Patent ID: 7024506

Claim:
An arbitration system for granting access to a resource, comprising: a plurality of arbitration devices coupled in a hierarchy and comprising a plurality of child devices and at least one parent device; ones of said plurality of arbitration devices operable: to store a previous arbitration winner; to generate a request-out signal based on a plurality of request-in signals; and to generate a select-out signal using a select-in signal, said plurality of request-in signals, and said previous arbitration winner; wherein request-out signals of said plurality of child devices are coupled to request-in signals of their respective parent devices and select-in signals of said child devices are received from select-out signals of said respective parent devices, wherein said access is granted by a select-out signal from a device of said plurality of arbitration devices at a level of said system opposite that of said parent device, and wherein further an input-hold signal causes said access to be held for a predetermined number of clock cycles and said access is relinquished after said predetermined number of clock cycles has expired only if there is a pending request for access; and a collision detection circuit coupled to said plurality of arbitration devices, wherein a signal indicating a collision between said device and another of said child devices is propagated through said hierarchy to said collision detection circuit and wherein in response said collision detection circuit sends a signal that is propagated through said hierarchy to said device to release said access.