Patent ID: 9407578
Filing Date: 2016-08-02
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method of arbitrating for access to an interconnect, comprising: receiving, over time, one or more data transfer requests, each indicating an input port from n input ports, and an output port of m output ports in an interconnect, through which the request will be serviced; buffering each of the requests; assigning a respective empty arbitration packet to a respective picker assigned to each of the input ports, each arbitration packet having a location for each of the m output ports; at each of the pickers, selecting at least one buffered request and placing each selected request in the arbitration packet at said each picker in the location for the output port indicated by the selected request; passing the arbitration packets among the pickers until each picker has received each arbitration packet, and while each picker has each arbitration packet, attempting to place at least one request in any remaining location in that arbitration packet; and scheduling fulfillment of the requests using the interconnect according to the placement of the requests in the arbitration packets.