Arbitration device for arbitrating among a plurality of master devices, arbitration method, and video processing device including the arbitration device

1. An arbitration device that arbitrates among a plurality of master devices, such that each master device is allowed to access a shared memory at a predetermined bandwidth, the arbitration device comprising:

a receiving unit operable to receive an access request requesting to access the shared memory, the access request being received from a specific master device; and

an access control unit operable to permit an access request in a predetermined first period, if the access request received by the receiving unit from the specific master device is beyond a bandwidth that has been allocated in advance and operable to mask an access request from the specific master device in a second period that follows the predetermined first period.

2. The arbitration device according to claim 1 further comprising counters that correspond to the respective master devices, wherein

each counter increments a count value each time an access request issued by a corresponding master device is accepted,

each counter decrements the count value each time a predetermined unit time elapses, and

the access request that is beyond the allocated bandwidth indicates a further access request made by the specific master device after a count value of a counter corresponding to the specific master device has reached an upper limit value corresponding to the allocated bandwidth.

3. The arbitration device according to claim 2 , wherein

the upper limit value is an average bandwidth,

the counter corresponding to the specific master device further includes an expanded upper limit value,

the expanded upper limit value is more than the upper limit value, and corresponds to a burst bandwidth,

during the predetermined first period the arbitration device continues to permit an access request by the specific master device until the counter value of the counter corresponding to the specific master device reaches the expanded upper limit value, and

the second period is a period (i) from when the counter value of the counter corresponding to the specific master device has reached the expanded upper limit value, (ii) to when the counter value of the counter corresponding to the specific master device returns to an initial value, due to the counter value of the counter corresponding to the specific master device being decremented every time the predetermined unit time elapses.

4. The arbitration device according to claim 1 , wherein

the specific master device is a supply unit that supplies data to a CPU in a video processing device,

a master device other than the specific master device is a supply unit that supplies data to a decoder unit in the video processing device, and

the prede.termined first period and the second period are prescribed to be within one processing cycle of an AV signal.

5. An arbitrating method of arbitrating among a plurality of master devices, such that each master device is allowed to access a shared memory at a predetermined bandwidth, the arbitrating method comprising:

receiving an access request requesting to access the shared memory, the access request being received from a specific master device;

permitting an access request in a predetermined first period, if the received access request is beyond a bandwidth that has been allocated in advance; and

masking an access request from the specific master device in a second period that follows the predetermined first period.

6. A video processing device comprising a plurality of master devices and an arbitration device that arbitrates among the master devices such that each master device is allowed to access a shared memory at a predetermined bandwidth, wherein

the arbitration device permits an access request in a predetermined first period, if the access request has been made by a specific master device beyond a bandwidth that has been allocated in advance,

the arbitration device masks an access request from the specific master device in a second period that follows the predetermined first period,

the specific master device is a supply unit that supplies data to a CPU in the video processing device,

a master device other than the specific master device is a supply unit that supplies data to a decoder unit in the video processing device, and

the predetermined first period and the second period are prescribed to be within one processing cycle of an AV signal.