An
electronic unit comprising a
microcontroller (μC) having a control input (μC_sw), at least one control output (μC_ctl1) and a
signal input (μC_rx), and an interface circuit (IF) having at least one connection terminal (IF_ext1), a control output (IF_ctl), a control input (IF_sw1) and a
signal output (IF_tx). The control output (IF_ctl) is electrically connected to the control input (μC_sw), the control output (μC_ctl1) is electrically connected to the control input (IF_sw1), and the
signal output (IF_tx) is electrically connected to the signal input (μC_rx). Both the
microcontroller and the interface circuit have a respective first operating mode (μC I ; IF I ) and at least one respective second operating mode (μC II ; IF II ). The
microcontroller is designed to output an instruction at the control output (μC_ctl) in the operating mode (μC I ) which causes the interface circuit to operate in the first operating mode, and the interface circuit is designed to differentiate an input signal (e1) applied at the connection terminal (IF_ext1), that is to say to convert the input signal into a differentiated signal (a1) which represents the differential of the input signal over time, and to generate a
binary control signal using the differentiated signal (a1) and to output the
binary control signal at the control output (IF_ctl) at least in the first operating mode (IF I ). The microcontroller is additionally designed to output an instruction at the control output (μC_ctl1) in the operating mode (μCII) which causes the interface circuit (IF) to operate in the operating mode (IF II ), and the interface circuit is designed to convert a
digital input signal applied at the connection terminal (IF_ext1) into a binary output signal (sD1) which represents the
digital input signal in the operating mode (IF II ), and to output the output signal at the signal output (IF_tx). The microcontroller (μC) is additionally designed to receive and process a
digital input signal applied at the signal input (μC_rx) in the operating mode (μC II ).