Common arbiter interface device with arbitration configuration for

Abstract

A method and apparatus for configuring a centralized arbitration scheme for a commonly accessed communication bus using arbiter devices with arbitration control circuitry included therein. The arbiter devices, each of which is associated with a separate bus master device, include arbitration control circuitry and are coupled to an arbitration control bus over which signals for arbitrating control to the commonly accessed communications bus are provided. During a configuration mode of operation, the same arbiter device connections to the arbitration control bus provide signals which are decoded via arbitration configuration circuitry on each device to provide a configuration status indicating whether other devices requiring arbitration are connected to the arbitration control bus and whether the arbitration control circuitry included on the particular device will be enabled to perform the required arbitration. Moreover, the arbiter devices may include protocol translation logic for permitting the interconnection of bus master devices having different arbitration protocols than the protocol required for accessing the common bus.