based on a computer-generated key at a particular period of time.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the heat pattern is a symbology.

12. A method of obtaining information regarding an electronic device, the method comprising:
activating one or more heat generating components coupled to the electronic device, wherein the one or more heat generating components are arranged in a particular configuration;
placing a thermal reading device adjacent to the one or more heat generating components, wherein the thermal reading device determines a heat pattern that corresponds to the particular configuration, and wherein the heat pattern is encoded with the information regarding the electronic device; and
obtaining the information from the heat pattern.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein obtaining the information comprises determining that the electronic device is authentic when the heat pattern matches an expected pattern.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein obtaining the information comprises determining that the electronic device is not authentic when the heat pattern does not match a reference pattern.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein activating the one or more heat generating components comprises powering on the electronic device.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein placing the thermal reading device comprises inserting a probe tip of the thermal reading device within a recess of the electronic device such that the probe tip reads the heat pattern on one or more surfaces of the recess.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining a selected portion of the one or more heat generating components that contains the particular configuration,
wherein placing the thermal reading device comprises placing the thermal reading device adjacent to the selected portion.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the expected pattern is based on at least one of the selected portion and a computer-generated key at a particular period of time.

19. A system for verifying an authenticity of an electronic device, the system comprising:
the electronic device;
one or more heat generating components coupled to the electronic device and arranged in a particular configuration, the one or more heat generating components configured to activate and emit thermal radiation in a heat pattern that corresponds to the particular configuration when the electronic device is powered on; and
a thermal reading device,
wherein the heat pattern is encoded with information regarding the electronic device such that a code generated by the specific heat pattern is readable by the thermal reading device to obtain the information when the thermal reading device is placed adjacent to the one or more heat generating components.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the one or more heat generating components are located within a recess of the electronic device.

Assignees

• Toyota Eng & Mfg North America

Inventors

• Dede Ercan M
• Schmalenberg Paul

Classifications

• G06F21/44 Primary

  Program or device authentication · CPC title

• G09C1/00

  Apparatus or methods whereby a given sequence of signs, e.g. an intelligible text, is transformed into an unintelligible sequence of signs by transposing the signs or groups of signs or by replacing them by others according to a predetermined system (cryptographic typewriters G09C3/00) · CPC title

• G06F21/73

  by creating or determining hardware identification, e.g. serial numbers · CPC title

• G06F2221/2103

  Challenge-response · CPC title