Patent ID: 7694197

Claim:
An electronic circuit comprising: a plurality of logic cells; a plurality of configurable cells; a plurality of command conductors, at least a part of them being connected to the configurable cells, and in which there selectively flow command signals received and/or sent in operation by a controller circuit such as an access controller, the configurable cells selectively adopting, as a function of the command signals, either a functional state in which the configurable cells are functionally connected to logic cells with which they co-operate to form at least one logic circuit or in a chained state in which the configurable cells are functionally connected in a chain to form a shift register; and a spy circuit connected to a set of several command conductors, of which at least a first one is assigned to the transmission of the chaining command signal configuring the configurable cells as a shift register, at least a second one is assigned to the transmission of the passage-to-test-mode command signal which activates the controller and at least a third one is assigned to the transmission of a mode signal, of the controller; the spy circuit comprising, a combination circuit carrying out a logic combination of the signals received on the set of command conductors, and delivering at least one output signal in a first state if the passage-to-test-mode command signal or the mode signal of the controller is inactive, while the chaining command signal is active, and a state detection signal which produces a state signal representing the logic state of the output signal.