Hi folks! I got a toy for my daughter the other day. It kinda looks like an iPhone. She hits number "1" and it sings a song, when she hits "5" it recites the alphabet in the form of another song etc etc.
I would like to know more about the "memory" chips these toys use.
a) How are these songs "downloaded" onto the chips memory?
b) is it ROM or RAM or EEPROM memory that they use?
c) Do manufacturers "seal" up these memory devices in these toys so no one can add new songs to them?
d) is the process of writing to these memory chips in these toys similar to a normal voice recorder?

Thank you for your time.

 

It's likely that the memory and processor are included in a COB and no access to program ports is available.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_packaging

 

You are framing your question in terms of a traditional pc or industrial SBC (single board compter), with separate chips for processing, memory, and I/O, but that is not what you have here. This is a dedicated device that has been *extremely* optimized for cost. So internally it might be only one chip, either semi- or full-custom, with memory, cpu, and maybe even the speaker driver all in one. It might be flash memory programmed during assembly with a surface contact connection so there is no physical programming connector to plug into. Or for really high volume it might be masked ROM. In either case, this probably is not a general purpose player with music files downloaded into it. Maybe, but I doubt it.

ak

 

It's likely that the memory and processor are included in a COB and no access to program ports is available.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_packaging

what is this kind of engineering where a bunch of processors, memory chips etc are made into one small chip called?

 

No, what you are describing is SOC, system on a chip. COB is chip on board, usually a low cost, low function single chip to do something like be a digital clock for a car, or play tunes in a toy. Surprisingly rugged and reliable, smaller than the equivalent surface mount parts, super low cost at high volume.

ak