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:
Jul. 01, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 07, 2001
Katsunobu Hongo, Tokyo, JP;
Tsutomu Tanaka, Tokyo, JP;
Toshihiro Sezaki, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroyuki Kimura, Tokyo, JP;
Mikio Kamiya, Tokyo, JP;
Yasuhiro Ami, Tokyo, JP;
Kunio Tani, Tokyo, JP;
Tomohisa Iba, Tokyo, JP;
Other;
Abstract
A microcomputer comprises: a flash memory for storing rewriting control F/W and user S/F; a command register for specifying content of rewriting control; a address register to be subjected to rewriting-control; a data register for specifying data to be written; a power-supply pump circuit in the flash memory; and a control signal register for specifying/outputting a control signal to a memory decoder. A CPU of the microcomputer is capable of accessing these four registers to perform writing or reading. A given bit of the control signal register corresponds to a given control signal. A value written to the register becomes a control signal that will be directly supplied to both of the power supply circuit and the memory decoder, in the flash memory, to control them. By rewriting a set value of this control signal register using the rewriting control F/W according to a specified sequence, processing such as “erase” and “program” of the flash memory is performed. As a result, a layout area of an automatic sequence circuit is decreased, and a change in a sequence is also facilitated.