Device having priority upgrade mechanism capabilities and a method for updating priorities

A device having priority update capabilities, the device comprises:

• an arbiter adapted to arbitrate between a plurality of transaction requests in response to priority attributes associated with the transaction requests;
• and
• a first sequence of pipeline stages that precede the arbiter, at least one pipeline stage of the first sequence of pipeline stages being adapted to receive a request to update a priority of a particular transaction request of the plurality of transaction requests that is stored within the at least one pipeline stage to a requested priority;
• and
• the device being adapted to:
• update the priority of the particular transaction request stored in the at least one pipeline stage for a particular arbitration cycle, if the particular transaction request is priority upgradeable and if the requested priority is higher than a current priority of the particular transaction request;
• and
• selectively mask another transaction request stored in the at least one pipeline stage for the particular arbitration cycle.