Patent ID: 6205524
Filing Date: 2001-03-20
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A cascaded arbiter comprising:a plurality of request inputs from real-time agents that must be serviced periodically after a period of time;a plurality of request inputs from non-real-time agents that can be serviced after irregular periods of time;a fixed sequencer, coupled to the plurality of request inputs from the real-time agents, for granting access to a shared resource to each of the real-time agents in a predetermined sequence, the fixed sequencer generating a final-slot signal after all real-time agents activating a request input have been serviced by being granted access to the shared resource;a timer, coupled to the fixed sequencer, for counting a final period of time from activation of the final-slot signal, the timer generating a time-out signal when the final period of time counted reaches a predetermined timeout value; anda priority arbiter, coupled to the plurality of request inputs from non-real-time agents and coupled to the fixed sequencer, for granting access to the shared resource to non-real-time agents in a priority order, the priority arbiter granting access after receiving the final-slot signal from the fixed sequencer, the priority arbiter not granting access after the time-out signal is generated by the timer;whereby the timer limits the non-real-time agents to the final period of time but does not limit the real-time agents.