Patent ID: 7032049

Claim:
An apparatus receiving interrupt requests and outputting interrupt requests in response to the received interrupt requests, comprising: inputs for receiving the interrupt requests; outputs being connected to said inputs, the apparatus outputting an interrupt request only after receiving a plurality of the interrupt requests; a component connected between said inputs and said outputs, said component ensuring that the interrupt request is not output until after the plurality of the interrupt requests have been received by said component, said component containing a counter for counting a number of the interrupt requests received and preventing the interrupt request from being output until a specific count has been reached; a further component being connected to said outputs and receiving the interrupt requests output by said component, said further component outputting one or more interrupt requests in response to each interrupt request being received, said further component having a counter for counting the interrupt requests output and ensuring that the interrupt requests are output until a further specific count is reached; and the apparatus outputting the interrupt request after checking that an operation initiated by a previously output interrupt request has been executed.