Patent ID: 7046035

Claim:
An integrated circuit, comprising: at least two pin interfaces, each of said pin interfaces including: a conductive pad formed in said integrated circuit for coupling analog and digital signals thereto; a digital interface formed in said integrated circuit for selectively coupling digital signals either to or from said conductive pad, at least one analog line formed in said integrated circuit for carrying analog signals between said analog line and each said conductive pad on each of said pin interfaces, and an analog transmission gate disposed between said at least one analog line and said associated conductive pad for allowing analog input signals to be received from said associated conductive pad and analog signals to be transmitted to said associated conductive pad; a comparator having one input coupled to sense the level of the signal on at least one of said conductive pads and a second input connected to a reference voltage for comparing the sensed level to said reference voltage and provide a digital output representing a true or a false result; and a controller for controlling each of said digital interfaces to selectively couple digital signals either to or from said associated conductor pad, and each of said associated analog transmission gates to selectively connect said associated conductor pad to said at least one analog line and to monitor the output of said comparator to determine the relationship of the signal level on at least one of the conductive pads coupled to the one input thereof.