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8.1 Introduction
The programmer has the ability to automatically program the target device's serial number (SN) and save it in flash memory. New SNs can be created automatically by incrementing a starting base SN, or can be taken from a file created by the user. SNs that have been used are stored in separate data files to account for devices that have already been programmed. In addition to this SN, the model name, group, and revision number can also be programmed to the target device. The user can specify the display SN format and location in flash memory where this information will be stored.
The SN is programmed when "Auto Program" or "Write SN/Model" buttons are pressed and the SN feature is enabled. When the "Auto Program" function is activated the SN is programmed to the target's device memory at the same time as after code data has been programmed. If "Auto Program" fails for any reason then the new SN is neither created nor programmed to the device.
The software also allows the microcontroller In the case of Gang programming, as many SNs will be used up as there are successfully programmed devices. If there are not enough SNs left to program all devices in the Gang programmer then an error will appear, and the procedure will abort resulting in no devices being serialized.
The software also allows the microcontroller to retain its SN if one has already been assigned to it. Every time a device is programmed and serialization is enabled the contents of the target's memory are scanned for an existing SN. If the SN is found at the specified location the message in Figure 8.1 will appear and allow the user to decide to keep the old SN, program a new SN from the list, or program a SN typed manually.
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The Serialization Dialog screen, shown in Figure 8.2, allows the user to configure how serialization is done. Serialization can be enabled, or disabled, by selecting the check mark in the ENABLE Serialization check-box. When serialization is disabled all edit lines and check boxes are disabled. When serialization is enabled, most fields have to be set to ensure that the result will be as the user expects. The necessary fields include:
Display Format - The display format describes the meaning of the characters that comprise the SN.
Memory Format - The memory format describes how the SN will be stored in the device's flash memory.
Memory Location - This address is the memory location reserved for the SN. It can only overlap code regions if the Remove code contents in the location where the serialization and model .. are defined check-box is also selected.
Starting Number and Increment - When using all display formats except "Custom" and "from File", these parameters are necessary. The starting number will indicate the value of the first SN created. Subsequent SNs will be determined by adding the increment to the current SN number. Both of these parameters can only be positive integers and create SNs that remain within the maximum range described later in this chapter.
Output File - The specified file will store all successfully programmed SNs. The output file is very important not only for logging purposes, but also for restoring state across programming sessions. The output file is used to retrieve the last SN programmed and set the next SN to be programmed when restoring the programming session. If the output file is deleted, or another blank file is selected, the Serialization process will essentially reset to the beginning, and the first SN will be programmed at the next iteration.
The serialization dialog screen also contains several useful optional features:
Model/Group/Revision - In addition to the aforementioned SN formats, the software also allows the user to program each device with separate HEX or ASCII data. This information is saved at a different memory location from the SN, and does not change after each programming cycle. This is used to program static information that should be the same for each target device, like the software revision number, model, etc.
BarCode Scanner - The BarCode Scanner can be used as an input mechanism for new SNs. When enabled, scanning a barcode will set the \Next “Next SN" shown in Figure 48.1 to the value read by the BarCode Scanner. For convenience, the software can be configured to start the \Auto “Auto Program" procedure immediately after the BarCode Scanner reads a new number, by selecting the Start AUTOPROGRAM following BarCode scan check-box.
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Programming software has eight formats for writing a serial number, referred to as Display
Format, and three methods of storing the SN in memory, referred to as In Memory Format
in the serialization dialog screen. When a serial number is created, the current date (if required) is taken from the PC timer, therefore ensure that your computer has the correct date and time.
Display Formats:
YYYY-1234(5) - (SN Format F0) Serial number has 8 (BCD) or 9 (HEX) characters. First four characters specify the year, and the remaining 4 or 5 characters specify the serial number up to a maximum of 9999 (when BCD format is selected) or 65535 (when HEX format is selected) respectively, e.g. SN 20039999 or 200365535.
YYMM-1234(5) - (SN Format F1) Serial number has 8 (BCD) or 9 (HEX) characters. First two characters specify the last two digits of the year, next two characters specify the month, and the remaining 4 or 5 characters specify the serial number up to a maximum of 9999 or 65535 respectively, e.g. 03059999 or 030565535.
YYMMDD-1234 - (SN Format F5) Serial number has 10 characters. First six characters contain date (year, month, day of month) and remaining 4 characters specify the serial number, e.g. 1205309999.
YYDDD-1234(5) - (SN Format F4) Serial number has 9 (BCD) or 10 (HEX) characters. First five characters contain date (year, day of year from 1 to 366) and remaining 4 or 5 characters specify the serial number up to a maximum of 9999 or 65535 respectively, e.g. 123559999 or 1235565535.
12345678 - (SN Format F2) 8 digit serial number without date stamp. The maximum value is 99999999.
1234(5) - (SN Format F3) 4 (BCD) or 5 (HEX) digits serial number without date stamp. The 4 or 5 characters specify the serial number up to a maximum of 9999 or 65535.
Custom - (SN Format F6) 4 to 256 ASCII characters or hexadecimal numbers entered manually or from the Bar-Code Reader.
from File - (SN Format F7) 4 to 256 ASCII characters or hexadecimal numbers taken from a user created file.
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The location in the target device's flash memory where the SN will be stored is specified in the \Memory Location - SN Start Address in Memory" field of the serialization dialog screen (see Figure 8.3). Specified address must be even and should be specified in empty memory space, not used by program code or data block. However, if you'd like to integrate the SN with existing code, by programming the SN to a code location, then check the box Remove code contents in the location where the serialization and model are defined .
The SN memory formats will be described in the following subsections.
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The Device Serialization box, located on the main programming dialog screen shown in Figure 4.1 and isolated in Figure 8.4), contains SN and model information. The first two read-only lines contain information taken from the target device during the read process. The first line shows the Model/Group/Revision text and the second line shows the SN. The following two lines contain SN and model information that will be programmed next generated automatically according to the Serialization setup.
The current target's SN and model information can be read at any time by pressing the "READ / COPY" button located in the main dialog shown in Figure 4.1. 
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