in-circuit reconfigurability (ICR)

The capability of SRAM-based devices, which include all Altera^® devices supported by the Quartus^® II software except MAX^® 3000 and MAX 7000 devices, to load configuration data at system power-up or during normal system operation, after being mounted on a printed circuit board.

You can perform in-circuit reconfiguration an unlimited number of times with data from a local EPROM such as an Altera serial configuration device, or with data downloaded by an external controller such as a CPU or the Quartus II Programmer.