Patent ID: 7206930

Claim:
An apparatus for reducing strapping devices in a computer system having at least one configurable device, comprising: a peripheral bus; a non-volatile memory, coupled to the peripheral bus, having a reserved space to store a configuration value for the at least one configurable device; and a bridge logic, coupled to the peripheral bus, comprising: a latch, responsive to a configuration enable signal, to assert the configuration value to configure the at least one configurable device trough the peripheral bus, wherein the configuration enable signal is asserted except when a strapping ready signal is asserted and a run-time programmable configuration write signal is deasserted; and a multiplexer, having an output port coupled to the latch, to assert the configuration value stored in the non-volatile memory on the output port during power-up and reset states of the computer system, and to assert run-time programmable configuration information on the output port during other operational states, based on a state of the strapping ready signal.