Monitoring Redundant Components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016162383-A1
Application number	US-201414906383-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 18, 2014
Priority date	Jul 23, 2013
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A device for monitoring a component has at least one processor core and a further processor core. The device further includes a determining unit configured to determine a profile of the processor core, the profile being influenced by an input signal applied to the processor core, and to determine a further profile of the further processor core, the further profile being influenced by a further input signal applied to the further processor core. The device further includes a comparison unit configured to compare the profile and the further profile and to generate a fault signal, if a comparison result of a comparison carried out by the comparison unit indicates defective similarity of the profile to the further profile.

First claim

1 . A method for monitoring a component, the method comprising:
applying an input signal to a processor core of the component; applying a further input signal to a further processor core; determining a profile of the processor core influenced by the application of the input signal to the processor core; determining a further profile of the further processor core influenced by the application of the further input signal to the further processor core; comparing the profile and the further profile, wherein an insufficient similarity between the profile and the further profile is interpreted as an indication of a malfunction of the component.

2 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a sufficient similarity between the profile and the further profile is interpreted as an indication of a fault-free operation of the component.

3 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the profile and the further profile in each case comprise or are a variation with time in a power input or in each case a variation with time in a current consumption of the respective processor core.

4 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the comparison of the profile and the further profile is performed by a determination of a cross-correlation of the profile and the further profile by a different feature extraction.

5 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the insufficient similarity between the profile and the further profile is determined by of a threshold value.

6 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a time shift between the profile and the further profile is determined, and wherein the insufficient similarity indicates that a time shift threshold value is exceeded by the determined time shift.

7 . The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the time shift between the profile and the further profile is reduced by an adjustment of a clock of the processor core, a clock of the further processor core, or the clock of the processor core and the clock of the further processor core.

8 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, in the case of the insufficient similarity between the profile and the further profile, one or more of the following is carried out:
an alarm signal is output; a restart of the component is carried out; the component and/or a system monitored by the component is switched to an intrinsically safe state, a restricted operating mode, or the intrinsically safe state, a restricted operating mode; additional checks are carried out; or a cryptographic key is deleted, invalidated or updated.

9 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the component comprises the further processor core.

10 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processor core and the further processor core are operated redundantly.

11 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the determining of the profile and the determining of the further profile is performed by the component.

12 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the input signal and the further input signal are identical.

13 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the input signal and the further input signal are coded differently.

14 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the input signal and the further input signal are applied simultaneously to the processor core or to the further processor core.

15 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the input signal and the further input signal are applied with a time shift to the processor core or to the further processor core.

16 . A device for monitoring a component, the device comprising:
the component to be monitored, the component comprising at least one processor core; a further processor core; a determination unit configured to determine a profile of the processor core influenced by an input signal applied to the processor core and a further profile of the further processor core influenced by a further input signal applied to the further processor core; a comparison unit configured to compare the profile and the further profile and to generate a fault signal when a comparison result of a comparison carried out by the comparison unit is an insufficient similarity between the profile and the further profile.

17 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the comparison unit is configured to generate no fault signal when a comparison result of the comparison carried out by the comparison unit is a sufficient similarity between the profile and the further profile.

18 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the determination unit comprises a current-measuring unit or a power-measuring unit for the processor core, the further processor core, or the processor core and the further processor core.

19 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the comparison unit is designed to carry out the comparison by a determination of a cross-correlation of the profile and the further profile or by a different feature extraction, such as, for example, by a comparison of the mean values and/or the peak values and/or the frequency spectrum of the profile and the further profile.

20 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the comparison unit is configured to establish the insufficient similarity of the profile and the further profile by a threshold value.

21 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the comparison unit is configured to determine a time shift between the profile and the further profile, and wherein the insufficient similarity indicates that a time shift threshold value is exceeded by the determined time shift.

22 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , comprising an adjustment configured to reduce the time shift of the clocks of the processor core, the further processor core, or the processor core and the further processor core.

23 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the device is configured, in the case of an insufficient similarity between the profile and the further profile, for one or more of the following:
to output an alarm signal; to perform a restart of the component; to switch the component and/or a system monitored by the component to an intrinsically safe state, a restricted operating mode, or the intrinsically safe state and the restricted operating mode; or to delete, invalidate, or update a cryptographic key.

24 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the component comprises the further processor core.

25 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , comprising a further component that comprises the further processor core.

26 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the processor core and the further processor core are redundantly operable.

27 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the component comprises the determination unit or an additional determination component comprises the determination unit.

28 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the input signal and the further input signal are identical.

29 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the input signal and the further input signal are coded differently.

30 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the input signal and the further input signal are applicable simultaneously to the processor core or to the further processor core.

31 . The device as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the input signal and t

Assignees

• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Blöcher Uwe
• Busser Jens-Uwe
• Falk Rainer
• Fusenig Volker

Classifications

• G06F11/3058

  Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations (thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206) · CPC title

• G06F11/3409

  for performance assessment · CPC title

• G06F11/3024

  where the computing system component is a central processing unit [CPU] · CPC title

• G06F21/755

  with measures against power attack · CPC title

• G06F11/1641

  where the comparison is not performed by the redundant processing components · CPC title