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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (56458)	10/30/2006 9:46:50 PM
From: BDAZZ	Respond to of 196822

Engineer chime in here if you can, but I don't think the code is even in a software state anymore. Software is used just for testing and debugging purposes. Once it passes testing and standards it is hardwired onto the chip. (This is why I believe that some of Docomo's early non standard WCDMA technology was still being accomplished thru software rather than a conventional chip.) In a hardwired form execution moves at a much faster speed. But I agree that any process designed by man can be worked backwards.

To: carranza2 who wrote (56458)	10/30/2006 11:51:46 PM
From: Clarksterh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 196822

I see software code as a highly specialized language which is used to instruct chips what to do. Source code is normally in written in a 'high level language' (e.g. C, C++) which is readily human (of the geek variety)readable. This code then gets compiled to 'object code' which is much closer to straight 1's and 0's. Every line of source code is made into 100's of 1's and 0's. The problem is that each compiler on each machine will turn it into a different set of 1's and 0's. This makes it virtually impossible to prove, incontravertably, that the source was x. As others have pointed out, you can, with significant effort, try to reverse engineer it. But the lower the level of the code, the more difficult it is. As a practical matter it would generally not be worthwhile unless you were pretty certain that this particular piece was the ripped off piece. Clark

To: carranza2 who wrote (56458)	10/31/2006 1:02:46 AM
From: GPS Info	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 196822

I see software code as a highly specialized language… [that] is probably individualized to a very great extent. Yes, this is true. What Clark said is also true: it’s very difficult to determine the original form of code after it has been compiled. However, I think that if Broadcom had copied files directly from Qualcomm or used their source code, it would be very likely that this code is still stored somewhere within a “source control” application. Source code that runs on a computer (PC) must be maintained to allow for future changes. This means that there are computer files containing the original source code. This would also be true for code that becomes “embedded” within a cell phone. This is generally referred to as “firmware” as being it is less soft than software.<g> If Broadcom has a functioning phone, its software files must likely reside on some computer at the company. I would imagine that a good lawyer would subpoena all relevant documents, like source code, during a discovery process. I’ll let you expound on what types of information are disclosed during an investigation of patent violations. I’ve read that even emails are examined to see if there have been any criminal actions. Software source code (the high-level language) files could then be reviewed by any competent programmer. BDAZZ stated that “Once it passes testing and standards it is hardwired onto the chip.” This does happen, but probably not when the host processor is a DSP or an ARM processor used in a cell phone. If the engineers know that there will NOT be any further changes to the code, the instructions can be converted into a fixed circuit design. This approach allows the costs to be reduced - over having general processor like a DSP or ARM. However, if there already is a host processor that can easily handle the code, there is no good reason to this, especially if changes are required or desired. Best