FAULT TOLERANCE ARCHITECTURE FOR IN-CIRCUIT PROGRAMMING

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a device for giving fault tolerance for an in-circuit programming system. SOLUTION: If a programming process is failure, the process can be operated by storing the minimum of a code for initializing the in-circuit programming process of a protected memory to be again started from the protected memory. This type of tolerance is important in a system for enabling a code to achieve the in-circuit programming to be changed by the in-circuit programming process. The architecture includes a multiplexer 110, thereby selectively switching between a regular boot code sequence 102 and a boot code sequence 107 to be protected. Simultaneously it includes a watched timer 122, thereby monitoring the in-circuit programming process to determine whether or not the process progresses correctly. COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT