Method and system of secure random seed generation for a cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10402169-B2
Application number	US-201715648234-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2017
Priority date	Jul 12, 2017
Publication date	Sep 3, 2019
Grant date	Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

A method and system for generating a secure random seed uses chemical processes in a battery of an information handling system as an entropy source for randomness. The secure random seed may be used by a pseudo-random number generator to create a secure pseudorandom bit stream usable to generate secure encryption keys.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information handling system, comprising:
a main processor;
a battery;
an embedded controller (EC) further comprising an EC processor; and
memory media accessible to the EC processor and storing instructions executable by the EC processor for:
determining a first cell voltage of the battery as a 16-bit value;
determining a second cell voltage of the battery as a 16-bit value;
concatenating the first cell voltage and the second cell voltage to obtain a cell voltage value as a 32-bit value;
determining a remaining battery capacity of the battery as a 16-bit value;
determining a battery voltage of the battery as a 16-bit value;
determining a relative state of charge (SOC) of the battery as a 32-bit value;
determining an absolute SOC of the battery as a 32-bit value;
performing an exclusive or (XOR) of the cell voltage value with the remaining battery capacity to generate a first value as a 32-bit value;
performing an XOR of the first value with the battery voltage to generate a second value as a 32-bit value;
performing an XOR of the relative SOC left-shifted by one bit with the absolute SOC to generate a third value as a 32-bit value;
shifting the third value to most significant bits of a 64-bit value to generate a fourth value; and
performing an XOR of the fourth value with the second value to generate a 64-bit secure random seed, wherein an entropy source for the secure random seed includes the battery.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein determining the first cell voltage further comprises:
obtaining a cell voltage in Volts from a measurement of the first cell; and
using least significant 16-bits of the cell voltage as the first cell voltage.

3. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein determining the second cell voltage further comprises:
obtaining a cell voltage in Volts from a measurement of the second cell; and
using least significant 16-bits of the cell voltage as the second cell voltage.

4. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein determining the remaining battery capacity further comprises:
obtaining a remaining battery capacity value in milliwatt hours from a measurement of the battery; and
using least significant 16-bits of the remaining battery capacity value as the remaining battery capacity.

5. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein determining the battery voltage further comprises:
obtaining a battery voltage value in Volts from a measurement of the battery; and
using least significant 16-bits of the battery voltage value as the battery voltage.

6. A method for secure communication, the method comprising:
determining a first cell voltage of a battery of an information handling system as a 16-bit value;
determining a second cell voltage of the battery as a 16-bit value;
concatenating the first cell voltage and the second cell voltage to obtain a cell voltage value as a 32-bit value;
determining a remaining battery capacity of the battery as a 16-bit value;
determining a battery voltage of the battery as a 16-bit value;
determining a relative state of charge (SOC) of the battery as a 32-bit value;
determining an absolute SOC of the battery as a 32-bit value;
performing an exclusive or (XOR) of the cell voltage value with the remaining battery capacity to generate a first value as a 32-bit value;
performing an XOR of the first value with the battery voltage to generate a second value as a 32-bit value;
performing an XOR of the relative SOC left-shifted by one bit with the absolute SOC to generate a third value as a 32-bit value;
shifting the third value to most significant bits of a 64-bit value to generate a fourth value;
performing an XOR of the fourth value with the second value to generate a 64-bit secure random seed, wherein an entropy source for the secure random seed includes the battery;
inputting the secure random seed to a pseudo-random number generator to generate a 64-bit pseudorandom bit stream;
generating an encryption key using the 64-bit pseudo-random bit stream as an input; and
using the encryption key to encrypt a network communication sent by the information handling system.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the first cell voltage further comprises:
obtaining a cell voltage in Volts from a measurement of the first cell; and
using least significant 16-bits of the cell voltage as the first cell voltage.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the second cell voltage further comprises:
obtaining a cell voltage in Volts from a measurement of the second cell; and
using least significant 16-bits of the cell voltage as the second cell voltage.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the remaining battery capacity further comprises:
obtaining a remaining battery capacity value in milliwatt hours from a measurement of the battery; and
using least significant 16-bits of the remaining battery capacity value as the remaining battery capacity.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the battery voltage further comprises:
obtaining a battery voltage value in Volts from a measurement of the battery; and
using least significant 16-bits of the battery voltage value as the battery voltage.

11. Non-transitory computer readable memory media storing instructions executable by a processor for:
determining a first cell voltage of a battery of an information handling system as a 16-bit value;
determining a second cell voltage of the battery as a 16-bit value;
concatenating the first cell voltage and the second cell voltage to obtain a cell voltage value as a 32-bit value;
determining a remaining battery capacity of the battery as a 16-bit value;
determining a battery voltage of the battery as a 16-bit value;
determining a relative state of charge (SOC) of the battery as a 32-bit value;
determining an absolute SOC of the battery as a 32-bit value;
performing an exclusive or (XOR) of the cell voltage value with the remaining battery capacity to generate a first value as a 32-bit value;
performing an XOR of the first value with the battery voltage to generate a second value as a 32-bit value;
performing an XOR of the relative SOC left-shifted by one bit with the absolute SOC to generate a third value as a 32-bit value;
shifting the third value to most significant bits of a 64-bit value to generate a fourth value; and
performing an XOR of the fourth value with the second value to generate a 64-bit secure random seed, wherein an entropy source for the secure random seed includes the battery.

12. The memory media of claim 1 , wherein determining the first cell voltage further comprises:
obtaining a cell voltage in Volts from a measurement of the first cell; and
using least significant 16-bits of the cell voltage as the first cell voltage.

13. The memory media of claim 11 , wherein determining the second cell voltage further comprises:
obtaining a cell voltage in Volts from a measurement of the second cell; and
using least significant 16-bits of the cell voltage as the second cell voltage.

14. The memory media of claim 11 , wherein determining the remaining battery capacity further comprises:
obtaining a remaining battery capacity value in milliwatt hours from a measurement of the battery; and
using least significant 16-bits of the remaining battery capacity value as the remaining battery capacity.

15. The memory media of claim 11 , wherein determining the battery voltage further comprises:
obtaining a battery voltage value in Volts from a measurement of the battery; and
using least signi

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Leara William D
• Thompson Richard Christopher
• Vichare Nikhil Manohar

Classifications

• H04L9/0662

  with particular pseudorandom sequence generator · CPC title

• H03K3/84 Primary

  Generating pulses having a predetermined statistical distribution of a parameter, e.g. random pulse generators · CPC title

• G06F7/588

  Random number generators, i.e. based on natural stochastic processes · CPC title

• G06F7/58 Primary

  Random or pseudo-random number generators · CPC title

• G06F7/582

  Pseudo-random number generators · CPC title