MASS PRODUCTION TESTING OF USB FLASH CARDS WITH VARIOUS FLASH MEMORY CELLS
First Claim
1. A method for formatting/testing USB devices using a test host including a computing system, the method comprising:
- coupling a plurality of USB devices to a test host, each USB device including a flash controller and one or more flash memory devices, wherein each USB device includes an extended USB connector plug attached to a printed circuit board (PCB) assembly (PCBA) or a chip-on-board (COB) having the one or more flash memory devices and the flash controller attached, wherein the extended USB connector plug includesan extended pin substrate that has an extended length that is longer than or equal to a standard length of the pin substrate of the standard USB connector plug,a plurality of plug standard metal contact pins disposed on the pin substrate, wherein when the standard pin substrate of the extended USB connector plug is inserted into a cavity of the standard USB socket, the standard metal contact pins make physical and electrical contact with plug standard metal contact pins on a plug pin substrate, anda plurality of plug extended metal contact pins on the extended pin substrate, wherein when the extended pin substrate of the extended USB connector plug is inserted into a cavity of the extended USB socket, the plug extended metal contact pins on the extended pin substrate make physical and electrical contact with socket extended metal contact pins on the extended USB socket,reading at least one controller endpoint descriptor value from each of the plurality of USB devices, and verifying that the controller endpoint descriptor values of each of the plurality of USB devices matches stored descriptor values stored in the test host; and
testing/formatting each of the USB devices having a valid endpoint descriptor value by writing predetermined data into the flash memory devices in a pipelined manner, and then reading the predetermined data from the flash memory device and comparing the read predetermined data with known good data stored in the test host.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A high volume testing/formatting process is provided for Universal Serial Bus-based (USB-based) electronic data flash cards (USB devices) that meets the increasing demand for USB electronic data flash cards (USB devices). A test host is simultaneously coupled to the multiple USB devices (e.g., using a multi-port card reader or a probe fixture), a controller endpoint value is read from each of the USB devices and verified with a known good value, and then testing/formatting is performed on each of the USB devices by writing predetermined data into each USB device in a pipelined manner, then reading out and testing the predetermined data. In one embodiment, the test host implements a special USB driver that blocks standard USB registration procedures upon detecting the plurality of USB devices. Control and/or boot code data are written onto the flash memory device (i.e., instead of being provided on a controller ROM).
-
Citations
21 Claims
-
1. A method for formatting/testing USB devices using a test host including a computing system, the method comprising:
-
coupling a plurality of USB devices to a test host, each USB device including a flash controller and one or more flash memory devices, wherein each USB device includes an extended USB connector plug attached to a printed circuit board (PCB) assembly (PCBA) or a chip-on-board (COB) having the one or more flash memory devices and the flash controller attached, wherein the extended USB connector plug includes an extended pin substrate that has an extended length that is longer than or equal to a standard length of the pin substrate of the standard USB connector plug, a plurality of plug standard metal contact pins disposed on the pin substrate, wherein when the standard pin substrate of the extended USB connector plug is inserted into a cavity of the standard USB socket, the standard metal contact pins make physical and electrical contact with plug standard metal contact pins on a plug pin substrate, and a plurality of plug extended metal contact pins on the extended pin substrate, wherein when the extended pin substrate of the extended USB connector plug is inserted into a cavity of the extended USB socket, the plug extended metal contact pins on the extended pin substrate make physical and electrical contact with socket extended metal contact pins on the extended USB socket, reading at least one controller endpoint descriptor value from each of the plurality of USB devices, and verifying that the controller endpoint descriptor values of each of the plurality of USB devices matches stored descriptor values stored in the test host; and testing/formatting each of the USB devices having a valid endpoint descriptor value by writing predetermined data into the flash memory devices in a pipelined manner, and then reading the predetermined data from the flash memory device and comparing the read predetermined data with known good data stored in the test host. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
Specification