Patent ID: 7512729
Filing Date: 2009-03-31
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. An apparatus, comprising: a plurality of masters, configured in a plurality of clusters; a plurality of targets, each target comprising a sharable resource that is accessible to the plurality of masters; a chassis command bus interconnect, comprising a plurality of sets of bus lines connected between the plurality of clusters and the plurality of targets, the sets of bus lines forming cross-bar interconnects including a plurality of target multiplexers coupled to respective targets; and a two-stage arbiter, operatively coupled to the targets, target multiplexers, and clusters, to arbitrate access to the command bus to facilitate transfer of target requests issued from the plurality of masters to the plurality of targets via the chassis command bus interconnect, the two-stage arbiter including a first stage comprising a cluster arbiter employing a rotating priority arbitration scheme under which target requests are prioritized on a rotating basis and the prioritization order of for each cluster arbiter is offset from the prioritization order of the other cluster arbiters for a given cycle.