Abstract: A computing system is presented which has a central processing unit (CPU) and peripheral devices. Identification registers associated with each peripheral device may be accessed by the CPU to identify characteristics of individual peripheral devices. Additionally, configuration registers within each peripheral device allow a particular peripheral device to determine whether instructions from the CPU are addressing that particular peripheral device.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are disclosed for transferring information into an integrated circuit over the power supply pins of the integrated circuit. The apparatus and method are used to load a test program into memory of the computer system and the system is caused to execute the test program to verify proper operation of the computer system. The apparatus and method are implemented by converting the information to be loaded into a serial bit stream, using the serial bit stream to modulate the power supply voltage of the computer system. Inside the computer system, the low power supply levels are sensed by a low power supply detection unit an fed to a serial-to-parallel converter where it is converted back into the original information.