Patent ID: 7757294

Claim:
A method comprising: designating an identifier range of a plurality of unique device identifiers for integrated circuit devices which are allowed to receive an IP core; generating an encrypted IP core comprising a portion of a design to be programmed into an integrated circuit device (IC) by encrypting said IP core using a public key; downloading said encrypted IP core and said identifier range to a plurality of integrated circuit devices; wherein said encrypted IP core and said identifier range are received at each of said plurality of integrated circuit devices; determining, for each integrated circuit device of said plurality of integrated circuit devices, whether a unique device identifier is within said identifier range; wherein said unique device identifier of each of said integrated circuit devices is stored on said integrated circuit device, and said determining includes determining, by each of said integrated circuit devices, if said stored unique device identifier is within said identifier range; recovering said IP core within each integrated circuit device having a unique identifier determined to be within said identifier range by decrypting said encrypted IP core using a private key, wherein said private key is associated with said plurality of integrated circuit devices, and said public key and said private key correspond to one another; and inserting, within each integrated circuit device of said plurality of integrated circuit devices having a unique identifier determined to be within said identifier range, said decrypted IP core into said design to be programmed into said plurality of integrated circuit devices.