PEmicro's ProCryption Security feature for Cyclone programmers offers user the ability to add usage restrictions to programming images. These usage restrictions include the ability to limit programming to a specific date range and also to set a maximum number of programming operations which can occur. The effect of this is that the user can limit the duration and amount of programming allowed by an image. This can be useful for protecting the IP contained within a programming image as well as making sure that programming images in production are not too far out of date. These restrictions persist even when the images are deleted/restored on a Cyclone unit's internal memory or SD card. Images are encoded in such a way as to deter tampering. Image restrictions are set in the ProCryption Security License Settings area of the Cyclone Image Creation Utility when creating a programming image. Cyclone Image Creation Utility Cyclone programmers can be configured to display image restriction information on the home screen: Note that "Programming Count" is displayed on the bottom line of the screen below: This security feature is documented in the Cyclone user manuals.
Programming count displayed on a Cyclone FX home screen