US 11,870,444 B1
Entropy source circuit
Chun-Heng You, Hsinchu County (TW); Kai-Hsin Chuang, Hsinchu County (TW); and Chi-Yi Shao, Hsinchu County (TW)
Assigned to PUFsecurity Corporation, Hsinchu County (TW)
Filed by PUFsecurity Corporation, Hsinchu County (TW)
Filed on Jan. 17, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/097,502.
Claims priority of application No. 111129255 (TW), filed on Aug. 4, 2022.
Int. Cl. H03K 3/84 (2006.01); G04F 10/00 (2006.01); H03K 19/21 (2006.01); H03K 3/037 (2006.01)
CPC H03K 3/84 (2013.01) [G04F 10/005 (2013.01); H03K 3/037 (2013.01); H03K 19/21 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An entropy source circuit, comprising:
a digital circuit, configured to generate a result data at a second time point according to an input data received at a first time point;
a determination circuit, coupled to the digital circuit, configured to perform determination on reference data with a dynamic output generated by the digital circuit, in order to generate a determination signal, wherein the reference data is equal to the result data; and
a time-to-digital converter (TDC), coupled to the determination circuit, configured to perform time-to-digital conversion on a delay of the digital circuit for generating the result data according to the input data with aid of the determination signal, in order to generate entropy data corresponding to the delay, wherein a time difference between the first time point and the second time point represents the delay.