Patent ID: 8159263

Claim:
A programmable integrated circuit, comprising: a plurality of voltage domains each including logic circuitry powered by a respective power network; wherein a voltage magnitude of the respective power network of each voltage domain is independently selectable for specifying a tradeoff between performance and power consumption of the logic circuitry in the voltage domain; a plurality of level shifters; wherein each level shifter couples a first and second one of the voltage domains, couples a first port of the logic circuitry of the first voltage domain to a second port of the logic circuitry of the second voltage domain, and shifts from a first signaling protocol of the first port to a second signaling protocol of the second port, the first signaling protocol referenced to the voltage magnitude of the respective power network powering the logic circuitry of the first voltage domain and the second signaling protocol referenced to the voltage magnitude of the respective power network powering the second voltage domain; and a control circuit coupled to the logic circuitry in each of the plurality of voltage domains, the control circuit configured and arranged to independently control the voltage magnitude of the respective power network of each of the voltage domains.