RL78/F13, F14    CHAPTER  30   FLASH  MEMORY 
R01UH0368EJ0210  Rev.2.10      1640  
Dec 10, 2015 
30.6.2  Boot swap function 
If rewriting the boot area failed by temporary power failure or other reasons, restarting a program by resetting or 
overwriting is disabled due to data destruction in the boot area. 
The boot swap function is used to avoid this problem. 
Before erasing boot cluster 0
Note
, which is a boot program area, by self-programming, write a new boot program to boot 
cluster 1 in advance. When the program has been correctly written to boot cluster 1, swap this boot cluster 1 and boot cluster 
0 by using the set information function of the firmware of the RL78/F13 or RL78/F14, so that boot cluster 1 is used as a boot 
area. After that, erase or write the original area, boot cluster 0. 
As a result, even if a power failure occurs while the area is being rewritten, the program is executed correctly because it 
is booted from boot cluster 1 to be swapped when the program is reset and started next. 
 
Note  A boot cluster is an 8 KB area and boot clusters 0 and 1 are swapped by the boot swap function. 
 
Figure 30-9.  Boot Swap Function 
 
 
 
In an example of above figure, it is as follows. 
Boot cluster 0:  Boot program area before boot swap 
Boot cluster 1:  Boot program area after boot swap 
Boot program
(boot cluster 0)
New boot program
(boot cluster 1)
User program
Self-programming  
to boot cluster 1
Self-programming 
to boot cluster 0
Execution of boot  
swap by firmware
User program
Boot program
(boot cluster 0)
User program
New user program
(boot cluster 0)
New boot program
(boot cluster 1)
User program
New boot program
(boot cluster 1)
Boot program
(boot cluster 0)
User program
XXXXXH
04000H
00000H
02000H
Boot
Boot
Boot
Boot