Patent ID: 7738399

Claim:
An identification system for identifying a target system, comprising: means for coupling said target system with a hardware logic emulation system; means for providing a predetermined signal state on a selected conductor of said coupling means; and means for receiving said predetermined signal state via said selected conductor, wherein said receiving means places the target system into an identification mode in response to said received predetermined signal state and wherein the target system while in an 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 coupling means, said receiving means being remote from said providing means, 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 providing means provides a predetermined signal state on each of a plurality of selected conductors of said coupling means, and wherein each of said predetermined signal states of said plurality of selected conductors provides a target system characteristic of varying levels.