Patent ID: 7366999

Claim:
A method in a data processing system of creating an association between a configuration construct and a mapping function, said method comprising: receiving one or more design intermediate files representing a digital design, said one or more design intermediate files specifying a configuration latch within said digital design and including: a Dial specification statement defining a relationship between each of a plurality of Dial input values of the Dial and a respective one of a plurality of different Dial output values of the Dial; a Dial instantiation statement instantiating an instance of said Dial in association with said configuration latch such that a one-to-one correspondence exists between a value contained within said configuration latch and Dial input value of said instance of said Dial; and a statement associating a mapping function with the Dial such that a selected transformation is applied to values read from or written to said instance of said Dial, wherein said selected transformation is selected from a set of transformations consisting of a mathematical transformation, a logical transformation, a shift and generation of a pseudo-random value; and in response to receiving said one or more design intermediate files, creating at least one entry in a configuration database representing said association between said Dial and said mapping function.