Semiconductor device including a unique identifier and error correction code
View Patent ↗A semiconductor device includes a plurality of laser fuses and each laser fuse represents a bit of data. A first set of the plurality of laser fuses represents a unique identifier that corresponds to the semiconductor device. Also, a second set of the plurality of laser fuses represents error correction coding data that corresponds to the unique identifier. The unique identifier can be a digital rights management identification. Also, the error correction coding data is configured for use by a Reed-Solomon error correcting method to correct the unique identifier. Alternatively, the error correction coding data is configured for use by a cyclic redundancy check method.
1. A semiconductor device comprising:
plurality of laser fuses, each laser fuse representing a bit of data;
wherein a first set of the plurality of laser fuses represents a unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device;
wherein a second set of the plurality of laser fuses represents error correction coding data comprising a representation of the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device, the error correction coding data being sufficient to correct multiple errors in the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device;
wherein a corrected digital rights management (DRM) identification for accessing a digital file that requires DRM identification is determined based on the unique identifier and the error correction coding data; and
wherein the corrected DRM identification includes information to verify that the semiconductor device is authorized to access the digital file that requires DRM identification.
2. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of laser fuses includes no more than 512 laser fuses.
3. The semiconductor device of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of laser fuses includes no more than 384 laser fuses.
4. The semiconductor device of claim 3 , wherein the first set of laser fuses comprises up to 64 laser fuses that represent the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device.
5. The semiconductor device of claim 4 , wherein the second set of laser fuses comprises up to 64 laser fuses that represent the error correction coding data.
6. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the access to the digital file includes at least one of receiving, decoding, and broadcasting the digital file.
7. The semiconductor device of claim 6 , wherein the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device further includes manufacturing information.
8. The semiconductor device of claim 7 , wherein the manufacturing information includes at least one of the following: a lot code, a wafer number, and a die position.
9. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the error correction coding data is configured for use by a Reed-Solomon error correcting method to correct the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device.
10. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the error correction coding data is configured for use by a cyclic redundancy check method.
11. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , further comprising an analog-to-digital converter coupled to an analog source.
12. The semiconductor device of claim 11 , further comprising a digital-to-analog converter coupled to the analog-to-digital converter.
13. The semiconductor device of claim 12 , further comprising a universal serial bus driver coupled to a universal serial bus port.
14. The semiconductor device of claim 13 , further comprising an amplifier coupled to the digital-to-analog converter.
15. The semiconductor device of claim 14 , further comprising a direct current-to-direct current converter coupled to a secondary battery, the secondary battery providing power to the analog-to-digital converter, the digital-to-analog converter, the amplifier, the universal serial bus driver, and the universal serial bus port.
16. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the second set of laser fuses includes more laser fuses than the first set of laser fuses.
17. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device includes a digital rights management identifier.
18. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a processor and a memory, wherein the processor and the memory are used to determine the DRM identification.
19. A method of evaluating a unique identifier corresponding to a semiconductor device from the semiconductor device, the method comprising:
reading the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device from the semiconductor device, wherein the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device is represented by a first plurality of laser fuses within the semiconductor device, the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device including information to verify that the semiconductor device is authorized to access a digital file;
reading error correction coding data from the semiconductor device, wherein the error correction coding data comprises a representation of the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device, the error correction coding data is sufficient to correct multiple errors in the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device, and the error correction coding data is represented by a second plurality of laser fuses within the semiconductor device;
determining a corrected digital rights management (DRM) identification based on the unique identifier and the error correction coding data;
determining an authenticity of the corrected DRM identification; and
accessing the digital file when the corrected DRM identification is authentic.
20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
performing an error correction method for the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device using the error correction data.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the error correction method is the Reed-Solomon error correction method.
22. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
prohibiting access to the digital file when the DRM identification is not authentic.
23. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
allowing access to a second digital file that does not require DRM identification.
24. The method of claim 19 , wherein accessing the digital file comprises receiving the digital file.
25. The method of claim 19 , wherein accessing the digital file comprises decoding the digital file.
26. The method of claim 19 , wherein accessing the digital file comprises broadcasting the digital file.
27. An audio system, comprising:
a semiconductor device including an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter coupled to the analog-to-digital converter, an amplifier coupled to the digital-to-analog converter, and a laser fuse bank within the semiconductor device, the laser fuse bank comprising:
a plurality of laser fuses, each laser fuse representing a bit of data;
wherein a first set of the plurality of laser fuses represents a unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device, the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device including information to verify that the audio system is authorized to access a digital file; and
wherein a second set of the plurality of laser fuses represents error correction coding data comprising a representation of the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device, the error correction coding being sufficient to correct multiple errors in the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device; and
wherein a corrected digital rights management (DRM) identification based on the unique identifier and the error correction coding data is determined and used to access the digital file when access to the digital file requires DRM identification.
28. The audio system of claim 27 , wherein the plurality of laser fuses includes no more than 512 laser fuses.
29. The audio system of claim 28 , wherein the plurality of laser fuses includes no more than 384 laser fuses.
30. The audio system of claim 29 , wherein the first set of laser fuses comprises up to 64 laser fuses.
31. The audio system of claim 30 , wherein the second set of laser fuses comprises up to 64 laser fuses.
32. The audio system of claim 27 , wherein the access to the digital file includes broadcasting the digital file.
33. The audio system of claim 27 , wherein the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device includes manufacturing information.
34. The audio system of claim 33 , wherein the manufacturing information includes at least one of the following: a lot code, a wafer number, and a die position.
35. The audio system of claim 27 , further comprising a secondary battery coupled to the semiconductor device.
36. The audio system of claim 35 , further comprising a battery recharge module coupled to the secondary battery.
37. The audio system of claim 36 , further comprising a battery level check module coupled to the secondary battery.
38. The audio system of claim 27 , wherein the system can receive and decode an audio file when the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device is authenticated.
39. The audio system of claim 27 , further comprising a microphone coupled to the analog-to-digital converter.
40. The audio system of claim 27 , further comprising a frequency modulation tuner coupled to the analog-to-digital converter.
41. The audio system of claim 27 , further comprising a hard drive coupled to the semiconductor device.
42. The audio system of claim 27 , further comprising a flash memory coupled to the semiconductor device.
43. The audio system of claim 27 , further comprising a random access memory device coupled to the semiconductor device.
44. A method of using a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
retrieving a plurality of laser fuse settings at a processor coupled to a laser;
selectively energizing the laser in order to ablate a first group of a plurality of laser fuses on the semiconductor device in order to program a unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device, the first group of the plurality of laser fuses determined based on the plurality of laser fuse settings;
computing error correction coding data comprising a representation of the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device, the error correction coding being sufficient to correct multiple errors in the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device;
selectively energizing the laser in order to ablate a second group of the plurality of laser fuses on the semiconductor device in order to program the error correction coding data; and
wherein the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device and the error correction coding data are used to determine a corrected digital rights management identification used to verify that the semiconductor device is authorized to access a digital file when access to the digital file requires digital rights management identification.
45. The method of claim 44 , wherein the semiconductor device comprises a wafer having a plurality of semiconductor dies and each semiconductor die includes laser fuses that represent the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device and that represent the error correction coding data corresponding to the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device.
46. The method of claim 45 , further comprising:
selectively energizing the laser in order to ablate a third group of the plurality of laser fuses on the semiconductor device.
47. A system, comprising:
a semiconductor device including a laser fuse bank, the laser fuse bank comprising:
a plurality of laser fuses, each laser fuse representing a bit of data;
wherein a first set of the plurality of laser fuses represents a unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device, the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device including information to verify that the system is authorized to access a digital file;
wherein a second set of the plurality of laser fuses represents error correction coding data comprising a representation of the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device, the error coding data being sufficient to correct multiple errors in the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device; and
wherein a corrected digital rights management (DRM) identification based on the unique identifier and the error correction coding data is determined and used to access the digital file when access to the digital file requires DRM identification.
48. The system of claim 47 , wherein the plurality of laser fuses includes no more than 512 laser fuses.
49. The system of claim 48 , wherein the plurality of laser fuses includes no more than 384 laser fuses.
50. The system of claim 49 , wherein the first set of laser fuses comprises up to 64 laser fuses.
51. The system of claim 50 , wherein the second set of laser fuses comprises up to 64 laser fuses.
52. The system of claim 47 , wherein the access to the digital file includes at least one of receiving, decoding, and broadcasting the digital file.
53. The system of claim 47 , wherein the unique identifier corresponding to the semiconductor device includes manufacturing information.
54. The system of claim 53 , wherein the manufacturing information includes at least one of the following: a lot code, a wafer number, and a die position.