Fair arbitration between multiple sources targeting a destination

A method for receiving data from a plurality of source components and forwarding the data to a first destination of a plurality of destinations, the method comprising:

• receiving a first set of data packets originating from a first subset of the source components and providing the first set of data packets to a first ingress buffer, wherein the first subset includes one or more of the plurality of source components, wherein some of the first set of data packets are for dispatch to different ones of the plurality of destinations;
• receiving a second set of data packets originating from a second subset of the source components and providing the second set of data packets to a second ingress buffer, wherein the second subset of the source components comprises two or more source components, wherein the first subset includes a different number of source components than does the second subset;
• examining a destination identifier in one of the first set of data packets that is at a head of the first ingress buffer;
• examining a source identifier in a first data packet of the second set of data packets to determine from which of the second subset of the source components the first data packet originated;
• and
• in response to determining that the destination identifier identifies the first destination, selecting between the first ingress buffer and the second ingress buffer from which to send data to the first destination in dependence upon the source identifier so as to arbitrate between the plurality of source components for sending data to the first destination.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program comprising a set of computer readable instructions, which when executed by at least one processor, cause a method to be performed, the method comprising:

• examining a destination identifier in one of a first set of data packets that is at a head of a first ingress buffer, the first set of data packets originating from a first subset of a plurality of source components, wherein the first subset consists of one or more of a plurality of source components, wherein some of the first set of data packets are for dispatch to different ones of a plurality of destinations;
• examining one or more second source identifiers in one or more of a second set of data packets held in a second ingress buffer to determine from which of a second subset of a plurality of source components each of the one or more of the second set of data packets originated from, wherein the second subset of the plurality of source components comprises two or more source components, wherein the first subset of the source components consists of a different number of source components to the second subset;
• and
• in response to determining that the destination identifier identifies a first destination of the plurality of destinations, selecting between the first ingress buffer and the second ingress buffer from which to send data to the first destination in dependence upon on the one or more second source identifiers so as to arbitrate between the plurality of source components for sending data to the first destination.