Patent ID: 7831874

Claim:
A method comprising: (a) each portion of a plurality of portions of a system self-tests itself for defects and stores defect information into a memory local to the portion, wherein each portion includes a field programmable gate array and the memory local to the portion; (b) reading defect information from the memories of the portions of the system; (c) generating a system description using the defect information; (d) compiling a user design using the system description, wherein the compiling results in each field programmable gate array of the system being configured such that the system is configured to realize the user design; (e) running the system; (f) stopping the running of the system; (g) each portion self-tests itself for defects and updates the defect information in its local memory, wherein at least one new defect is detected in at least one part of one of the portions; (h) reading the defect information from the memories of the portions; (i) updating the system description using the defect information; and (j) determining whether the new defect is in a part of a portion that is used by the realized user design and if the new defect is determined to be in a part of the portion that is used by the realized user design then recompiling the user design and resuming running of the system, otherwise resuming the running of the system without recompiling.