US Patent 11562079 System-on-chip and method for operating a system-on-chip

In different example embodiments, a system-on-chip is provided. The system-on-chip can have a control circuit with a plurality of control circuit areas, wherein the control circuit is configured to control a device, a security circuit which has a separately secured key memory and a hardware accelerator for cryptographic operations, wherein the security circuit is configured to electively enable either a read-only access or a read and write access to at least one of the control circuit areas, wherein the security circuit is furthermore configured to provide a communication path by means of the key memory and the hardware accelerator for the secured communication with a diagnostic system disposed outside the security circuit, to make the selection between the read access and the read and write access to the at least one selected area of the control circuit depending on a certificate supplied to the security circuit and authenticated by means of information stored in the key memory, and to execute the read access or the read and write access.