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Complex Serialization: An Approach for Today
By Nader Shehad, BPM Microsystems, Houston, TX
customer-supplied data patterns such as Intel HEX, Motorola S- record, POF and other file formats into blank semiconductor devices. Traditionally, a data pattern is loaded into the device programming software by an operator and is subse- quently transferred into all devices during a programming session. This method quickly programs a large number of devices with identical data content and satisfies the requirements of the majority of pro- gramming applications. But what if each device requires unique data?
D
Serialization is a difficult challenge, but the novel approach of using an external management application can make serialization manageable and reliable.
In the device programming
industry, serialization is the process of writing unique data to each pro- grammed device. It can be used to program basic numeric serial num- bers to a single device address and can be used to program more com- plex data such as MAC addresses,
evice programming systems are a key resource in the elec- tronics industry for writing
encryption keys, GUIDs and random- ization seeds to several device addresses on each device.
Serialization Data Because of the unique nature of
the serialization data, one of the
that only require a single numeric serial number that is incremented for each device, the programming application itself can be the source of the serialization content. An opera- tor can specify the starting serial number, the serial number address,
ated by proprietary customer algo- rithms or stored on third-party cus- tomer databases located on remote servers that cannot be embedded into the programming application. Security is often a concern as the serialization data could be sensitive intellectual property (IP) that must be encrypted to prevent unautho- rized access and copying. For these reasons, there needs to be a mecha- nism whereby the device program- ming application can invoke an external customer-written applica- tion to obtain the serialization data for each programmed device in a secure and flexible way.
Traditional Approach The traditional approach to
Model 2800 programmer.
major challenges of such program- ming is obtaining the correct data for each device. Any standard device programming software is readily able to program static data patterns into a Device Under Test (DUT), however injecting the serialization data into the data pattern “on the fly” on a per device basis requires a more sophisticated approach. For serialization applications
as well as other parameters to ensure that each device attains a unique serial number programmed at the correct device address. A simple approach might suffice
for the simplest of serialization appli- cations, but quickly breaks down when multiple unique pieces of data or non-numeric data must be pro- grammed into each DUT. Complex serialization data is typically gener-
complex serialization has been to allow the programming application to invoke an External Serialization Program (ESP) to obtain the seriali- zation data required for each device. The ESP is a customer-written appli- cation that could potentially gener- ate serial numbers algorithmically, communicate with remote systems/ databases, maintain a log of its oper- ations, and have various user options to configure how it behaves. The pro- gramming application is not aware how the ESP generates the serializa- tion data, but only knows how to retrieve the data in a fixed, agreed-
Continued on page 54
December, 2012
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