Functional Description
MCF548x Reference Manual, Rev. 3
Freescale Semiconductor 20-7
Figure 20-4. PCI Arbitration Initial State

20.4.2.3 Arbitration Latency

Worst case arbitration latency: arbitration latency is the number of clock cycles from a masters REQ
assertion to PCI bus idle state AND its GNT assertion. In a lightly loaded system, arbitration latency would
be the time it takes for the bus arbiter to assert the master’s GNT (zero cycles if the arbiter is parked with
the requesting master and two if parked with another master). If a transaction is in progress when the
masters GNT is asserted, the master must wait for the current transaction to complete and any subsequent
transactions from higher priority requesting masters. In a situation where there are multiple requesting
masters, each masters tenure on the bus is limited by its master latency timer.

20.4.2.4 Arbitration Examples

Figure 20-5 shows basic arbitration. Three master devices are used to illustrate how an arbiter may
alternate bus accesses. (Assume device 0, device 1, and device 2 are assigned the same priority group and
no other masters are requesting use of the bus.)
High-Priority Group
MCF548X
(1/3)
Device 1
(1/3)
Low-Priority Group
Device 2
(1/12)
Low-Priority
Group Slot
(1/3) Device 4
(1/12)
Device 0
(1/12) Device 3
(1/12)
3a
1a2a
1b3b
4b
2b
PCI Arbiter Control Register PACR[26:31] = 000101b