A novel computer program based approach to Intellectual Property protection in sequential circuits and comparison of 3-bit and 4-bit signatures on hardware requirement

The biggest asset of a researcher is its Intellectual Property(IP). Of late, due to rapid technological advancement and personal motives cases where theft of intellectual property is reported have increased manifold. Taking this into consideration a robust watermark is required to be embedded into the `intellectual property or research work´ so that if required, theft can be easily proven in a court of law. This watermark should be robust enough so that it cannot be easily detected or tampered with. At the same time it should be unique so that ownership can be easily proven. Oliveira [1] has suggested some of the techniques of watermarking in sequential circuits. One of those techniques with some modification is applied to 6 bit sequence detector with a 4-bit signature with additional comparison of the hardware requirements of 3-bit and 4-bit signature. Also a unique Computer Program is designed to determine signature length according to the number of states. Also it is shown that simulation results of the circuit with and without watermarks do not differ i.e. there is no compromise in functionality and maximum operational frequency but at the same time watermark does its job perfectly where only output shows response when signature is present.