Patent ID: 7610611

Claim:
A prioritized address decoder comprising: a first comparator associated with a trusted first destination device to compare a received destination device address for data with a first address range associated with the trusted first destination device, the first comparator sending the data to the first device if the destination device address is within the first address range; and a second comparator associated with a non-trusted second destination device and coupled to the first comparator to compare the destination device address with a second address range associated with the non-trusted second device, wherein the second comparator sends the data to the second device only if the second comparator receives a first output of the first comparator, the first output indicating that the destination device address does not correspond to the first address range, wherein the first comparator disables the second comparator when the destination device address is within the first address range; a third comparator coupled to the first and the second comparators to compare the destination device address with a third address range associated with a third device, wherein the data is sent to the third device only if the third comparator receives a third output of the third comparator, the third output indicating that the destination device address does not correspond to the second address range, wherein in the third comparator is disabled when the address is within either the first address range or the second address range.