General purpose pin mapping for a general purpose application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)
View Patent ↗Disclosed herein are various embodiments of an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The ASIC includes a plurality of functional units. Each functional unit may include a plurality of connections. The ASIC may also include a plurality of input and/or output pins configured to couple the ASIC to a circuit board. A programmable client may be associated with each pin, and each programmable client may be programmed to selectively connect the pin with which it is associated to one of the plurality of connections of one of the plurality of functional units. In various embodiments, the programmable client may be embodied as a multiplexer or a crossbar switch. Further, the programmable client may be programmed using any of boot firmware, hardware jumpers, and/or non-volatile programming registers.
1. An ASIC configured to couple to a circuit board, the ASIC comprising:
a plurality of functional units each having a plurality of connections;
a plurality of output pins configured to couple the ASIC to a circuit board;
a plurality of output programmable clients, each of said plurality of output pins associated with a corresponding output programmable client, and each output programmable client comprising:
an output associated with said output pin, and
a plurality of inputs, said inputs associated with a subset of said plurality of connections of said plurality of functional units;
wherein each output programmable client is programmable to selectively connect one of said plurality of inputs to said output;
a plurality of input pins configured to couple the ASIC to the circuit board;
a plurality of input programmable clients, each of said plurality of input pins associated with a corresponding programmable client, and each input programmable client comprising:
an input associated with said input pin, and
a plurality of outputs, said outputs associated with a subset of said plurality of connections of said plurality of functional units; and
wherein each input programmable client is programmable to selectively connect one of said plurality of outputs to said input.
2. An ASIC according to claim 1 wherein each programmable client is selected from the group consisting of multiplexers, and crossbar switches.
3. An ASIC according to claim 1 wherein each programmable client is programmed by one selected from the group consisting of boot firmware, hardware jumpers and non-volatile programming registers.
4. An ASIC according to claim 1 wherein each programmable client is associated with four functional unit connections.
5. An ASIC according to claim 1 wherein each pin unit is independently programmable so as to selectively determine its connection to a particular connection of a particular functional unit.
6. A method for pin mapping in an ASIC configured to couple to a circuit board, the ASIC comprising:
providing an ASIC comprising:
a plurality of functional units each having a plurality of connections;
a plurality of output pins configured to couple the ASIC to a circuit board;
a plurality of output programmable clients, each of said plurality of output pins associated with a corresponding output programmable client, and each output programmable client comprising:
an output associated with said output pin, and
a plurality of inputs, said inputs associated with a subset of said plurality of connections of said plurality of functional units;
wherein each output programmable client is programmable to selectively connect one of said plurality of inputs to said output;
a plurality of input pins configured to couple the ASIC to a circuit board;
a plurality of input programmable clients, each of said plurality of input pins associated with a corresponding input programmable client, and each input programmable client comprising:
an input associated with said input pin, and
a plurality of outputs, said outputs associated with a subset of said plurality of connections of said plurality of functional units; and
programming each output programmable client to selectively connect one of said plurality of inputs to said output; and
programming each input programmable client to selectively connect one of said plurality of outputs to said input.
7. A method according to claim 6 wherein each programmable client is selected from the group consisting of multiplexers and crossbar switches.
8. A method according to claim 6 wherein each programmable client is programmed by one selected from the group consisting of boot firmware, hardware jumpers and non-volatile programming registers.
9. A method according to claim 6 wherein each programmable client is associated with four functional unit connections.