Patent ID: 7461291

Claim:
A method for providing arbitration for redundant controllers comprising: providing logic for automatically determining which controller of redundant controllers is active controller, wherein outputs of the redundant controllers are electrically directly wired together and provided as input to at least one device; and providing a first hardware arbitration component for a first controller of the redundant controllers, and providing a second hardware arbitration component for a second controller of the redundant controllers, the first hardware arbitration component being connected to the outputs of the first controller, and the second hardware arbitration component being connected to the outputs of the second controller, the first hardware arbitration component ensuring that the outputs of the first controller are enabled as input to the at least one device only when the first controller is the active controller, and the second hardware arbitration component ensuring that the outputs of the second controller are enabled as input to the at least one device only when the second controller is the active controller, and wherein the first hardware arbitration component and the second hardware arbitration component are separate hardware components which communicate and cooperate as a distributed hardware interlock mechanism that ensures outputs of only one of the first controller or the second controller of the redundant controllers are enabled at a time; and wherein providing the first hardware arbitration component and providing the second hardware arbitration component includes providing each hardware arbitration component with a hardware state machine to enable/disable the outputs of its associated controller of the redundant controllers and ensure that outputs of only the active controller are enabled as input to the at least one device.