Patent ID: 7602740

Claim:
A method for allowing an adaptable electronic device to be adapted prior to sale to an end user, the device including adaptive hardware having a first heterogeneous configurable computational unit having a first computational architecture including a first plurality of computing elements and an interconnection network with interconnections between the first plurality of computing elements, the interconnection network allowing simultaneously sending different configuration information to the interconnections between the first plurality of computing elements, and a second heterogeneous configurable computational unit having a second computational architecture different from the first computational architecture of the first computational unit, the second computational architecture including a second plurality of computing elements coupled to a second interconnection network having interconnections between the second plurality of computing elements, wherein the device is sold by a retailer, the method comprising: obtaining an order for the device with a functionality; adapting the device with the functionality by sending configuration information to the interconnection networks to configure the interconnections between at least some of the first and second plurality of computing elements to configure the first and second computational units to perform the functionality; and selling the device with the functionality to an end user.