Inventors:
Paul C. Clark - Bethesda MD
International Classification:
G06K 500
Abstract:
The possibility of corruption of critical information required in the operation of a computer is reduced by storing the critical information in a device; communicating authorization information between the device and the computer; and causing the device, in response to the authorization information, to enable the computer to read the critical information stored in the device. The device includes a housing, a memory within the housing containing information needed for startup of the host computer, and a communication channel for allowing the memory to be accessed externally of the housing. The device is initialized by storing the critical information in memory on the device, storing authorization information in memory on the device, and configuring a microprocessor in the device to release the critical information to the computer only after completing an authorization routine based on the authorization information.