Patent ID: 7586430

Claim:
An integrated circuit (IC) device comprising: a semiconductor chip having circuitry to form analog signal conditioning means, command detection means, and digital control means; a first contact, a second contact, a third contact, wherein said first contact is electrically coupled to said circuitry and supplies a negative polarity power supply voltage or signal ground to said circuitry; wherein said second contact is electrically coupled to said analog signal conditioning means and said command detection means such that it can act both as a command input and an analog signal output; wherein said third contact is electrically coupled to said circuitry and supplies a positive polarity power supply voltage to said circuitry; wherein said command detection means provide command information coming from said second contact to said digital control means; wherein said digital control means are able to control said analog signal conditioning means such that said second contact can be switched between at least a command reception mode and an analog signal output mode; wherein said analog signal output mode produces a voltage level on said second contact whose voltage magnitude corresponds to a conditioned analog signal prepared by said analog signal conditioning means.