Hackable electronics for cheap

pedward · 2013-03-10 17:30

I was as Rite-Aid with my wife this afternoon and saw a USB plug-in blood glucose meter. I thought it was kinda cute, then my wife pointed out it was only $5 bucks!

The device is the Bayer Contour USB (http://www.bayercontourusb.com/)

It was $29.99 and had a $24.00 instant rebate with wellness card.

I picked one up and took it to the register and purchased it for $5.99!!!

I immediately took it apart when I got home and took the attached pictures, this think has a bunch of hackable stuff in it.

The microcontroller is an STM32F103 and it has a 4Gb Toshiba flash on board (rather difficult to find info).

The display is a somewhat low res OLED color display. I tried to count the pixels on the display, but I got a weird number like 58 pixels tall. I'm guessing the picture wasn't the best. I would estimate it to be a 64 pixel tall by 192 wide.

I bet the display is worth $5, but I'm thinking the whole think could be re-programmed into something neat, the processor has 256KB of flash memory and is an ARM Cortex M3.

Peter KG6LSE · 2013-03-10 18:28

WHy the heck does it have that much flash .! .....Cool ! but Dang I can run a entire Linux distro on that with room to spare .... I hope it has a JTAG and a few usefull pins to prod.....

Peter

Mark_T · 2013-03-10 20:08

Peter KG6LSE wrote: »

WHy the heck does it have that much flash .! .....Cool ! but Dang I can run a entire Linux distro on that with room to spare .... I hope it has a JTAG and a few usefull pins to prod.....

Peter

Maybe its the cheapest flash chip currently in volume production?

pedward · 2013-03-10 22:22

On the box it says "2000 test memory" and "500MB" extra memory.

When you plug it into a computer, it enumerates as a storage device with 511.7MB free. Given that 4Gb of flash is 512MB, 2000 test samples obviously doesn't take much space!

I'm thinking this think is probably very hackable, given that ST makes dev tools easily available, and it's a run-of-the mill part.

The hard part would be knowing how all of the I/O is mapped.

Then again, I wonder if there is even any code protection enabled...

pedward · 2013-03-10 22:23

Check this out: http://www.bayercontourusb.us/Special-Offer

It's a $5 off offer, which makes the whole thing only cost 99 cents!!!

pedward · 2013-03-10 22:49

The plot thickens, now after looking further, there is more than 512MB of storage on the unit:

/dev/sde 410M 39M 372M 10% /media/GLUCOFACTS_
/dev/sdd 512M 0 512M 0% /media/CONTOUR USB

There are 3 devices presented:

GLUCOFACTS
GLUCOFACTS_
CONTOUR USB

Between them there is ~922MB of storage on the device. Perhaps my reference for the flash chip was inaccurate, as I believed it was 4Gbits.

The info gets even cooler, from: http://www.toshiba.com/taec/news/press_releases/2008/memy_08_536.jsp

attachment.php?attachmentid=99834&d=1362980677

attachment.php?attachmentid=99834&d=1362980677

The device is an embedded 1GB SD memory!!!

References:

http://datasheet.octopart.com/THGBM2G7D4FBAI9-Toshiba-datasheet-11573603.pdf

pedward · 2013-03-10 23:10

Here's a dump of the USB info. The interesting part is that it enumerates an HID device--a mouse! The Java program that comes with it has a few DLL files, there is a reference to the following devices (their names):

BayerHID00
BayerHID01
BayerSER00

The device only enumerates as a full speed device, so it's not that fast.

Bus 002 Device 046: ID 1a79:6002 Bayer Health Care LLC 
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x1a79 Bayer Health Care LLC
  idProduct          0x6002 
  bcdDevice            1.00
  iManufacturer           1 
  iProduct                2 
  iSerial                 3 
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           64
    bNumInterfaces          2
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          4 
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              500mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass         3 Human Interface Device
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 No Subclass
      bInterfaceProtocol      2 Mouse
      iInterface              5 
        HID Device Descriptor:
          bLength                 9
          bDescriptorType        33
          bcdHID              10.10
          bCountryCode            0 Not supported
          bNumDescriptors         1
          bDescriptorType        34 Report
          wDescriptorLength      38
         Report Descriptors: 
           ** UNAVAILABLE **
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage
      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI
      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk (Zip)
      iInterface              6 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0

LoopyByteloose · 2013-03-11 00:15

4Gbytes of good Flash is worth $5USD.

pedward · 2013-03-11 01:20

Loopy Byteloose wrote: »

4Gbytes of good Flash is worth $5USD.

It turns out to be only 1Gbyte, but eSD, so easy to interface. I pulled the data sheet for the mcu, and it has a serial boot loader, I bet one of the test points on the bottom is this USART port.

pedward · 2013-03-11 01:26

Mark_T wrote: »

Maybe its the cheapest flash chip currently in volume production?

I suspect it is because they wanted to package the pc software for interfacing with the meter, and 1GB was the smallest denomination. The JAVA tool consumes 40MB, but they allow you to save reports an stuff.

localroger · 2013-03-11 15:43

That thing is so new the paint is probably still wet on it. I might have to think about grabbing one -- for actually checking my blood sugar. The test strips are half the price of the OneTouch Ultra strips I've been using.

pedward · 2013-03-11 16:30

Yeah, go to Rite Aid, sign up for a wellness card, and present the coupon generated by the rebate link above, and you can have a glucose meter for only 99 cents!

It comes with the USB meter, USB extension cable, 550ma USB charger, lancet device/sticker, 10 lancets, and a carrying case.

Retail price is $29.99 without any rebates, the Rite Aid instant rebate is $24.00, the manufacturer coupon is $5.00.

pedward · 2013-03-13 00:25

I have some new info about this device. The display is 160x58 pixels and I'm pretty certain the controller is an SSD1353, since that number is silkscreened into the FC attached to the display.

Here's the info: http://www.solomon-systech.com/en/product/display-ic/oled-driver-controller/ssd1353/

Ullasmann · 2013-04-10 09:59

Hi Peward.

If this thread is still open, I thought you might be interested in the following Pads/Pinouts diagram for the Bayer Contour usb device?

Greets from Germany.

Ullasmann.

Hackable electronics for cheap

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