| 摘要 |
This invention provides a system and method for preventing theft of an electronic device that degrades the QoS of at least one function of the device to a pre-determined or " locked" status if pre-set authentication information is not input and validated. The method is carried out by control component on-board the electronic device and the pre-set authentication information is stored internally to the electronic component. Alternatively, the pre-set authentication information is stored in external memory (such as NOR flash, NAND flash, EEPROM, MRAM, etc). The means for inputting the authentication information to be verified against this pre-stored authentication information comprises the device's normal input means or dedicated input means (e.g. a remote control for anti-theft purpose). For example, if the QoS degraded is an internal clock frequency of a laptop computer, the keyboard of the computer serves as one input means and the screen as a display means for requesting that the authentication information be input. QoS is noticeably degraded to discourage a thief, e. g., alternating between low QoS and high QoS.
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