System and method for memory arbitration

A method for memory arbitration, comprising:

• placing memory transactions in entries in an arbitration queue having a single queuing structure with only one queue;
• assigning the entries to groups according to at least one transaction parameter;
• arbitrating among the groups to select one group of entries;
• and
• servicing at least one entry in the selected group from oldest to newest regardless of when a particular memory transaction was placed in the at least one entry of the arbitration queue in relation to the other entries in the arbitration queue.

A method for memory arbitration, comprising:

• placing memory transactions in entries in an arbitration queue having a single queuing structure with only one queue;
• determining a status of the entries in relation to a cache associated with the arbitration queue prior to determining an entry to be serviced;
• assigning the entries to groups according to at least one transaction parameter;
• arbitrating among the groups to select one group of entries;
• and
• servicing at least one entry in the selected group from oldest to newest regardless of when a particular memory transaction was placed in the at least one entry of the arbitration queue in relation to the other entries in the arbitration queue.

A system for memory arbitration, comprising:

• a distributed shared memory system;
• a plurality of processors generating transactions to said distributed shared memory system;
• and
• a memory interface interposed between said distributed shared memory system and said plurality of processors, said memory interface having a cache memory, an arbitration queue, and a memory arbitration processor for servicing transactions from said plurality of processors, the arbitration queue having a single queuing structure with only one queue, the memory arbitration processor operable to place transactions as entries in the arbitration queue, the memory arbitration processor operable to determine a status of the entries in relation to the cache memory prior to selecting an entry to be serviced, the memory arbitration processor operable to assign the entries to groups according to at least one transaction parameter, the memory arbitration processor operable to arbitrate among the groups to select one group of entries, the memory arbitration processor operable to service at least one entry in the selected group from the oldest to newest entry regardless of when a particular transaction was placed in the at least one entry of the arbitration queue in relation to the other entries in the arbitration queue.