Patent ID: 11915008
Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS S.R.L.
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 17:
18. A method for operating a processing system, comprising:
generating, by a reset circuit, a first reset of the processing system during a reset phase in response to determining that an external reset signal received via a reset terminal has a first logic level,
activating, by the reset circuit, a hardware configuration circuit during a configuration phase, wherein the hardware configuration circuit reads an encoded life-cycle data stored in a non-volatile memory, decodes the encoded life-cycle data, and provides the decoded life-cycle data to a hardware circuit, the hardware circuit changing operation as a function of a decoded life-cycle data; and
starting a microprocessor of the processing system in response to determining that the external reset signal has a second logic level during a wait phase;
activating a communication interface during the wait phase;
receiving a request during the wait phase; and
generating, by a hardware verification circuit, a life-cycle advancement request signal in response to determining that the request includes a given reference password and the reset circuit is in the wait phase, the life-cycle advancement request signal indicating a request to advance the life-cycle stage to a given predetermined life-cycle stage indicated by the encoded life cycle data.