I'm upgrading a system that hitherto ran on a 8031 and which would be customized / updated by plugging in a new eprom.

The new beast uses an ADuC832 with 60K of flash RAM.
For field upgradeability the boss sez, why don't we stick a USB port on there and use a flash card reader (cheap) like the ones to read camera flash memory chips... We send out the reader with the upgraded code chip in it and they just plug it into the USB port and it can update itself! The user doesn't need to have a computer.

Sounds tempting but I'm hesitant.
The ADuC832 has provision for bootstrap reprogramming of the flash memory from the serial port.
I have found USB modules that will look like a serial port (to the 8051) on the 8051 side but I have no clue how to talk to the card reader beyond. Looking for what protocol might be used I get the impression that I'm trying to harness a Ferrari to a humble lawn mower.
My question is: can the 8052 UART be made to communicate meaningfully with a flash card?
Any hints, opinions are appreciated.
Thanks
Fritz in northern california