Patent ID: 8626307

Claim:
An electronic system including a plurality of components, each component including one or more integrated circuits, wherein each integrated circuit is, during normal operation of the system, configured in provide individual operating functionality for its respective component; wherein at least one of the integrated circuits is configured to be installed as a generic integrated circuit having a plurality of connecting pins and being capable of providing any one of a number of individual operating functionalities, the generic integrated circuit being configured to: determine where in the system the generic integrated circuit has been installed upon system initialization by determining which of the plurality of connecting pins have been electrically connected during installation and which one of the pins has been connected to a power supply during installation; based upon the determination, configure itself; to provide the individual operating functionality for normal operation of the system; as an internal part of the system in response to determining that a first one of the pins has been connected to the power supply; and as an external part of the system in response to determining that a second one of the pins has been connected to the power supply.