阅读说明：本技术 用于电子产品的防破解方法以及相应的电子产品 (Anti-cracking method for electronic product and corresponding electronic product ) 是由 方俊 王强 牛旭恒 于 2019-03-27 设计创作，主要内容包括：提供了用于电子产品的防破解方法以及相应的电子产品,所述电子产品中包括拆卸检测电路,所述方法包括：根据所述拆卸检测电路的状态判断所述电子产品是否被拆卸；以及在确定所述电子产品被拆卸的情况下,生成模式切换指示,该模式切换指示用于指示所述电子产品将其工作模式从第一工作模式切换到第二工作模式。(Provided are a cracking prevention method for an electronic product and a corresponding electronic product, wherein the electronic product comprises a disassembly detection circuit, and the method comprises the following steps: judging whether the electronic product is disassembled or not according to the state of the disassembly detection circuit; and under the condition that the electronic product is determined to be detached, generating a mode switching instruction, wherein the mode switching instruction is used for instructing the electronic product to switch the working mode of the electronic product from the first working mode to the second working mode.)

1. A tamper-resistant method for an electronic product including a tamper detection circuit therein, the method comprising:

judging whether the electronic product is disassembled or not according to the state of the disassembly detection circuit; and

and generating a mode switching instruction under the condition that the electronic product is determined to be disassembled, wherein the mode switching instruction is used for instructing the electronic product to switch the working mode of the electronic product from the first working mode to the second working mode.

2. The tamper-resistant method of claim 1, further comprising: upon determining that the electronic product is detached, performing a modification or self-destruction operation on at least a portion of hardware, software, and/or firmware associated with the first mode of operation without affecting execution of the second mode of operation.

3. The tamper-resistant method of claim 1, further comprising: and generating information for indicating that the electronic product is detached in the case that the electronic product is determined to be detached, and transmitting the information to the outside of the electronic product.

4. A tamper-proof method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the electronic product is an optical communication device, and wherein the information indicating that the electronic product is detached is new identification information communicated by the optical communication device through a light source thereof.

5. A tamper-proof method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the electronic product is an optical communication device.

6. A tamper-resistant method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the optical communication device has a shorter identification distance in the second mode of operation than in the first mode of operation.

7. The tamper-proof method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the optical communication device has a lower recognition accuracy or recognition efficiency in the second operation mode than in the first operation mode.

8. The tamper-resistant method of claim 5 wherein the second mode of operation differs from the first mode of operation by at least one of: frequency of the light source driving signal, phase of the light source driving signal, and information encoding method.

9. The tamper-resistant method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the generating a mode switching indication if it is determined that the electronic product is detached comprises:

in the case that the electronic product is determined to be disassembled, whether the disassembling operation is allowed or not is further judged, and if not, a mode switching instruction is generated.

10. A storage medium in which a computer program is stored which, when being executed by a processor, is operative to carry out the tamper-proof method of any one of claims 1-9.

11. An electronic product comprising a detachment detection circuit, the electronic product being configured to implement the tamper-proof method of any one of claims 1-9.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of information, in particular to an anti-cracking method for an electronic product and a corresponding electronic product.

Background

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

With the rapid development of the electronic information technology industry, the variety and manufacturers of electronic products are increasing. In order to avoid the core technology of the electronic product from being copied and copied by competitors, many manufacturers and merchants perform anti-hacking design on the electronic product produced by the manufacturers and prevent the competitors from acquiring the core technology information.

In the anti-tamper design of the existing electronic product, a detachment detection circuit is usually arranged in the electronic product, and when the detachment detection circuit detects that the electronic product is detached illegally, a self-destruction function is started to execute a destruction operation aiming at software or hardware of the electronic product, so that core technical information in the electronic product is destroyed and cannot be obtained. However, this approach is disadvantageous in some cases. For example, in a situation where a person disassembling an electronic product may not know that the disassembly would result in self-destruction of the electronic product, the purpose of the disassembly may be merely to maintain or repair the electronic product, rather than to crack its technical information, in which case it is not advantageous to directly initiate the self-destruction function. In another case, the detacher of the electronic product may not be the owner of the electronic product, for example, the owner of the electronic product may arrange the electronic product to public places such as streets, squares, etc., and the electronic product in the public places may be illegally detached by others, in which case, blindly activating the self-destruction function of the electronic product is not a good choice for the owner of the electronic product because it causes property loss to the owner of the electronic product and may interrupt the function or service provided by the owner of the electronic product, causing adverse effects.

Therefore, there is a need for an improved tamper-proof method for an electronic product and a corresponding electronic product.

Disclosure of Invention

One aspect of the present invention relates to a tamper-proof method for an electronic product including a detachment detection circuit therein, the method including: judging whether the electronic product is disassembled or not according to the state of the disassembly detection circuit; and under the condition that the electronic product is determined to be detached, generating a mode switching instruction, wherein the mode switching instruction is used for instructing the electronic product to switch the working mode of the electronic product from the first working mode to the second working mode.

Optionally, the anti-cracking method further comprises: upon determining that the electronic product is detached, performing a modification or self-destruction operation on at least a portion of hardware, software, and/or firmware associated with the first mode of operation without affecting execution of the second mode of operation.

Optionally, the anti-cracking method further comprises: and generating information for indicating that the electronic product is detached in the case that the electronic product is determined to be detached, and transmitting the information to the outside of the electronic product.

Optionally, wherein the electronic product is an optical communication device, and wherein the information indicating that the electronic product is detached is new identification information transmitted by the optical communication device through a light source thereof.

Optionally, wherein the electronic product is an optical communication device.

Optionally, wherein the identification distance of the optical communication device in the second operation mode is shorter than the identification distance in the first operation mode.

Optionally, wherein the identification accuracy or efficiency of the optical communication device in the second operating mode is lower than the identification accuracy or efficiency in the first operating mode.

Optionally, wherein the second mode of operation differs from the first mode of operation by at least one of: frequency of the light source driving signal, phase of the light source driving signal, and information encoding method.

Optionally, wherein the generating a mode switching indication in case that the electronic product is determined to be detached includes: in the case that the electronic product is determined to be disassembled, whether the disassembling operation is allowed or not is further judged, and if not, a mode switching instruction is generated.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a storage medium in which a computer program is stored which, when being executed by a processor, can be used for implementing the above-mentioned anti-hacking method.

Yet another aspect of the invention relates to an electronic product comprising a detachment detection circuit, the electronic product being configured to implement the above-mentioned tamper-proof method.

According to the scheme of the invention, the technical information of the electronic product can be protected under the condition that a cracker cannot perceive the technical information, the leakage of the technical information is avoided, and meanwhile, the usability of the electronic product can be still ensured after the electronic product is disassembled.

Drawings

Embodiments of the invention are further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary optical label;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic perspective view of an electronic product according to one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the electronic product shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary circuit diagram of the electrical connection of the battery and the magnetic switch on the circuit board shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is another exemplary circuit diagram of the electrical connection of the battery and the magnetic switch on the circuit board;

FIG. 6 is a further exemplary circuit diagram of the electrical connection of the battery and magnetic switch on the circuit board; and

fig. 7 illustrates a tamper-proof method for an electronic product according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention is further described in detail by embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

Embodiments of the present invention are described below with an optical communication apparatus as an example of an electronic product, but it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the electronic product is not limited to the optical communication apparatus, but may be any kind of electronic product.

Optical communication devices are also referred to as optical labels, and these two terms are used interchangeably herein. The optical label can transmit information by emitting different lights, has the advantages of long identification distance, loose requirements on visible light conditions and strong directivity, and the information transmitted by the optical label can change along with time, thereby providing large information capacity and flexible configuration capability. Compared with the traditional two-dimensional code, the optical label has longer identification distance and stronger information interaction capacity, thereby providing great convenience for users. Some kinds of optical labels are described in PCT patent application PCT/CN2017/099642, chinese patent application CN201711374915.9, chinese patent application CN201811119052.5, etc., which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. It will be appreciated that the optical labels of the above-mentioned patent applications are merely examples and the aspects of the present invention are not limited to the optical labels described in these patent applications.

An optical label may typically include a controller and at least one light source, the controller may drive the light source through different driving modes to communicate different information to the outside. Fig. 1 shows an exemplary optical label 100 comprising three light sources (first light source 101, second light source 102, third light source 103, respectively). Optical label 100 further comprises a controller (not shown in fig. 1) for selecting a respective driving mode for each light source in dependence on the information to be communicated. For example, in different driving modes, the controller may control the manner in which the light source emits light using different driving signals, such that when the optical label 100 is photographed using the imaging-capable device, the image of the light source therein may take on different appearances (e.g., different colors, patterns, brightness, etc.). By analyzing the imaging of the light sources in the optical label 100, the driving pattern of each light source at the moment can be analyzed, so that the information transmitted by the optical label 100 at the moment can be analyzed.

In order to provide corresponding services to subscribers based on optical labels, each optical label may be assigned identification Information (ID) for uniquely identifying or identifying the optical label by a manufacturer, manager, user, or the like of the optical label. In general, the light source may be driven by a controller in the optical tag to transmit the identification information outwards, and a user may use the device to perform image capture on the optical tag to obtain the identification information transmitted by the optical tag, so that a corresponding service may be accessed based on the identification information, for example, accessing a web page associated with the identification information of the optical tag, acquiring other information associated with the identification information (e.g., location information of the optical tag corresponding to the identification information), and so on. The device can acquire a plurality of images containing the optical label by continuously acquiring images of the optical label through the camera on the device, and analyzes the image of the optical label (or each light source in the optical label) in each image through a built-in application program to identify the information transmitted by the optical label.

When technical information of an electronic product is tried to be cracked, the electronic product is usually required to be disassembled. Therefore, in order to prevent technical information of the electronic product from being cracked, a disassembly detection circuit can be arranged in the electronic product and used for detecting whether the electronic product is disassembled or not. The detachment detection circuit may be implemented in various ways in the art, for example, in one way of the prior art, a light-sensitive sensor may be provided inside the housing of the electronic product, and when the housing of the electronic product is detached, the light-sensitive sensor will sense sufficient light to indicate that the electronic product has been detached. In another way of the prior art, the electronic product may be designed such that when the housing thereof is disassembled, the disassembling operation may cause a certain circuit in the electronic product to be broken, and it may be determined that the electronic product has been disassembled by detecting the breaking of the circuit. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various other ways of implementing the detachment detection may be used. In one embodiment according to the present invention, whether the electronic product is detached may be detected by the magnetic sensor. In particular, fig. 2 shows a perspective schematic view of an electronic product according to an embodiment. As shown in fig. 2, the electronic product 1 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and includes a housing 11 and a housing 12 which are disposed opposite to each other, a circuit board (not shown in fig. 2) located in a receiving space defined by the housing 11 and the housing 12, and four screws 14, wherein each screw 14 is detachably connected to the housing 12 after passing through the housing 11, so as to facilitate after-sales maintenance.

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of the electronic product shown in fig. 2. As shown in fig. 3, the housing 11 includes a fixed plate 111 and an annular flange 112 provided at an edge of the fixed plate 111, and the housing 11 further includes a magnet 16 (shown in a dotted rectangular parallelepiped shape in fig. 3) fixedly mounted on an inner side surface of the fixed plate 111. The fixing plate 111 further has four through holes 113 for four screws 14 to pass through.

The housing 12 includes a fixing plate 121 and an annular flange 122 disposed at an edge of the fixing plate 121, wherein the annular flange 122 of the housing 12 is identical to or matched with the annular flange 112 of the housing 11 in shape, so that when the two are aligned along a direction perpendicular to the fixing plates 111 and 121, the edges of the annular flange 122 and the annular flange 112 are closely attached to form a sealed accommodating space, thereby preventing the circuit board 13 from being exposed outside, playing a role of waterproof and dustproof, and effectively protecting electronic components of the circuit board 13.

The housing 12 further includes four threaded holes 123 aligned with the four through holes 113 of the housing 11, the threaded holes 123 being adapted to receive ends of the screws 14.

The circuit board 13 includes a surface 136 and a surface 137 disposed opposite the housing 11 and the housing 12, respectively, and a magnetic switch 15 mounted on the surface 136. When the circuit board 13 is sandwiched between the housing 11 and the housing 12, the magnetic switch 15 and the magnet 16 are disposed opposite to and close to each other. The magnetic switch 15 may be, for example, a commercially available component, and the specific structure thereof will not be described herein. The basic principle is as follows: when the magnet 16 is close to the magnetic switch 15, the magnetic switch 15 is in an on state, and when the magnet 16 is far from the magnetic switch 15, the magnetic switch 15 is in an off state.

The circuit board 13 is also provided with electronic components such as a battery 134, a detection device 135 and a resistor (not shown in fig. 3), and a circuit diagram formed by the components will be described with reference to fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is an exemplary circuit diagram of the electrical connection of the battery and the magnetic switch on the circuit board shown in fig. 3. As shown in fig. 4, the magnetic switch 15 is connected to two ends of the battery 134 through a resistor R1, i.e. the battery 134, the resistor R1 and the magnetic switch 15 are electrically connected to form a conductive loop. The sensing device 135 is used to measure the voltage across the resistor R1.

When the screw 14 is screwed into the threaded hole 123 of the housing 12, the magnet 16 is close to the magnetic switch 15, the magnetic switch 15 is in a conducting state, and the detection device 135 detects that the voltage across the resistor R1 is the battery voltage (i.e., high level), so that the screw 14 is not removed; after the magnet 16 is far away from the magnetic switch 15, the magnetic switch 15 is in the off state, there is no voltage drop across the resistor R1, and the detection device 135 detects that the voltage across the resistor R1 is zero, thereby indicating that the screw 14 has been removed.

Fig. 5 is another exemplary circuit diagram of the electrical connection of the battery and the magnetic switch on the circuit board. As shown in fig. 5, the battery 134, the resistor R2 and the magnetic switch 15 ' are electrically connected to form a conductive loop, and the detecting device 135 ' is used for measuring the voltage across the magnetic switch 15 '. When the detected voltage is zero, the screw 14 is not removed; when the detected voltage is high, it is thus known that the screw 14 has been removed.

Fig. 6 is a further exemplary circuit diagram of the electrical connection of the battery and the magnetic switch on the circuit board. As shown in fig. 6, the battery 134, the resistor R3 and the magnetic switch 15 "are electrically connected to form a conductive loop, and the detecting device 135" is used to measure the current in the magnetic switch 15 ". When the detected current is not zero, the screw 14 is not removed; when the detected current is zero, it is thus known that the screw 14 has been removed.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing is merely for illustrative purposes to describe some ways that can be used to detect whether an electronic product is disassembled, the way of detecting disassembly of the present invention is not limited to the above, and the shape structure of the electronic product of the present invention is not limited to the shape structure shown in fig. 2 and 3.

Fig. 7 shows a tamper-proof method for an electronic product including a detachment detection circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention, the method including:

step 701: and judging whether the electronic product is disassembled.

This step may be implemented by the electronic product using various means including those described above. For example, the electronic product can determine whether the electronic product is detached by the state of the detachment detection circuit therein.

Step 702: and generating a mode switching instruction under the condition that the electronic product is determined to be disassembled, wherein the mode switching instruction is used for instructing the electronic product to switch the working mode of the electronic product from the first working mode to the second working mode.

The first operation mode may be, for example, an operation mode of the electronic product under normal conditions (which may be referred to as "normal operation mode" herein), and the normal operation mode may be, for example, an optimal operation mode of the electronic product, in which the electronic product can achieve the most desirable operation effects, for example, the highest efficiency, the highest stability, the lowest error rate, the lowest energy consumption, and the like, through a specific hardware scheme design, a specific software scheme design, a specific parameter selection, and the like. In order to keep the leading advantage of electronic product manufacturers, it is usually desirable to keep the optimal operation mode secret to avoid being cracked. As mentioned hereinbefore, it may in many cases be disadvantageous to simply destroy some technical information related to the optimal operation mode when the electronic product is disassembled, and therefore, in one embodiment of the invention, the electronic product may be switched to some other sub-optimal or non-confidential operation mode, for example, some operation modes known in the art, in order not to affect the operation of the electronic product. In these operating modes, the electronic product is still able to operate, for example to provide normal functionality (possibly with reduced performance), or for example to provide some basic functionality of the electronic product, thereby still ensuring the usability of the electronic product. Thus, in the event that the electronic product determines that it is detached, a mode switch indication for the electronic product may be generated instructing the electronic product to switch its operating mode from, for example, a normal operating mode to a second operating mode. The second mode of operation may be a mode of operation which is inferior in some respects to the conventional mode of operation, but it may also be advantageous in some respects to the conventional mode of operation.

If the electronic product is still continuously operated when the electronic product is detached, the mode switching indication can directly indicate the electronic product to perform operation mode switching, wherein modification of hardware, software, firmware and/or the like of the electronic product may be involved; if the electronic product is not operating when the electronic product is disassembled, the hardware, software and/or firmware of the electronic product can be modified to represent the mode switching indication, so that when the electronic product operates again, the electronic product can operate in the second operation mode based on the modified hardware, software and/or firmware. For example, in one embodiment, the electronic product may check a data bit or parameter stored in its memory at each power-up start to determine the mode of operation to be used, the data bit normally being a "1" indicating that the first mode of operation is used. When the electronic product detects that it is detached, it may modify the data bit to "0", so that when the electronic product is powered up again, it may switch to the second operating mode accordingly. In one embodiment, the electronic product may also be instructed to switch modes by a hardware circuit, for example, a hardware self-locking circuit known in the art may be used, and the state (e.g., level) of the hardware self-locking circuit may be used to indicate the operation mode to be adopted by the electronic product. When the electronic product detects that the electronic product is detached, a trigger signal can be sent to the self-locking circuit, so that the level of the hardware self-locking circuit is converted and locked. When the electronic product is powered on again, the state change of the self-locking circuit can be detected, and the electronic product is switched to the second working mode correspondingly

Through the mode, the electronic product changes the working mode under the condition that a detacher does not know, so that the detacher can be prevented from analyzing or stealing some important technical information related to the conventional working mode of the electronic product through methods such as reverse engineering and the like after detaching the shell of the electronic product.

In one embodiment of the present invention, in a case where the electronic product determines that it is detached, it may be further determined whether the detachment operation is an illegal detachment or an allowable detachment, and the mode switching instruction may be generated only in a case of the illegal detachment. This is done in order to allow some necessary repair and maintenance operations to be performed on the electronic product. When the electronic product is required to be disassembled during maintenance and repair operations, a maintainer can use a specific mode to inform the electronic product that the next disassembly operation is legal disassembly without starting mode switching. For example, a service person may enter a specific password before detaching the electronic product, or the service person may modify some parameter settings in the electronic product using a specific instrument or tool, etc., to disable the mode switching function.

In the optical tag, the operating mode thereof may involve parameter settings (e.g., frequency, phase) related to the driving signal of the light source, an encoding manner of information, an encryption manner of information, a verification manner of information, and the like, and differences in these aspects may affect the identification distance, identification accuracy, identification efficiency, and the like of the optical tag. Switching from the normal mode of operation to the second mode of operation may involve one or more of: frequency change of the light source driving signal, phase change of the light source driving signal, information encoding mode change, information encryption mode change, information verification mode change, and the like. In one embodiment, the optical label has a shorter identification distance in the second mode of operation than in the normal mode of operation; or the identification accuracy of the optical label in the second working mode is lower than that in the conventional working mode; alternatively, the optical label may be identified with a lower efficiency in the second mode of operation than in the normal mode of operation.

In one embodiment, the method shown in FIG. 7 further comprises the steps of: performing a modification or self-destruction operation on at least a portion of hardware, software, and/or firmware associated with the first operating mode without affecting execution of the second operating mode. Through the step, some important technical information related to the first working mode can be modified or destroyed, so that the core technical information is further ensured not to be cracked. Such technical information may be embodied in hardware, software, and/or firmware. When modifying or destroying the technical information, it is necessary to ensure that the modification or destruction of the technical information does not affect the normal execution of the second operation mode.

In this way, after the working mode of the electronic product is switched from the first working mode to the second working mode and optionally some technical information related to the first working mode is modified or destroyed, the technical information of the electronic product can be protected without being perceived by a cracker. Meanwhile, after the electronic product is disassembled, the electronic product can still work in the second working mode, so that the normal function or the purpose of the electronic product cannot be influenced.

In some cases, it is advantageous to send a notification to the owner or operator of the electronic product or the like after the electronic product has been illegally disassembled. For example, if an optical label placed in a public place is illegally detached and is switched to the second operation mode accordingly, if a notice can be sent to the owner or operator of the optical label, the owner or operator of the optical label can timely restore the optical label to the normal operation mode and can timely investigate the detachment event. Thus, in one embodiment, the method shown in fig. 7 further comprises the steps of: in a case where it is determined that the electronic product is detached, information indicating that the electronic product is detached is generated and transmitted to the outside of the electronic product.

For optical labels, as mentioned above, each optical label may be assigned an identification Information (ID) and the light source may be driven by a controller in the optical label to communicate the identification information outwards, and a user may use the device to image-capture the optical label to obtain the identification information communicated by the optical label, so that the optical label server may be accessed to obtain the corresponding service based on the identification information. In one embodiment, the notification of the detachment may be accomplished using the identification information of the optical label. For example, when the optical label detects that it is detached, the original identification information that it has passed out may be changed to another identification information. The original identification information and the further identification information are both associated with the optical label and the association between them may be stored at the server. By means of this further identification information, the optical label can still provide normal services to a user who scans the optical label using the device. However, when the server receives the other identification information from the user's device, it can know that the identification information transmitted by the optical label has changed, and thus, that the optical label has been detached.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an electronic product including a detachment detection circuit therein can be realized, and can be used to realize the above-described anti-tamper method. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the various steps of the methods described herein may be implemented in hardware, software or firmware, or any combination thereof, as desired.

In one embodiment of the invention, the invention may be implemented in the form of a computer program. The computer program may be stored in various storage media (e.g., hard disk, optical disk, flash memory, etc.), which when executed by a processor, can be used to implement the methods of the present invention.

In another embodiment of the invention, an electronic product is provided, comprising a detachment detection circuit, a processor and a memory, in which a computer program is stored, which computer program, when being executed by the processor, is operative to carry out the method of the invention.

References herein to "various embodiments," "some embodiments," "one embodiment," or "an embodiment," etc., indicate that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in various embodiments," "in some embodiments," "in one embodiment," or "in an embodiment," or the like, in various places throughout this document are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Thus, a particular feature, structure, or characteristic illustrated or described in connection with one embodiment may be combined, in whole or in part, with a feature, structure, or characteristic of one or more other embodiments without limitation, as long as the combination is not logical or operational. Expressions like "according to a" or "based on a" appearing herein are meant to be non-exclusive, i.e. "according to a" may cover "according to a only", and also "according to a and B", unless specifically stated or clearly known from the context, the meaning is "according to a only". The various steps described in the method flow in a certain order do not have to be performed in that order, rather the order of execution of some of the steps may be changed and some steps may be performed concurrently, as long as implementation of the scheme is not affected. Additionally, the various elements of the drawings of the present application are merely schematic illustrations and are not drawn to scale.

Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment of this invention, it is to be appreciated various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the invention. Although the present invention has been described by way of preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein, and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.