Patent ID: 9690741
Date: 2017-06-27
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A method for configuring a device using a serial link, comprising: a slave device negotiating a serial link comprising a first number of serial lanes with a master device for use during a first configuration mode; a serial interface of the slave device receiving configuration data from the master device over the serial link, processing the data into a form usable by the slave device, and transmitting the data to slave configuration circuitry in the slave device, and the slave configuration circuitry using that configuration data to configure distributed configuration blocks in the slave device to implement a function, wherein the slave configuration circuitry is connected to the serial interface by a plurality of communication links, and wherein a number of the plurality of communication links between the slave configuration circuitry and the serial interface corresponds to the first number of serial lanes between the master device and the slave device; after configuration is complete, the slave device negotiating a second number of serial lanes for the serial link between the master device and the slave device during a first operations mode; the slave device exchanging data with the master device over the serial link while the slave device performs the function for which the slave device has been configured; wherein the first number of serial lanes to provide the configuration data to implement the function is smaller than the second number of serial lanes to provide the data to perform the function.