Patent ID: 7680971

Claim:
An apparatus for granting one or more requesting entities access to a resource in a predetermined time interval, said requesting entity asserting a request signal for accessing said resource, said apparatus comprising: first circuit means for receiving one or more request signals and implementing logic in response to received control signals at each successive predetermined lime interval for assigning a priority to said one or more request signals, said logic effecting a change of assigned priority for each request signal at each successive predetermined time interval, and, generating a set of first_request signals based on said priorities assigned to said received request signals; one or more priority select circuits for receiving said set of first_request signals and generating corresponding one or more fixed grant signals representing one or more highest priority request signals when asserted during said predetermined time interval; second circuit means for receiving said one or more fixed grant signals and implementing logic for generating one or more grant signals associated with one or more highest priority request signals assigned, said grant signals for enabling one or more respective requesting entities access to said resource in said predetermined time interval.