Patent ID: 6957290

Claim:
A first agent configured for coupling to a bus in which said first agent is one of a plurality of agents that are capable of being coupled to said bus, said plurality of agents having corresponding arbiters coupled to receive request signals and operate as distributed arbiters among the plurality of agents, said request signals corresponding to whether or not the arbiter of a respective agent is arbitrating for said bus, wherein an arbiter of said first agent is to maintain order of its priority in relation to other agents arbitrating for said bus and to determine if said first agent wins an arbitration for said bus responsive to said request signals without determining which other agent wins arbitration, and wherein if said first agent wins arbitration for said bus, said first agent to send an agent identifier with a transaction accessing said bus to notify other agents that said first agent has won arbitration, but if one of the other agents wins arbitration, said first agent to update its order of priority with respect to the other agent winning arbitration when that agent's agent identifier is received with a transaction initiated by the other agent in accessing said bus.