An integrated circuit may include a packet decoder to receive serial data and to decode JTAG signals from the packets received. A JTAG processor may test the electrical circuitry dependent on the JTAG signals decoded. In a further embodiment, a test system may include a library of selectable JTAG routines. An encoder may encode a signal with serial data representative of sequential JTAG signals for at least one of the selectable JTAG routines. In a method of testing, the integrated circuit may receive the serial data signal at a predetermined terminal. A portion of the serial data may be examined to determine the presence of a predefined signature key. JTAG data may then be parsed from the serial data and tests performed based on the parsed JTAG data.

This invention is a system for remotely loading and remotely maintaining an electronic card (5) belonging to automation equipment and comprising a minimum of a processing unit (31), an internal bus (30) and a resources controller (10) which has one or more JTAG interface registers (42, 43) accessible for reading/writing by a JTAG server (50) that is external to the automation equipment. The resources controller (10) contains a status engine (11) capable of interpreting and carrying out instructions stored in one or more of the JTAG interface registers (43) and able to use the resources (21a, 21b, 21i) managed by the resources controller (10) and shared with the processing unit (31), without the intervention of the processing unit (31).

The disclosed embodiments relate to the field of remote server management. More particularly, the embodiments relate to providing an embedded JTAG master in a remote server management controller. In an exemplary embodiment, the JTAG master is adapted to perform command and control functions on a wide range of integrated circuit components within a managed server. The JTAG master may also be configured to provide communication according to the In-Target Probe (ITP) and In-Circuit Emulation (ICE) test methodologies.