Patent ID: 7219278

Claim:
A programmable circuit configurator having an interface for coupling to a target circuit device and having dedicated test-signal circuitry for testing a configured circuit that includes the target circuit device, the programmable circuit configurator comprising: routing circuitry on the configured circuit having configurable test signal routing paths with controllable switches therein for coupling test signals between the dedicated test-signal circuitry and the target circuit device via the interface; a programmable microcontroller communicatively coupled to the routing circuitry, the microcontroller being programmed to control the controllable switches and thereby configure the test signal routing paths; and a communications link adapted to communicatively couple an external user-controlled device and the programmable microcontroller for passing reconfiguration-control signals to the programmable microcontroller and for reporting characteristics of the configured test signal routing paths, the reconfiguration-control signals being communicatively coupled to the programmable microcontroller for reconfiguring the test signal routing paths, and wherein the microcontroller is separably operable from the configured circuit and programmed to monitor operational characteristics of the conifigured circuit prior to power-up of the configured circuit.