Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device, comprising:a semiconductor substrate;a first gateway conductor integrated on the semiconductor substrate;a plurality of solid-state switching devices integrated on the semiconductor substrate, including a first group wherein each of the switching devices of the first group is coupled to the first gateway conductor; anda plurality of bidirectional contacts, each coupled to one of the plurality of switching devices, including a first set and a vehicle set, wherein each of the contacts of the first set is coupled to one of the switching devices of the first group, and wherein each of the contacts of the vehicle set correlates to one of a plurality of vehicle interface connector pins;wherein any one of the first set of contacts can be linked to any other one of the first set of contacts by closing a first corresponding switch of the first group of switching devices that links the any one of the first set of contacts to the first gateway conductor and closing a second corresponding switch of the first group of switching devices that links the any other one of the first set of contacts to the first gateway conductor;thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of any one of the plurality of vehicle interface connector pins that correlates to any one of the first set of contacts to any other one of the first set of contacts. 2. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 1, further comprising a switch control module integrated on the semiconductor substrate, the switch control module being coupled to the plurality of switching devices to control the plurality of switching devices. 3. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 2, further comprising a bus interface module integrated on the semiconductor substrate, the bus interface module being coupled to the switch control module to provide a communications interface between the switch control module and at least an interconnect bus. 4. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of switching devices is coupled to one and only one of the plurality of contacts. 5. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 1, wherein each of the contacts of the vehicle set correlates to one and only one of a plurality of vehicle interface connector pins. 6. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 1, wherein each of the contacts of the vehicle set correlates to one and only one of a plurality of pins on a vehicle interface connector configured substantially in accordance with a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J1962 standard. 7. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of solid-state switching devices and the plurality of bidirectional contacts are configured to transmit an electrical signal having an electrical potential equal to that of a vehicle electrical system. 8. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of contacts further includes a tool set, and each of the contacts of the tool set correlate to one of a plurality of vehicle communication network protocol interface circuits in a vehicle diagnostics tool, and the vehicle set and the tool set are mutually exclusive;thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of any one of the plurality of vehicle interface connector pins that correlates to any one of the first set of contacts to any one of the plurality of vehicle communication network protocol interface circuits in the vehicle diagnostics tool that correlates to any other one of the first set of contacts. 9. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 8, wherein at least one contact of the tool set correlates to a vehicle-based controller area network (CAN) protocol interface circuit in a vehicle diagnostics tool. 10. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 8, wherein at least one contact of the tool set correlates to a Chrysler Collision Detection (CCD) protocol interface circuit in a vehicle diagnostics tool. 11. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 8, wherein at least one contact of the tool set correlates to a vehicle-based communication network protocol interface circuit in a vehicle diagnostics tool, the communication network protocol being substantially in accordance with an International Standards Organization (ISO) 9141-2 standard. 12. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 8, wherein at least one contact of the tool set correlates to one of the following vehicle-based communication network protocol interface circuits: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J1850 Variable Pulse Width (VPW), SAE J1850 Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9141-2, Controller Area Network (CAN), Ford Standard Corporate Protocol (SCP), Chrysler Collision Detection (CCD), DaimlerChrysler Scalable Coherent Interface (SCI), General Motors (GM) 8192 Universal Serial Receiver/Transmitter (UART) or Assembly Line Diagnostic Link (ALDL), Bosch Controller Area Network (CAN), Ford Data Communication Link (DCL). 13. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 8, further comprising a second gateway conductor integrated on the semiconductor substrate, the plurality of switching devices further including a second group wherein each of the switching devices of the second group is coupled to the second gateway conductor, the first group and the second group being mutually exclusive, and the plurality of contacts further including a second set wherein each of the contacts of the second set is coupled to one of the switching devices of the second group;wherein any one of the second set of contacts can be linked to any other one of the second set of contacts by closing a third corresponding switch of the second group of switching devices that links the any one of the second set of contacts to the second gateway conductor and closing a fourth corresponding switch of the second group of switching devices that links the any other one of the second set of contacts to the second gateway conductor;thereby further facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of any one of the plurality of vehicle interface connector pins that correlates to any one of the second set of contacts to any one of the plurality of vehicle communication network protocol interface circuits in the vehicle diagnostics tool that correlates to any other one of the second set of contacts. 14. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 13, wherein each of the contacts of the vehicle set is coupled to one of the switching devices of the first group and to one of the switching devices of the second group, such that any one of the contacts of the vehicle set can be linked either to the first gateway conductor or to the second gateway conductor by closing either a fifth corresponding switch of the first group of switching devices or a sixth corresponding switch of the second group of switching devices, respectively;thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of any one of the plurality of vehicle interface connector pins to any one of the plurality of vehicle communication network protocol interface circuits in the vehicle diagnostics tool that correlates either to any one of the first set of contacts or to any one of the second set of contacts. 15. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 14, wherein each of the contacts of the tool set that is coupled to one of the switching devices of the first group is paired with one of the contacts of the tool set that is coupled to one of the switching devices of the second group, and each such pair of contacts of the tool set correlates to a pair of transmission lines coupled to one of the plurality of vehicle communication network protocol interface circuits in the vehicle diagnostics tool;thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of any two of the plurality of vehicle interface connector pins to any one pair of transmission lines coupled to any one of the plurality of vehicle communication network protocol interface circuits in the vehicle diagnostics tool. 16. A dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device, comprising:a semiconductor substrate;a first gateway conductor integrated on the semiconductor substrate;a second gateway conductor integrated on the semiconductor substrate;a plurality of pairs of solid-state vehicle-side switching devices integrated on the semiconductor substrate, each such pair consisting of a first vehicle-side switching device coupled to the first gateway conductor and a second vehicle-side switching device coupled to the second gateway conductor;a plurality of pairs of solid-state tool-side switching devices integrated on the semiconductor substrate, each such pair consisting of a first tool-side switching device coupled to the first gateway conductor and a second tool-side switching device coupled to the second gateway conductor;a switch control module integrated on the semiconductor substrate, the switch control module being coupled to the vehicle-side switching devices and to the tool-side switching devices to control the vehicle-side switching devices and the tool-side switching devices;a bus interface module integrated on the semiconductor substrate, the bus interface module being coupled to the switch control module to provide a communications interface between the switch control module and at least an interconnect bus;a plurality of bidirectional vehicle-side contacts, each correlating to one and only one of a plurality of vehicle interface connector pins and each being coupled to the first and second vehicle-side switching devices of one of the plurality of pairs of vehicle-side switching devices; anda plurality of pairs of bidirectional tool-side contacts, each tool-side contact being coupled to one and only one of the tool-side switching devices, and each pair of tool-side contacts correlating to a first transmission line and to a second transmission line, the first and second transmission lines being coupled to one of a plurality of vehicle communication network protocol interface circuits in a vehicle diagnostics tool;wherein any two of the plurality of vehicle-side contacts can be linked to any one of the plurality of pairs of tool-side contacts by closing the first and second tool-side switching devices coupled to the any one of the plurality of pairs of tool-side contacts, closing the first vehicle-side switching device coupled to one of the any two of the plurality of vehicle-side contacts and closing the second vehicle-side switching device coupled to another of the any two of the plurality of vehicle-side contacts;thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of any two of the plurality of vehicle interface connector pins to the first transmission line and to the second transmission line of any one of the plurality of vehicle communication network protocol interface circuits in the vehicle diagnostics tool. 17. A dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device, comprising:first means for receiving a first electrical signal, the first means for receiving correlating to a first vehicle interface connector pin;second means for receiving a second electrical signal, the second means for receiving correlating to a second vehicle interface connector pin;integrated-circuit means for selectively linking the first means for receiving either to a first gateway conductor or to a second gateway conductor;integrated-circuit means for selectively linking the second means for receiving either to the first gateway conductor or to the second gateway conductor;first means for sending the first electrical signal, the first means for sending correlating to a first transmission line coupled to a vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in a vehicle diagnostics tool;second means for sending the second electrical signal, the second means for sending correlating to a second transmission line coupled to a vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in the vehicle diagnostics tool;integrated-circuit means for selectively linking the first gateway conductor to the first means for sending; andintegrated-circuit means for selectively linking the second gateway conductor to the second means for sending;thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of the first and second vehicle interface connector pins to the first and second transmission lines of the vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in the vehicle diagnostics tool. 18. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 17, further comprising integrated-circuit means for controlling the means for selectively linking the first means for receiving, the means for selectively linking the second means for receiving, the means for selectively linking the first gateway conductor, and the means for selectively linking the second gateway conductor. 19. The dynamically reconfigurable mixed-signal device of claim 18, further comprising communication means for connecting the means for controlling to at least an interconnect bus. 20. A method of adapting a vehicle diagnostics tool interface, comprising the steps of:receiving a first electrical signal, correlating to a first vehicle interface connector pin;receiving a second electrical signal, correlating to a second vehicle interface connector pin;selectively switching the first electrical signal to a first gateway conductor;selectively switching the second electrical signal to a second gateway conductor;selectively switching the first gateway conductor to a first transmission interface contact correlating to a vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in a vehicle diagnostics tool; andselectively switching the second gateway conductor to a second transmission interface contact correlating to the vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in the vehicle diagnostics tool;thereby facilitating dynamically reconfigurable interconnection of the first and second vehicle interface connector pins to the vehicle communication network protocol interface circuit in the vehicle diagnostics tool. 21. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of receiving control signals from at least an interconnect bus.