Patent ID: 8183881

Claim:
An integrated circuit having configuration memory, comprising: a configuration data interface; a microcontroller coupled to the configuration data interface for receiving encrypted configuration data, the microcontroller having access to at least one set of instructions for decrypting the encrypted configuration data; configuration memory coupled to the microcontroller; and a plurality of drivers associated with programmable resources of the integrated circuit for generating output signals controlled by configuration data stored in the configuration memory; the microcontroller configured to assert a disable signal to disable selected drivers of the plurality of drivers to create a non-contentious environment for buffering the encrypted configuration data in at least a portion of the configuration memory, the microcontroller configured to write the encrypted configuration data to the portion of the configuration memory and, responsive to the set of instructions, to read the encrypted configuration data back from the portion of the configuration memory for decryption and to activate the selected drivers of the plurality of drivers after the encrypted configuration data is read from the configuration memory, wherein decrypted configuration data is stored in the configuration memory to control the programmable resources after the selected drivers are activated.