JP2012146360A - Semiconductor integrated circuit and write processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

A semiconductor integrated circuit capable of performing a writing process by automatically selecting a writing parameter suitable for each of a plurality of types of external nonvolatile memory devices.
An internal nonvolatile memory circuit that stores a plurality of types of write parameters for performing a write process on each of a plurality of types of external nonvolatile memory devices, and a connected external nonvolatile memory device 200 identification information is acquired, one writing parameter suitable for the external nonvolatile memory device 200 connected is selected from a plurality of types of writing parameters based on the identification information, and the selected writing parameter is used. A semiconductor integrated circuit 100, comprising: a control circuit 101 that performs a writing process on the connected external nonvolatile memory device 200.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit and a writing processing method to an external nonvolatile memory device using the same.

  An electronic device assembly manufacturer may obtain a commercially available LSI (Large Scale Integration) chip and a serial EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) chip separately and combine them to manufacture a desired electronic device. . A serial EEPROM, which is an external non-volatile storage device, stores various programs, data, and the like corresponding to the use of the electronic device. For this reason, the assembly manufacturer performs writing processing of various programs and data to the serial EEPROM.

  Here, a write parameter is required for the writing process to the serial EEPROM, but this write parameter differs depending on the type of the serial EEPROM. For this reason, until now, in the writing process to the serial EEPROM, an operation such as selection or manual input of a writing parameter by an assembly maker has been required. In other words, since manual work by the assembly maker is involved, there is a risk of human error.

  On the other hand, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for automatically setting a write processing method for an EPROM by storing a write parameter for the EPROM in a predetermined area of the EPROM. However, in Patent Document 1, since the write parameters for the EPROM are stored in a predetermined area of the EPROM itself, there is a problem that the memory area of the rewritable EPROM is reduced accordingly.

  To solve the problem of Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for optimizing the rewriting process for the flash memory by storing the write parameters for the flash memory in the mask ROM.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-92295 JP 2001-306543 A

  However, in Patent Document 2, only the write parameters for the mounted flash memory are stored in the mask ROM. In other words, it is necessary to change the write parameters stored in the mask ROM in accordance with the type of flash memory to be mounted.

A semiconductor integrated circuit according to the present invention includes:
An internal nonvolatile memory circuit storing a plurality of types of write parameters for performing a write process on each of a plurality of types of external nonvolatile memory devices;
Obtaining identification information of the connected external nonvolatile storage device, and selecting one writing parameter suitable for the connected external nonvolatile storage device from the plurality of types of writing parameters based on the identification information; And a control circuit that performs a writing process on the connected external nonvolatile memory device using the selected writing parameter.

The writing processing method according to the present invention includes:
An internal nonvolatile memory circuit storing a plurality of types of write parameters for performing a write process on each of a plurality of types of external nonvolatile memory devices;
A control circuit for performing a writing process on a connected external nonvolatile memory device, and a writing processing method to the connected external nonvolatile memory device by a semiconductor integrated circuit comprising:
The control circuit obtains identification information of the external nonvolatile storage device from the connected external nonvolatile storage device;
Based on the identification information, the control circuit selects one write parameter suitable for the connected external nonvolatile memory device from the plurality of types of write parameters,
Using the selected write parameter, the control circuit performs a write process on the connected external nonvolatile memory device.

  A semiconductor integrated circuit according to the present invention includes an internal nonvolatile memory circuit in which a plurality of types of write parameters for performing a write process on each of a plurality of types of external nonvolatile memory devices are stored. Therefore, by acquiring the identification information of the connected external nonvolatile memory device, one write parameter suitable for the connected external nonvolatile memory device is automatically selected from a plurality of types of write parameters based on the identification information. You can choose.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a semiconductor integrated circuit capable of writing processing by automatically selecting a writing parameter suitable for each of a plurality of types of external nonvolatile storage devices.

1 is a configuration diagram of a semiconductor integrated circuit according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the writing processing method to the memory | storage device which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment. In addition, for clarity of explanation, the following description and drawings are simplified as appropriate.

(First embodiment)
First, the semiconductor integrated circuit according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a semiconductor integrated circuit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The semiconductor integrated circuit (LSI chip) 100 includes a CPU 101, an internal ROM 102, a serial communication unit 103, and a bus 104. The semiconductor integrated circuit 100 is connected to a serial EEPROM (hereinafter simply referred to as “serial ROM”) 200 via a serial communication unit 103.

  The CPU 101 is connected to the internal ROM 102 and the serial communication unit 103 via the bus 104. The CPU 101 is connected to the serial ROM 200 via the serial communication unit 103. The CPU 101 which is a control circuit acquires solid information such as a product ID from the serial ROM 200. Then, the CPU 101 selects one writing parameter suitable for the connected serial ROM 200 from the plurality of writing parameters based on this solid information. Further, the CPU 101 writes various programs and data to the serial ROM 200 based on the write control program using the selected write parameter.

  The internal ROM 102 is a nonvolatile memory circuit formed inside the semiconductor integrated circuit 100. A plurality of write parameters corresponding to each of a plurality of types of serial ROMs 200 are stored in the internal ROM 102 in advance.

  Here, the write parameter is a value such as an instruction, a page size, a write time, etc. necessary for the write control. As described above, since the write parameters differ depending on the type of the serial ROM 200, a plurality of write parameters corresponding to each of the plurality of types of serial ROM 200 are required.

  The internal ROM 102 stores a writing control program. This writing control program is commonly used when writing processing is performed on a plurality of types of serial ROMs 200. That is, although there is no particular limitation, only one write control program is sufficient.

  The serial communication unit 103 transmits data received from the bus 104 to the serial ROM 200. On the contrary, the serial communication unit 103 converts the serial data received from the serial ROM 200 into data in a format that can be processed by the CPU 101 and transmits the data to the bus 104.

  The serial ROM 200 is an EEPROM that transmits and receives serial signals, that is, an electrically rewritable nonvolatile storage device. The serial ROM 200 is formed on a different chip from the semiconductor integrated circuit 100. The serial ROM 200 stores various programs, data, and the like according to the application of the electronic device on which the serial ROM 200 and the semiconductor integrated circuit 100 are mounted.

  Next, a method for writing various programs and data into the serial ROM 200 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a writing processing method to the serial ROM 200 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  First, as shown in FIG. 2, the CPU 101 inquires of the serial ROM 200 about the product ID of the serial ROM 200 (step ST1). Here, the product ID is stored in a storage area other than the rewritable storage area, for example. In the present embodiment, the product ID of the serial ROM 200 is described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this as long as it is identification information for appropriately selecting a write parameter for writing to the serial ROM 200 to which the CPU 101 is connected.

  Next, when the product ID of the serial ROM 200 can be acquired (step 2 YES), the CPU 101 selects one writing suitable for writing processing to the connected serial ROM 200 from a plurality of writing parameters stored in the internal ROM 102. Selected parameters (step 3).

  On the other hand, if the product ID of the serial ROM 200 cannot be acquired (NO in step 2), the CPU 101 issues a specific command and reads the status of the connected serial ROM 200 (step 4). If the status of the serial ROM 200 matches the expected value (YES in step 5), the process proceeds to step 3. If the status of the serial ROM 200 does not match the expected value (NO in step 5), the CPU 101 issues a different specific command and reads the status of the connected serial ROM 200. That is, the process returns to step 4. Here, if step 4 is repeated a predetermined number of times and does not match the expected value, it may be set to end. Note that the status of the serial ROM 200 is also identification information for appropriately selecting a write parameter.

  Next, the CPU 101 writes various programs, data, and the like corresponding to the application of the electronic device to the connected serial ROM 200 using the selected write parameter and the write control program stored in the internal ROM 102 ( Step 6). Thereby, the writing process of various programs and data to the serial ROM 200 is completed.

  As described above, in the semiconductor integrated circuit 100 according to the present embodiment, a plurality of write parameters corresponding to each of a plurality of types of serial ROMs 200 are stored in the internal ROM 102 in advance. The semiconductor integrated circuit 100 according to the present embodiment can automatically select a write parameter suitable for the serial ROM 200 based on identification information such as a product ID of the connected serial ROM 200. Therefore, there is no risk of human error.

  Further, the write parameters for the connected serial ROM 200 are stored not in the serial ROM 200 itself but in the internal ROM 102 of the semiconductor integrated circuit 100. Therefore, the rewritable memory area of the serial ROM 200 does not decrease.

  Furthermore, in the semiconductor integrated circuit 100 according to the present embodiment, a plurality of write parameters corresponding to each of a plurality of types of serial ROMs 200 are stored in advance. For this reason, it is not necessary to change the write parameters stored in the internal ROM 102 in accordance with the type of flash memory installed. That is, one type of semiconductor integrated circuit 100 enables automatic writing processing for a plurality of types of serial ROM 200.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to the exemplary embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the invention.

100 Semiconductor Integrated Circuit 101 Control Circuit 102 Internal ROM
103 Serial communication unit 104 Bus 200 Serial ROM

Claims (10)

An internal nonvolatile memory circuit storing a plurality of types of write parameters for performing a write process on each of a plurality of types of external nonvolatile memory devices;
Obtaining identification information of the connected external nonvolatile storage device, and selecting one writing parameter suitable for the connected external nonvolatile storage device from the plurality of types of writing parameters based on the identification information; A control circuit that performs a writing process on the connected external nonvolatile memory device using the selected write parameter.   2. The internal nonvolatile memory circuit stores a write control program that is commonly used for performing a write process on the plurality of types of external nonvolatile memory devices. The semiconductor integrated circuit as described.   3. The semiconductor integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein the identification information is a product ID of the connected external nonvolatile memory device.   3. The semiconductor according to claim 1, wherein the identification information is status information read from the connected external nonvolatile memory device based on a specific command issued from the control circuit. Integrated circuit.   The semiconductor integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein the external nonvolatile memory device is a serial EEPROM. An internal nonvolatile memory circuit storing a plurality of types of write parameters for performing a write process on each of a plurality of types of external nonvolatile memory devices;
A control circuit for performing a writing process on a connected external nonvolatile memory device, and a writing processing method to the connected external nonvolatile memory device by a semiconductor integrated circuit comprising:
The control circuit obtains identification information of the external nonvolatile storage device from the connected external nonvolatile storage device;
Based on the identification information, the control circuit selects one write parameter suitable for the connected external nonvolatile memory device from the plurality of types of write parameters,
A write processing method in which the control circuit performs a write process on the connected external nonvolatile memory device using the selected write parameter.   7. The internal nonvolatile memory circuit stores a write control program that is commonly used for performing a write process on the plurality of types of external nonvolatile memory devices. The writing processing method described.   8. The writing processing method according to claim 6, wherein the identification information is a product ID of the connected external nonvolatile storage device.   8. The document according to claim 6, wherein the identification information is status information read from the connected external nonvolatile memory device based on a specific command issued from the control circuit. Processing method.   The write processing method according to claim 6, wherein the external nonvolatile storage device is a serial EEPROM.

Images