Patent ID: 7016994

Claim:
An integrated circuit chip comprising: an interface circuit connected to a first signal line for receiving requests from at least one requestor, said requests requiring responses to be sent back to the respective requestor, said requests being placed by the respective requestor by asserting a request signal on said first signal line, said request signal being deasserted by the respective requestor when a response is sent back to the respective requestor; and a request processing circuit connected to process the received requests; wherein said interface circuit is further connected to a second signal line to send a retry request to the current requestor for requesting the current requestor to deassert its request signal although a response has not yet been sent back, and to reassert the request signal later, and wherein said interface circuit is further connected to a third signal line to send to the current requestor a ready signal together with said retry request, said ready signal indicating whether the request received from the current requestor could be processed by said request processing circuit, thereby enabling the current requestor to modify its request when retrying, if the initial request received from the respective retrying requestor could not be processed by said request processing circuit.