Patent ID: 8335229

Claim:
A handheld device comprising: a plurality of embedded microprocessor devices; and an inter-device communication link configured to provide a data link between the plurality of embedded microprocessor devices, wherein at a given time, the plurality of embedded microprocessor devices comprises: only one embedded microprocessor device configured as a controlling device that has permission to transmit data on the inter-device communication link; and a plurality of non-controlling devices that lack permission to transmit data on the inter-device communication link, each configured to activate a link request pin to request to become the controlling device in order to have permission to transmit data on the inter-device communication link, wherein, in response to an activation of the link request pin, the controlling device is configured to: initiate an arbitration to determine which one of the plurality of non-controlling devices activated the link request pin to become the controlling device to have permission to transmit data on the inter-device communication link; and handoff the permission to transmit data on the inter-device communication link to one of the plurality of non-controlling devices based on the arbitration, and wherein, upon handoff, the one of the plurality of non-controlling devices receiving the permission is configured to become the controlling device operable to initiate another arbitration based on a subsequent activation of the link request pin by any of the plurality non-controlling devices, wherein the controlling device is configured to initiate the arbitration by being configured to address the non-controlling devices to determine which of the plurality of non-controlling devices activated the link request pin to become the controlling device to have permission to transmit data on the inter-device communication link, and wherein the controlling device is configured to address the non-controlling device by being configured to: activate a strobe pin and one or more device IDs of the non-controlling devices; and receive a confirmation signal from the one of the plurality of non-controlling devices that activated the link request pin.