Storage elements for a configurable IC and method and apparatus for accessing data stored in the storage elements
View Patent ↗Some embodiments provide a circuit for accessing stored data in a configurable IC that includes several configurable circuits. The IC also includes several storage circuits. Each storage circuit has ( 1 ) several storage elements for storing data for the configurable circuits, and ( 2 ) output circuitry for outputting data stored in the storage elements. The output circuitry includes a first set of interconnects for receiving at least a first repeating periodic signal and for periodically outputting data from at least two storage elements to the configurable circuits.
1. A method comprising:
providing a first configuration data set from a first set of storage elements to a particular reconfigurable circuit of an integrated circuit (“IC”) while retrieving a second configuration data set from a second set of storage elements; and
providing the second configuration data set to the particular reconfigurable circuit while retrieving a third configuration data set from a third set of storage element.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third set of storage elements is the same set of storage elements as the first set of storage elements.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third set of storage elements is different than the first set of storage elements.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one intervening circuit exists between a set of storage elements and the particular reconfigurable circuit.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the particular reconfigurable circuit performs a first set of operations when receiving the first configuration data set and performs a second set of operations when receiving the second configuration data set.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first configuration data set is retrieved from the first set of storage elements during a first phase of a clock cycle and the second configuration data set is retrieved from the second set of storage elements during a second phase of the clock cycle.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the particular reconfigurable circuit performs a plurality of operations based on a plurality of configuration data sets.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the particular reconfigurable circuit performs the plurality of operations at a first rate and the plurality of configuration data sets are retrieved from the sets of storage elements at a second rate.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first rate is faster than the second rate.
10. A integrated circuit (“IC”) comprising:
a reconfigurable circuit for performing a plurality of operations based on a plurality of configuration data sets; and
a configuration data retrieval circuit for (i) providing a first configuration data set from a first set of storage elements to the reconfigurable circuit while retrieving a second configuration data set from a second set of storage elements and (ii) providing the second configuration data set to the reconfigurable circuit while retrieving a third configuration data set from a third set of storage element.
11. The IC of claim 10 , wherein the reconfigurable circuit performs a first set of operations when receiving the first configuration data set and performs a second set of operations when receiving the second configuration data set.
12. The IC of claim 10 , wherein the configuration data retrieval circuit comprises a first interconnect circuit for supplying a current configuration data set to the reconfigurable circuit.
13. The IC of claim 12 , wherein the configuration data retrieval circuit further comprises a second interconnect circuit coupled to the first interconnect circuit for retrieving the second configuration data set from the second set of storage elements.
14. The IC of claim 13 , wherein the configuration data retrieval circuit further comprises a third interconnect circuit coupled to the first interconnect circuit for retrieving the third configuration data set from the third set of storage elements.
15. The IC of claim 14 , wherein one of the second and third interconnect circuits does not retrieve a configuration data set while the other one of the second and third interconnect circuits retrieves a configuration data set.
16. An electronic device comprising:
a memory for storing sets of configuration data; and
an integrated circuit (“IC”) comprising:
a reconfigurable circuit for performing a plurality of operations based on a plurality of configuration data sets; and
a configuration data retrieval circuit for (i) providing a first configuration data set from a first set of storage elements to the reconfigurable circuit while retrieving a second configuration data set from a second set of storage elements, and (ii) providing the second configuration data set to the reconfigurable circuit while retrieving a third configuration data set from a third set of storage element.
17. The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the reconfigurable circuit performs a set of operations based on configuration data sets supplied by the configuration data retrieval circuit.
18. The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the configuration data retrieval circuit comprises a first interconnect circuit for supplying a current configuration data set to the reconfigurable circuit.
19. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the configuration data retrieval circuit further comprises a second interconnect circuit coupled to the first interconnect circuit for retrieving configuration data sets from the first and third sets of storage elements and a third interconnect circuit coupled to the first interconnect circuit for retrieving configuration data sets from the second set of storage elements.
20. The electronic device of claim 19 , wherein the first interconnect circuit operates at a faster rate than the second and third interconnect circuits.