Abstract: A circuit testing approach involves configurable switch control for automatically detecting and routing test signals along a plurality of test circuit paths (240, 242, 244). According to an example embodiment of the present invention, a microcontroller (205) is programmed to monitor input nodes (210) using an interrupt routine for automatically detecting test signals (i.e., digital and/or JTAG test signals). Upon the detection of the test signals, the microcontroller controls a controllable switch (220) for routing the test data along one of the test circuit paths. With this approach, manual switching for routing the test signals is not necessary, which has been found to be useful in applications where access to the circuit paths for switching is difficult or impossible.

Abstract: A circuit testing and control approach involves configurable switch control for automatically detecting and routing test signals along a plurality of test circuit paths. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, graphical user interface (GUI) (240) includes stored computer-executable code that, when executed, causes a micro-computer circuit to send configuration signals to a microcontroller (220). A configurable circuit (215) coupled to the microcontroller is then configured by the microcontroller, in response to the configuration signals, for routing test signals using controllable switches. In one implementation, the configurable circuit includes circuits on inter-connectable circuit boards (210, 250, 260), with sense nodes for detecting the presence of an inter-connectable circuit board coupled to another. In response to the detected presence (or lack thereof), the controllable switches control the routing of the test signals between the inter-connectable circuit boards.