Patent ID: 7275121

Claim:
A system for hardware-assisted resource sharing, the system comprising: a hardware resource shared by a first client comprising a video basic input/output system and a second client comprising a display driver; and an arbiter coupled to the first client and to the second client and configured to arbitrate access to the shared hardware resource, wherein the arbiter includes: a first flag associated with the first client and configured to have a first value or a second value, wherein the first value indicates that the first client may access the shared hardware resource, and a second flag associated with the second client and also configured to have the first value or the second value, wherein the first value indicates that the second client may access the shared hardware resource, wherein, to access the shared hardware resource, the first client sends a first request to the arbiter to set the first flag to the first value, and the arbiter, upon receiving the first request, determines whether to grant or deny the first request based on whether the second flag is set to the first value or the second value.