Patent ID: 8612760

Claim:
A process of operating a device having a host and a smart battery, comprising: A. retrieving an encrypted identity key from a public non-volatile memory in the smart battery to a first processor in the host over a public bus; B. retrieving a root key from a local memory in the host to the first processor; C. decrypting the encrypted identity key with the root key in the first processor to form a first identity key; D. retrieving a second identity key from a private non-volatile memory over a private bus that is separate from the public bus to a second processor in the smart battery; E. generating a pseudorandom challenge in the first processor; F. communicating the pseudorandom challenge to the second processor over the public bus; G. receiving the pseudorandom challenge in the second processor; H. combining in the second processor the pseudorandom challenge with the second identity key using a message integrity check algorithm to generate a first response; I. combining in the first processor the pseudorandom challenge with the first identity key using a message integrity check algorithm to generate a second response; J. communicating the first response from the second processor to the first processor; K. comparing the first and second responses in the first processor; L. if the comparison results a match, authenticating the smart battery and enabling normal operation of the host; and M. if the comparison results in a mismatch, disabling operation of the host.