Patent attributes
An electronic device takes the form of a programmable logic device, including logic resources whose functions and interconnections are dependent on the configuration information applied to the device. Each such electronic device is provided with a unique identifier. In order to implement a design of an electronic circuit on an electronic device, the configuration information that is required to cause the device to perform its desired function is encrypted before being applied to the device, and is decrypted on the device itself. The encryption process, and hence the required decryption, are based on the identifier, and hence are effectively unique to the particular device, so that the intended design can be implemented only by means of configuration information that is related to the unique identifier, and the configuration information cannot be applied to other devices to make unauthorized configured devices.
