Circuit and method with age-and-brink-based arbitration

A method comprising:

• outputting a selection for accessing a shared resource, the selection based on input priorities for multiple requesters configured to share the shared resource, the input priorities controlled via an age parameter and a brink parameter, the age and brink parameters associated with buffers of the multiple requesters;
• selecting a requester of the multiple requesters based on the selection output;
• and
• transferring a stored data element from a buffer of the requester selected to the shared resource, wherein the age parameter represents a threshold number of clock cycles for storing a data element in a respective buffer of a requester of the multiple requesters and wherein the brink parameter represents a threshold number of buffer entries available in the respective buffer prior to overflow of the respective buffer.

An apparatus comprising:

• means for outputting a selection for accessing a shared resource, the selection based on input priorities for multiple requesters configured to share the shared resource, the input priorities controlled via an age parameter and a brink parameter, the age and brink parameters associated with buffers of the multiple requesters;
• means for selecting a requester of the multiple requesters based on the selection output;
• and
• means for transferring a stored data element from a buffer of the requester selected to the shared resource, wherein the age parameter represents a threshold number of clock cycles for storing a data element in a respective buffer of a requester of the multiple requesters and wherein the brink parameter represents a threshold number of buffer entries available in the respective buffer prior to overflow of the respective buffer.