[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> There have been several non-professional software programs made in my
> area by some people who were able to see how the chip worked and was able
> to get the code from it (my friends dad worked at a place that had a chip
> reader).
>
> Not that great, but realtime.
>
> BTW people who have been around for a while, the freak is back.
>
> -J.R. Moore
I think I need some clarification here....
1) I don't know of any device that can 'see how a chip worked'.
2) You're probabably confusing ROM/RAMs with CPUs and DSPs. The former
two can be read-out. That's necesarry since they have to provide an
instruction flow to the CPU/DSP.
3) Reading out the DSP program inside a dedicated chip (like the ATRAC)
chip only possible if you know all the specs of the chip. I suspect
that you'll find some SRAM, a ROM, a DSP and a small-micro controller
on the ATRAC chip. (At least on the LSI versions. Ie one-chip ATRAC
solutions.) In this configuration, it get's difficult to read the ROM!
4) Some chips allow access to their 'internal' rams using a debug port.
(the so-called JTAG interface). Again, for each chip (CPU/DSP) this
device is different!
You can guess who a chip works by looking at it specifications and how
it reacts to different commands. But you can't extract the design from
it using a 'chip-reader'. It's just impossible.
The only way to see how a chip works is to put it under a micro-scope,
make a foto of the metal-layer, etch this layer away, make a foto of the
next metal-layer... etc.. This is a time-consuming and a very difficult
process which doesn't give the expected results in 99.9999% of all cases.
Back-Engineering in the chip industrie is almost impossible!
Cheers,
Ralph -> Can anybody mail me the HDL of the ATRAC chip?
--
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Ralph Smeets Functional Verification Centre Of Competence - CMG
Voice: (+33) (0)4 76 58 44 46 STMicroelectronics
Fax: (+33) (0)4 76 58 40 11 5, chem de la Dhuy
Mobile: (+33) (0)6 82 66 62 70 38240 MEYLAN
E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] FRANCE
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"For many years, mankind lived just like the animals. And then
something happened that unleashed the powers of our imagination:
We learned to talk."
-- Stephen Hawking, later used by Pink Floyd --
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