Patent ID: 7274701

Claim:
A method for reserving bandwidth of a given priority using a wrapped wave front arbiter (WWFA) for arbitrating bandwidth among virtual links between input and output ports associated with WWFA, each virtual link supporting one or more priorities, and each virtual link corresponding to an arbitration unit of the WWFA, comprising: performing during a cell period at least one bandwidth arbitration pass of a wave front of the WWFA wherein arbitration units having a reserved bandwidth request of a given priority and reserved bandwidth credit of the given priority compete for the bandwidth associated with the wave front, and wherein arbitration units not having a reserved bandwidth request of the given priority and reserved bandwidth credit of the given priority do not compete for the bandwidth associated with the wave front; performing during said cell period at least one subsequent bandwidth arbitration pass of the wave front wherein arbitration units having a reserved bandwidth request of the given priority compete for the bandwidth associated with the wave front.