Patent ID: 7725644

Claim:
A device for safeguarding at least one safety-critical program part against inadvertent execution in a processor, comprising: a first memory sector and a second memory sector in a program memory, wherein the at least one safety-critical program part is contained in the second memory sector, and wherein at least one further program part is contained in the first memory sector, and wherein the first memory sector is configured to be executed prior to the second memory sector; an arrangement for executing the at least one further program part, wherein the at least one further program part includes a routine for generating a pattern; and an arrangement for checking whether the pattern is present, at least at one point in time after the pattern is configured to be generated, the at least one further program part being terminated if the pattern is not present; wherein a program code for resetting the processor is stored in a section of the program memory corresponding to a chronological execution point prior to the safety-critical program part.