Apparatus and method for reconfiguring the pin assignments of one or more functinal circuits in a microcontroller

摘要

An apparatus and method are provided for reconfiguring the pin assignments of the functional circuits in a microcontroller. The apparatus includes a first pin, a second pin, a functional circuit, and a multiplexer. The multiplexer is operable to receive a flag, couple the functional circuit to the first pin when the flag is equal to 1; and couple the functional circuit to the second pin when said flag is equal to 0. A configuration register is also provided that stores the flag and is connected to the multiplexer. The first pin may be coupled to another functional circuit when the flag is equal to 0. This permits the two functional circuits to operate simultaneously. In the method, the functional circuit is assigned to the first pin as a default setting in one operating mode, and reassigned to the second pin in an alternate operating mode. The method may further include the step of assigning the other functional circuit to the first pin in the alternate operating mode, so that the two functional circuits can operate simultaneously in the alternate operating mode. The reconfiguration can be performed either when the electronic device is initially programmed or during its normal operation. <IMAGE>