Patent ID: 7738398

Claim:
An identification system for identifying a target system, comprising: a biasing system for providing a predetermined signal state on a selected conductor of a communication cable assembly for coupling the target system with a hardware logic emulation system; and a processing system for receiving said predetermined signal state via said selected conductor, wherein the processing system places the target system into an identification mode in response to said received predetermined signal state and wherein the target system while in the identification mode provides information regarding a target system characteristic including a system type of the target system to the hardware logic emulation system via the communication cable assembly, said processing system being remote from said biasing system, wherein, once the hardware logic emulation system has identified the target system in response at least partially to the system type of the target system characteristic, the hardware logic emulation system places the target system out of the identification mode and into an operation mode, wherein the target system communicates with the hardware logic emulation system in the operation mode to verify the functionality of a logic circuit design; wherein said biasing system provides a predetermined signal state on each of a plurality of selected conductors of the communication cable assembly; and wherein each of said predetermined signal states of said plurality of selected conductors provides a target system characteristic of varying levels.