Abstract: A biometric device comprising: biometric sensing circuitry; cryptographic circuitry; a device key area in the biometric device for storing a cryptographic device key unique to the biometric device; and a test key area in the biometric device, for storing a cryptographic test key. The biometric device is controllable between: a test state in which the test key area is connected to the cryptographic circuitry to provide the test key to the cryptographic circuitry, and the cryptographic circuitry is prevented from performing cryptographic operations on data provided by the biometric sensing circuitry; and a functional state in which the device key area is connected to the cryptographic circuitry to provide the device key to the cryptographic circuitry, and the cryptographic circuitry is connected to the biometric sensing circuitry to receive and perform cryptographic operations on data from the biometric sensing circuitry using the device key.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a fingerprint sensing system and a method performed by the fingerprint sensing system of verifying that setting data of a fingerprint sensor of the fingerprint sensing system has not been modified. In aspect, a method performed by a fingerprint sensing system of verifying that setting data of a fingerprint sensor of the fingerprint sensing system has not been modified is provided. The method comprises blocking access to the fingerprint sensor setting data held in a storage of the fingerprint sensing system, acquiring from the fingerprint sensor a representation of the fingerprint sensor setting data to be utilized upon capturing a fingerprint image, and verifying from the acquired representation if the fingerprint sensor setting data corresponds to fingerprint sensor setting data that previously was written to the storage.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a fingerprint sensing system and a method performed by the fingerprint sensing system of verifying that setting data of a fingerprint sensor of the fingerprint sensing system has not been modified. In aspect, a method performed by a fingerprint sensing system of verifying that setting data of a fingerprint sensor of the fingerprint sensing system has not been modified is provided. The method comprises blocking access to the fingerprint sensor setting data held in a storage of the fingerprint sensing system, acquiring from the fingerprint sensor a representation of the fingerprint sensor setting data to be utilized upon capturing a fingerprint image, and verifying from the acquired representation if the fingerprint sensor setting data corresponds to fingerprint sensor setting data that previously was written to the storage.

Abstract: A biometric device comprising: biometric sensing circuitry; cryptographic circuitry; a device key area in the biometric device for storing a cryptographic device key unique to the biometric device; and a test key area in the biometric device, for storing a cryptographic test key. The biometric device is controllable between: a test state in which the test key area is connected to the cryptographic circuitry to provide the test key to the cryptographic circuitry, and the cryptographic circuitry is prevented from performing cryptographic operations on data provided by the biometric sensing circuitry; and a functional state in which the device key area is connected to the cryptographic circuitry to provide the device key to the cryptographic circuitry, and the cryptographic circuitry is connected to the biometric sensing circuitry to receive and perform cryptographic operations on data from the biometric sensing circuitry using the device key.

Abstract: A pipelined microprocessor for processing instructions includes at least one pipeline. The pipeline includes and instruction fetching functional stage, an instruction decoding functional stage, an execution functional stage comprising a number of execution units and a commit functional stage. The commit functional stage includes or is associated with a reorder buffer. Detecting means are provided for detecting instruction irregularities. When an instruction irregularity is detected, an irregularity indication and a flush instruction are generated. The irregularity indication is used to initiate a flush made whereas the flush instruction, when received in a stage or unit set in flush mode, resets the flush mode in said stage/unit.

Abstract: The invention is directed toward a multiprocessing system having multiple processing units. For at least one of the processing units in the multiprocessing system, a first job signal is assigned to the processing unit for speculative execution of a corresponding first job, and a further job signal is assigned to the processing unit for speculative execution of a corresponding further job. The speculative execution of said further job is initiated when the processing unit has completed execution of the first job. If desirable, even more job signals may be assigned to the processing unit for speculative execution. In this way, multiple job signals are assigned to the processing units of the processing system, and the processing units are allowed to execute a plurality of jobs speculatively while waiting for commit priority.