Patent ID: 8917111

Claim:
A method of configuring programmable resources of a programmable integrated circuit (IC), comprising: loading a first set of configuration data into the programmable IC using a configuration port of the programmable IC, the programmable IC including a plurality of input/output (I/O) ports and the configuration port; configuring programmable resources of the programmable IC according to the first set of configuration data to implement a master data link circuit and at least one slave data link circuit, the master data link circuit including: a communication circuit hardwired in the programmable IC; and a set of the programmable resources of the programmable IC arranged to form a communication control circuit configured to control the communication circuit to provide a data link for communicating data via a first one of the plurality of I/O ports; loading a second set of configuration data using the master data link circuit; and configuring the programmable resources of the programmable IC according to the second set of configuration data to implement a first logic circuit that is configured to communicate data via the slave data link circuit.