Credit aware central arbitration for multi-endpoint, multi-core system

A method comprising:

• receiving, at an arbiter circuit, a first memory access request to a resource coupled to a data path, the first memory access request associated with a first credit cost, wherein the resource includes a number of available credits;
• receiving, at the arbiter circuit, a second memory access request to the resource, the second memory access request associated with a second credit cost;
• comparing, by the arbiter circuit, the first credit cost to the number of available credits to determine a first result;
• comparing, by the arbiter circuit, the second credit cost to the number of available credits to determine a second result;
• based on the first result and the second result, selecting, by the arbiter circuit, a pre-arbitration winner between the first memory access request and the second memory access request;
• determining whether 1) a setting stored in a cache configuration register has a first value indicative that the pre-arbitration winner is a real-time request or 2) the setting stored in the cache configuration register has a second value indicative that the pre-arbitration winner is a non-real-time request;
• determining, by the arbiter circuit, a first priority of the pre-arbitration winner based on the determination that the setting stored in the cache configuration register has the first value or the second value and a number of real-time requests that have previously been selected;
• after receiving the first and second memory access requests, receiving, by the arbiter circuit, a subsequent memory access request to the resource;
• comparing, by the arbiter circuit, the first priority with a second priority of the subsequent memory access request to determine a third result;
• determining, by the arbiter circuit, a final arbitration winner based on the third result;
• and
• driving, by the arbiter circuit, the final arbitration winner to the data path based.