Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Programming control
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-25
2001-06-26
Bost, Dwayne (Department: 2681)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Programming control
C455S418000, C235S375000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06253076
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the manufacturing of wireless communications devices, and more particularly to a method of producing wireless communications devices where one or more integrated circuit chips in the device may be from any one of a plurality of different manufacturers and/or be of different revision levels.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Very often in wireless communications devices, it is not possible to get the same performance from different versions of the same integrated circuit chip. These performance variations may lead to undesirable variations in overall product performance. For instance, wireless communications devices, such as cellular telephones, typically rely on Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chips to handle incoming and outgoing radio transmissions. During a production run of wireless communications devices, the same type ASIC chip may be from different revision levels of same chip manufacturer and/or from different chip manufacturers. These different “versions” of the same ASIC chip may have slightly different power profiles, such as having different variable gain amplifier power curves and the like. In addition, some chip versions may have certain functionality built in, such as a power saving mode of operation or a particular optional modulation approach, while others may not.
While it is possible to accommodate the different versions of integrated circuit chips via various factory settings in the wireless communications device, it is necessary for the version of the integrated circuit chip to be known in order to make such factory settings. Under the prior art, there are two main approaches for determining the version of the integrated circuit chip: the reel marking approach and the vision system approach. In the reel marking approach, a reel of integrated circuit chips is marked with version information. This version information is then read off the reel manually or by bar code reader or the like. Such a system is susceptible to errors, such as by erroneously reading the version information off an empty reel when loading a new full reel, thereby failing to maintain version information integrity. The vision system approach relies on a marking placed on each individual chip by the chip manufacturer. This marking is read by an automated vision system during the overall device manufacturing process and correlated to a integrated circuit chip version. However, this method may require significant space on the external viewable portion of the integrated circuit chip which may not always be present with the shrinking sizes of integrated circuit chips. In addition, the marking may add cost to the integrated circuit chip. Using either approach, once the chip version is known, the device manufacturer selects and loads the corresponding factory settings into the device using techniques well known in the art.
Thus, it is apparent that there remains a need for a method of dealing with different versions of integrated circuit chips during the manufacture of wireless communications devices that is less susceptible to human error and that does not rely on the physical packaging size of the chip.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention first identifies the particular version of integrated circuit chip being used in the wireless communications device during production of the device and then sets the factory settings accordingly. In order to identify the version of the integrated circuit chip being used, a predetermined input, or query, signal is sent to the chip. The receipt of the query signal triggers the chip to generate an identifying response signal. Based on the chip's response, the version of the integrated circuit chip being used is determined. Armed with this information, the wireless communications device manufacturer selects and loads the proper factory settings for the particular chip version being used.
The wireless communications device manufacturer preferably establishes a cross reference list of response signals and integrated circuit chip versions for the affected integrated circuit chip type. Each chip manufacturer is told their respective response signals and the chip manufacturer then designs and manufactures its chips to generate the corresponding response signal when a particular query is received by the chip. After the integrated circuit is installed during the overall device production, a factory system is connected to the wireless communications device. The factory system sends the query signal to the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit chip detects this query in a manner well known in the art and, in response, the integrated circuit chip generates the response signal that its manufacturer has pre-programmed into the integrated circuit chip. The response signal generated by the chip is indicative of the version of the integrated circuit. Different chip versions of the same chip type may come about due to the chip type being manufactured by multiple different vendors and/or by different revisions levels of chip design. The chip's response signal is communicated to the factory system and the factory system compares this generated response signal to the cross-reference list of assigned response signals to determine the integrated circuit version being used. The factory system then retrieves the appropriate factory settings based on the integrated circuit version identified and loads those factory settings into the wireless communications device.
It is possible that some versions of a integrated circuit chip may be capable of certain functionality that others versions are not. In order to take advantage of this additional functionality, the wireless communications device manufacturer may load different factory settings for different versions of the integrated circuit chip, even when the versions originate from the same chip manufacturer. In addition, the factory system may optionally send an activation signal to the integrated circuit, based on the version of integrated circuit identified, to enable the additional function available on that version of integrated circuit. In this manner, functions not available on some versions of the integrated circuit may be optionally enabled for those versions that include the function.
Using the present invention, the version of a integrated circuit may be determined after installation of the chip based on the response signal generated by the integrated circuit in response to a query. Based on the version identified, proper factory settings may be loaded, and optionally, selected functionality may be enabled. The present method reduces the opportunity for human error without being dependent on larger physical integrated circuit chip sizes.
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Bost Dwayne
Coats & Bennett PLLC
Ericsson Inc.
Gelin Jean A
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