Cryptographic Instruction Instrumentation With Exception Resume

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing cryptographic processing methods face inefficiencies due to the need for repeated checks on instrumentation counters, leading to increased overhead and latency, particularly in hash-based message authentication, which is not effectively addressed by existing methods.

Innovation Solution

A single instruction is used to perform cryptographic processing, including hash-based message authentication code processing, with integrated processor activity instrumentation, allowing for interruption and resumption at the point of an access exception, reducing the need for repeated checks on instrumentation counters.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If repeated checks on instrumentation counters are performed during cryptographic processing, then processing completeness can be verified, but overhead and latency increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprocessing completenessVSAvoidoverhead and latency

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent checks the accessibility of the instrumentation counter storage location once at the beginning of cryptographic processing, before the actual processing occurs. This preliminary check ensures that if the counter is inaccessible, the processing can be interrupted and restarted when access is available, avoiding repeated checks during processing and reducing overall overhead and latency while maintaining processing completeness

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Measurement precision

If instrumentation counters are continuously monitored, then cryptographic function usage can be accurately tracked, but processing efficiency decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecryptographic function usage trackingVSAvoidprocessing efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the instrumentation counter accessibility check from the main cryptographic processing flow and performs it separately at the beginning. This separation allows the cryptographic processing to proceed without continuous monitoring interruptions, maintaining both accurate tracking capability and processing efficiency

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

By performing the counter accessibility check once at the beginning rather than continuously during processing, the patent enables the cryptographic processing to continue uninterrupted, maintaining continuous useful action while still ensuring accurate tracking of cryptographic function usage through the initial validation

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

Data Source

PatentUS20260005868A1Processor activity instrumentation processing for cryptographic instructions

Publication Date: 2026.01.01 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION

AI summary

An instruction to perform cryptographic processing is executed. Executing the instruction includes performing a plurality of operations to generate a cryptographic result. Based on performing at least multiple operations of the plurality of operations, an access exception condition for a storage location used by an instrumentation counter is detected. Based on detecting the access exception condition, execution of the instruction is interrupted. The instruction is re-executed to obtain access to the instrumentation counter. The re-executing the instruction starts from where execution was interrupted and includes updating the instrumentation counter, based on the storage location used for the instrumentation counter being validated.