The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 05, 1995
Filed:
Aug. 31, 1992
Microchip Technology Incorporated, Chandler, AZ (US);
Abstract
A microcontroller and associated EPROM program memory are fabricated in a single semiconductor chip. The microcontroller device is adapted to be programmed using digital command words or other bit patterns applied as inputs after installation of the device in circuit with a system to be controlled by the device, and to have its programming pins isolated from the system to avoid effects on system operation while the programming is taking place. The in-circuit programming uses considerably less than the total number of input/output (I/O) pins of the device, which in total are fewer than the number of bits in a command word. This is achieved with a serial/parallel programming interface between the pins and the program memory, and by applying the data in serial fashion to the interface where it is latched and loaded in parallel in the memory. Input data to the device may alternatively be entered in parallel to the interface in bytes of width less than the total number of I/O pins of the device.