Setting up a Multi-Bank application

AN3250

8/16

Doc ID 17761 Rev 1

3

Setting up a Multi-Bank application

Once designed, the Multi-Bank application must be configured and programmed so that it

can be used correctly by the microcontroller and the RFID reader. Because several banks

are used in parallel, each bank must be individually numbered and this number must be

common to both the RFID reader and the microcontroller.

This reference design proposes to identify the banks and their numbers using a pointer area

placed at the end of the last bank of the reference design.

There are different ways to allocate the banks depending on whether a microcontroller only,

an RFID reader only or both a microcontroller and an RFID reader are available in the

application during Multi-Bank programming.

For further details on how the M24LR64-R arbitration unit operates, refer to application note

AN3057 “How to manage M24LR64-R data transfers from the I²C bus or an RF channel”.

While the 3 following setup methods work, the one with both a microcontroller and RFID

reader is recommend as it speeds up the identification process when the application is

running.

3.1

Basic principle

Each memory bank of the Multi-Bank reference design consists of an M24LR64-R memory

plan which includes among others:

●

A 64-bit Unique IDentifier area (UID)

–

Read-only in RF mode

–

●

An 8-bit Data Storage IDentifier area (DSFID)

–

Read-write in RF mode

–

●

A 64-Kbit EEPROM user memory area

–

Read-write in RF mode

–

Note:

This application note illustrates the setup of the ANT5-M24LR-A, which is the 4-bank

reference design. The same principle applies for any Multi-Bank design.