Device Authenticity Verification Using PUF-Based Secret Information Reconstruction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing authentication protocols fail to verify the authenticity of entire built-in devices, allowing counterfeit products or tampered components to go undetected, as they only authenticate individual LSIs and not the entire device or its internal configuration.
Innovation Solution
A device authenticity determination system and method using printed information visible on the device's exterior, which includes a semiconductor chip with PUF and encryption functions, reconstructs secret information from auxiliary data to compare with information printed on the casing, detecting tampering by mismatch.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If authentication is performed only on individual LSI components, then the authentication process is simple and fast, but the entire device authenticity cannot be verified allowing counterfeit products to go undetected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements nested authentication by placing an LSI authentication system within a broader device-level authentication framework. The LSI chip contains PUF-based authentication, while the device casing contains printed information that references and validates the LSI authentication results, creating a nested verification structure where the device authenticity depends on both the component-level and system-level checks working together
2Ease of manufacture
If the same LSI is used across different device models for cost reduction, then manufacturing cost decreases, but the ability to detect illicit modifications between models is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the printed information on the device casing model-specific while allowing the LSI component to remain generic. The printed information contains model-identifying characteristics that are locally adapted to each device model, enabling the system to verify not just component authenticity but also proper model configuration and prevent illicit cross-model modifications
3Reliability
If PUF function is used to generate secret information, then security against copying is improved, but the system cannot detect tampering with printed information on the device exterior
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by creating a verification loop where the PUF-generated secret information is used to authenticate the LSI, and the printed information on the device casing provides feedback about the expected LSI authentication results. The system compares the actual LSI authentication outcome against the expectations encoded in the printed information, enabling detection of tampering at both the component and device levels
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided is a system for using printed information (103), which is viewable from an exterior of a device (101) or a component, the device and the component having mounted thereon a semiconductor chip (102) having a PUF function and an encryption function, and includes auxiliary data, for generating secret information being difficult to duplicate with use of the PUF function, and the secret information, the system comprising a control terminal (108) for reading the printed information, which is viewable, and transmitting the printed information to the semiconductor chip through electronic access means, in which the semiconductor chip further has a tampering determination function of temporarily reconstructing, through the encryption function and the PUF function, the secret information being difficult to duplicate with use of the auxiliary data included in the printed information acquired from the control terminal, performing comparison processing between the secret information included in the printed information and the temporarily-reconstructed secret information being difficult to duplicate, and determining that tampering has occurred when detecting a mismatch between the secret information included in the printed information and the temporarily-reconstructed secret information being difficult to duplicate.