Patent ID: 7203877

Claim:
A method for pausing on a SCAN based test, said method comprising the steps of: a) reading original SCAN chain data for a SCAN partition; b) saving said original SCAN chain data; c) rewriting said original SCAN chain data with a strobe character at a link in said original SCAN chain data where a pause is desired; d) setting a compare level for an output pin associated with said strobe character so that a device under test failure results when automatic test equipment executes said SCAN partition; e) masking all output pins except for said output pin associated with said strobe character; f) executing said SCAN partition to failure in order to provide a paused condition; g) performing any desired tasks during said paused condition; h) if a paused condition is necessary on another link in said original SCAN chain data, returning to step (c) of said method, otherwise moving forward to step (i); and i) rewriting said original SCAN chain data back to said automatic test equipment which was saved in step (b).