Method and apparatus for automatically configuring a configurable integrated circuit

An apparatus for automatically loading register, configuration, and command data to a configurable network interface controller (NIC), comprising:

• a serial electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) that stores commands and data, wherein the commands include a data type and a storage location for the data;
• and
• a control circuit comprising a state machine coupled to the EEPROM, wherein the state machine generates a read signal to read contents of EEPROM addresses;
• and
• a plurality of registers in the NIC comprising data registers, configuration registers, and command registers, wherein the control circuit reads a command from an address of the EEPROM, wherein the command indicates which of the plurality of registers in the NIC particular data must be written to.

A network computer system, comprising:

• at least one network router device coupled to the network signal carrier;
• a plurality of network devices comprising a personal computer (PC) coupled to a network signal carrier, wherein the PC comprises,
• a processor;
• a plurality of peripheral devices coupled to the processor through a bus;
• a network interface controller (NIC) coupled to the bus and to the network signal carrier, the NIC comprising,
• control circuitry for controlling communication between the PC and other network devices;
• a non-volatile memory device that stores command words and register, configuration, and command data for the control circuitry, wherein the command words include a data type and a storage location for the data, wherein the register, configuration and command data is automatically loaded to the control circuitry as indicated by the command words each time the PC is initalized.

An apparatus for automatically configuring a configurable integrated circuit embedded in a system, comprising:

• means for storing a plurality of commands in a non-volatile memory of the system, wherein the plurality of commands include a data type and a storage location for a data element;
• means for storing a plurality of data elements in the non-volatile memory, wherein the plurality of data elements comprise configuration data and command data for the configurable integrated circuit;
• means for reading contents of an initial address in the non-volatile memory;
• and
• if the initial address contains a command, means for writing contents of a next address in the non-volable memory to a register space of the configurable integrated circuit, to a configuration space of the configurable integrated circuit, or to a command space of the configurable integrated circuit, depending upon a type of the command.

A method for automatically configuring a network interface card (NIC), comprising:

• storing a plurality of commands in a non-volatile memory of the NIC, wherein the plurality of commands include a data type and a storage location for a data element;
• storing a plurality of data elements in the non-volatile memory, wherein the plurality of data elements comprise configuration data and command data for the NIC;
• reading contents of an initial address in the non-volable memory;
• and
• if the initial address contains a command, depending upon a type of command, writing contents of a next address in the non-volable memory to a register space of the NIC, to a configuration space of the NIC, or to a command space of the NIC.