Patent · US Expired

Microcontroller system having allocation circuitry to selectively allocate and/or hide portions of a program memory address space

US6339815B1 · kind B1 · utility

177Cited by
30References
11Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 14, 1998
Grant dateJan 15, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 14, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/24
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A microcontroller system has a first and a second block of non-volatile programmable memory and includes a program memory space allocation circuitry. In a first mode of operation, the first and second blocks of programmable memory are prevented from being written by commands external to the microcontroller system. In a second mode, however, the first and second blocks of programmable memory are prevented from being written by commands external to the microcontroller system but the second block of programmable memory can be written based upon execution of commands stored in the first block of programmable memory. By having circuitry to so allocate the programmable memories, the security of the programmable memories is enhanced.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.