System and method for programming programmable electronic components using board-level automated test equipment

摘要

A system and technique utilized to efficiently load data into a programmable electronic component connected to a circuit board through the use of automated test equipment. The system includes an automated testing equipment and a programmable electronic component coupled to data and address lines utilized by the programmable electronic component. For the first circuit board of a batch of multiple circuit boards, the reference programmable electronic component receives and stores data from an external source, prior to the data being loaded from the reference programmable electronic component into the programmable electronic component. Thereafter, further programming of the reference programmable electronic component is not required. Rather, the programmable electronic component coupled to any subsequent circuit boards requires only the reference programmable electronic component to copy its contents upon receiving address and control signals from the external source to perform such an operation.