NON-VOLATILE MEMORY CONFIGURATION SCHEME FOR VOLATILE-MEMORY-BASED PROGRAMMABLE CIRCUITS IN AN FPGA

摘要

A non-volatile memory configuration scheme is disclosed for volatile-memory-based programmable circuits in a programmable integrated circuit that includes an FPGA fabric, a plurality of first configurable circuit elements external to the FPGA fabric, and a plurality of second configurable circuit elements external to the FPGA fabric. A plurality of distributed configuration non-volatile memory cells is disposed in the FPGA, each one of the distributed configuration non-volatile memory cells coupled to a different one of the plurality of first configurable circuit elements. A non-volatile memory array stores configuration information for the second configurable circuit elements. A plurality of register cells is disposed with the second configurable circuit elements and is coupleable to the non-volatile memory array, each one of the register cells coupled to a different one of the plurality of second configurable circuit elements.