Patent ID: 7788438

Claim:
A multi-input/output serial peripheral interface of an integrated circuit, the multi-input/output serial peripheral interface comprising: a plurality of pins couple to the integrated circuit, wherein: the integrated circuit receives an instruction under a control of selectively using only a first pin or a combination of the first pin, a second pin, a third pin, and a fourth pin of the multi-input/output serial peripheral interface, and the integrated circuit receives an address using the first pin, the second pin, the third pin, and the fourth pin of the multi-input/output serial peripheral interface, and the integrated circuit sends a read out data using the first pin, the second pin, the third pin, and the fourth pin of the multi-input/output serial peripheral interface, wherein the second pin is for preventing the read out data from being read from the integrated circuit, and transmitting the instruction, the address or the read out data when the second pin is not for preventing the read out data from being read from the integrated circuit.