Patent ID: 7984323

Claim:
An apparatus to provide a backup configuration image, the apparatus comprising: a receiving module that receives a configuration file for a programmable hardware device, the configuration file comprising a synchronization key and a configuration image; an image write module that writes the configuration image from the configuration file to a first section of a non-volatile memory device that is in communication with the programmable hardware device, the memory device comprising the first section and a second section, the second section storing a backup configuration file comprising the synchronization key and a backup configuration image; and a key write module that writes at least a portion of the synchronization key to the first section of the memory device in response to the image write module completing the write of the configuration image to the first section of the memory device, wherein the programmable hardware device loads one of the configuration image and the backup configuration image during a loading cycle in response to reading a valid copy of the synchronization key from the memory device, the valid copy of the synchronization key corresponding to the loaded configuration image.