Changing chip function based on fuse states
View Patent ↗Techniques and systems whereby operation of and/or access to particular features of an electronic device may be controlled after the device has left the control of the manufacturer are provided. The operation and/or access may be provided based on values stored in non-volatile storage elements, such as electrically programmable fuses (eFUSES).
1. A method for controlling access to specific modules of an integrated circuit device, comprising:
setting a device state for the integrated circuit device in an electrically programmable fuse bank comprising a plurality of electrically programmable fuses, wherein setting a device state comprises blowing a sequence of electrically programmable fuses in the electrically programmable fuse bank to generate a unique device state identifier that is used by a controller to regulate access to the at least one chip register via a communication interface;
reading the device state from the electrically programmable fuse bank with the device controller; and
disabling modules of the integrated circuit device in accordance with the device state read by the device controller, wherein disabling modules comprises placing the device in a dead device state by at least one of turning off a clock signal to a module, disabling a multiplexer select associated with a module, or disabling an I/O line of the module.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein reading the device state comprises reading the unique device state identifier upon startup of the device and configuring the device in accordance with the unique device state identifier.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unique device state comprises at least one of a test state, a shipped state, and a functional state.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the test state comprises a device configuration wherein selected device registers containing proprietary information are allow completely accessible through the interface.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the shipped state comprises a device configuration wherein selected device registers containing proprietary information are not accessible through the interface.
6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the functional state comprises a device configuration where all registers not intended to be accessible to an end user of the device are not accessible through the interface.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein disabling modules comprises rendering the modules inaccessible to external components.
8. A method for controlling access to chip registers throughout the life of the chip, comprising:
setting a device state into a bank of electrically programmable fuses on the chip;
reading the device state on startup of the chip; and
configuring access to registers of the chip in accordance with the read device state during the chip initialization process, wherein configuring access to registers comprises enabling, disabling, or partially disabling read access to registers.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein setting the device state comprises blowing a sequence of electrically programmable fuses in a bank of electrically programmable fuses to create a unique device state identifier represented by the bank of electrically programmable fuses.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein reading the device state comprises reading the device state with a system controller.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein configuring access to registers is done with the system controller in accordance with the unique device state identifier.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the unique device state identifier comprises at least one of a test identifier, a shipped identifier, and a functional identifier.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the test identifier is configured to allow complete access to the device registers.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the shipped identifier is configured to allow for partially restricted access to the device registers.
15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the functional identifier is configured to restrict access to all device registers not intended to be accessible to an end user of the device.
16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the unique device state identifier may be reprogrammed at various stages of manufacturing, assembly, and shipping of the device to control access to proprietary information in the device.
17. An apparatus for controlling access to chip registers throughout the life of the chip, comprising:
a chip controller;
a chip communication interface in communication with the controller;
at least one chip register configured to store information therein; and
an electrically programmable fuse bank positioned in communication with controller, the electrically programmable fuse bank being programmable with a unique device state that is used by the controller to regulate access to the at least one chip register via the communication interface, wherein regulating access to the at least one chip register includes enabling, disabling, or partially disabling read access.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the unique device state comprises at least one of a test state, a shipped state, and a functional state.
19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the test state comprises a configuration where the at least one chip register is accessible to external devices via the communication interface.
20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the functional state comprises a configuration where information in the at least one register that is not intended to be accessible to an end user of the device is not accessible.