Patent ID: 7546451

Claim:
A method of providing and executing a continuous flow of instructions, the method comprising the acts of: (a) accessing, by a host processor, an instruction space of a memory component of a programmable device, the instruction space having a hold segment and a program segment; (b) loading, by the host processor, hold instructions into the hold segment of the instruction space, the hold instructions comprising a looping routine; (c) executing, by the programmable device, at least a portion of the hold instructions loaded in the hold segment; (d) while the programmable device is executing the hold instructions, signaling, by the programmable device to the host processor, that the program segment is ready to be loaded; (e) in response to the signaling by the programmable device in act (d), loading, by the host processor, a first set of program instructions into the program segment of the instruction space; (f) signaling, by the host processor to the programmable device, that the program segment is loaded; (g) in response to the signaling by the host processor in act (f), terminating execution of the hold instructions and executing without substantial interruption, by the programmable device, the first set of program instructions loaded in the program segment; and (h) upon completion of act (g), automatically reverting back, by the programmable device, to executing the hold instructions loaded in the hold segment in act (b) such that the hold instructions begin executing without substantial interruption after the execution of the first set of program instructions has completed.