Need help with Altera .pof format!

Hello!

I have made a serial firmware downloader for the EPC4 device, and have a couple of questions. After looking at different .pof files, it looks like the file is made up of (on the epc4):

• header (50-100 bytes)

• data (about 400 bytes with 0xFF as blank space)

• signature (40-50 bytes)

*******end-of-file ****************************************

I can open a .pof file and program this to the EPC4 device IF i know the length of the header so i can remove it first. The header includes info about Quartus build date/version/device/comment e.t.c The .pof file also includes a signature, but since the useful data only exists until about 1/3 into the file, this signature is also removed when programming..

Does anyone know the .pof file format? I really need to know this:

1. Where is the header-length is specified?
2. What does the different "unknown" bytes in the header (except for the obvious ascii coded strings) specify?

My application can also read the contens of the flash and save it to a file. It would be really useful if this could be saved in a .pof valid format, and written back using the quartus programming tool, so:

1. What does the Quartus programming tool look for to determine if the .pof is valid? (checksum? probably some of the info requested in

1. What does the signature/footer describe?

Thanks so much in advance,

LT