Method and apparatus for arbitrating transmit events in a multimode communication device

A timer apparatus for arbitrating transmit events in a multi-mode mobile communication device having only one transmit power amplifier, the timer apparatus comprising:

• at least two register stacks, each register stack having an opcode array and a time offset array, the opcode array comprised of a plurality of opcode registers, the time offset array comprised of a plurality of time offset registers, each opcode register corresponding to a time offset register, each opcode register for storing an opcode;
• a first base addressing register for a first register stack, and a second base addressing register for a second register stack, the base addressing registers for holding an address to point to a next event in an opcode register in it's corresponding register stack;
• a first time compare register for the first register stack, and a second time compare register for the second register stack, the first and second time compare registers for comparing an entry in the time offset arrays;
• a first opcode check register and a second opcode check register, the first and second opcode check registers for checking the opcode stored in the first and second opcode registers, the opcode check registers comparing the opcodes in the first and second opcode register for a transmit event conflict;
• a countdown timer for timing a transmit event when an opcode in either the first or second opcode check registers indicates a transmit event;
• an event priority register for indicating priority of transmit events;
• and
• arbitration logic for arbitrating transmit events in accordance with the event priority register.