Low pin count reset configuration
View Patent ↗An integrated circuit is configured with a pin for specifying a reset configuration vector of a circuitry within the integrated circuit. The resistance value of a low cost external resistor coupled to the pin is detected and utilized to identify the configuration. Logic on the integrated circuit detects and utilizes the resistor value to index to a configuration vector in a look-up table. The integrated circuit is then configured in accordance with the indexed configuration vector.
1. A system comprising:
a configurable integrated circuit with a configuration pin; and
a circuit connected to the configuration pin capable of generating a reference current or voltage with a predictable voltage/current relationship based on a resistance value coupled to the configuration pin; and
a resistor value detection circuit for determining a look-up table index value in response to the reference current or voltage, wherein the resistor value detection circuit includes:
a reference up-counter configured to be clocked at a reference clock frequency;
a down-counter configured to be clocked at a frequency of the reference current or voltage; and
counter control logic circuitry.
2. The system of claim 1 , where the circuit connected to the configuration pin capable of generating a reference current or voltage with a predictable voltage/current relationship comprises:
a current controlled oscillator.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the configurable integrated circuit comprises:
a look-up table for associating a configuration vector for the configurable integrated circuit with the reference current or voltage.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the counter control logic circuitry comprises logic that is configured to:
initialize the down-counter,
initialize the reference up-counter,
clock the down-counter,
clock the reference up-counter, and
disable the clocking of the reference up-counter when the down-counter reaches a termination value.
5. The system of claim 1 , where the configurable integrated circuit initializes to a configuration vector associated with the reference current or voltage in response to a power-on-reset signal.
6. The system of claim 1 , where the configuration vector indicates at least one of input/output bus port width and pad drive strength.
7. A configurable integrated circuit comprising:
a configuration input pin for coupling to an external resistance element;
a circuit capable of generating a reference current or voltage with a predictable voltage/current relationship connected to the configuration input pin; and
resistor value detection logic for determining an index value associated with the external resistance element, wherein the resistor value detection logic includes:
a reference up-counter operating at a reference clock frequency;
a down-counter operating at a frequency of a resistor clock; and
counter control logic circuit.
8. The configurable integrated circuit of claim 7 , where the circuit comprises:
a current controlled oscillator.
9. The configurable integrated circuit of claim 7 , said configurable integrated circuit further comprising a look-up table for associating the index value of the external resistor with a configuration vector, wherein the configurable integrated circuit is responsive to the configuration vector to configure operation.
10. The configurable integrated circuit of claim 9 , where the configuration vector indicates at least one of input/output bus port width and pad drive strength.
11. The configurable integrated circuit of claim 7 , wherein the counter control logic is configured to:
initialize the down-counter,
initialize the reference up-counter,
enable the down-counter,
enable the reference up-counter; and
disable the reference up-counter when the down-counter reaches a termination value.
12. The configurable integrated circuit of claim 7 , where the integrated circuit initializes to a configuration vector associated with the reference current or voltage in response to a power-on-reset signal.
13. A method for configuring an integrated circuit with a configuration vector, wherein the integrated circuit stores a plurality of configuration vector and includes a configuration pin coupled to an external resistor selected based on a desired operational configuration of the integrated circuit, said method comprising the steps of:
determining an external resistor value of the external resistor, wherein said determining an external resistor value of the external resistor comprises:
(a) initializing a down-counter;
(b) initializing a reference up-counter;
(c) enabling the down-counter;
(d) enabling the reference up-counter;
(e) incrementing the reference up-counter while the down-counter is not equal to a termination value; and
(f) disabling the reference up-counter when the down-counter reaches the termination value; and
setting a configuration of the integrated circuit to a configuration vector from among the plurality of configuration vectors that is associated with the external resistor value to place the integrated circuit in the desired operational configuration.
14. The method for configuring the integrated circuit of claim 13 , said method further comprising:
converting the external resistor value into an index value suitable for indexing into a plurality of configuration value and index value pairs.
15. The method for configuring the integrated circuit of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of configuration value and index value pairs is a table and the index value is an index into the table, said method further comprising:
converting a count of the reference up-counter into the index value.
16. The method for configuring the integrated circuit of claim 13 , wherein the step of determining the external resistor value comprises:
decrementing the down-counter at a frequency of a resistor clock output from a current controlled oscillator controlled as a function of the external resistor value.
17. The method for configuring the integrated circuit of claim 13 , wherein the step of determining the external resistor value takes place in response to a power-on-reset signal.
18. The method for configuring the integrated circuit of claim 13 , where the configuration vector indicates at least one of input/output bus port width and pad drive strength.
19. A configurable integrated circuit comprising:
a configuration input pin for coupling to an external resistance element;
a circuit connected to the configuration pin capable of generating a reference current or voltage with a predictable voltage/current relationship in response to the external resistance element; and
resistor value detection logic responsive to the reference current or voltage to determine a configuration vector associated with an external resistance element coupled to the configuration input pin, wherein the resistor value detection logic includes:
a reference up-counter operating at a reference clock frequency;
a down-counter operating at a frequency associated with the reference current or voltage; and
a counter control logic circuit;
wherein the configurable integrated circuit is responsive to the configuration vector to configure operation.
20. The configurable integrated circuit of claim 19 , where the circuit comprises:
a current controlled oscillator.
21. The configurable integrated circuit of claim 19 , wherein said resistor value detection logic is responsive to the reference current or voltage to generate an index value associated with the external resistor, and further comprising a look-up table for associating the index value of the external resistor with a configuration vector, wherein the configurable integrated circuit is responsive to the configuration vector to configure operation.
22. The configurable integrated circuit of claim 19 , where the configuration vector indicates at least one of input/output bus port width and pad drive strength.
23. The configurable integrated circuit of claim 19 , wherein the counter control logic is configured to:
initialize the down-counter,
initialize the reference up-counter,
enable the down-counter,
enable the reference up-counter; and
disable the reference up-counter when the down-counter reaches a termination value.
24. The configurable integrated circuit of claim 19 where the integrated circuit initializes to a configuration vector associated with the external resistance element in response to a power-on-reset signal.