Apparatus for multiple bus master engines to share the same request channel to a pipelined backbone

In accordance with embodiments disclosed herein are mechanisms for enabling multiple bus master engines to share the same request channel to a pipelined backbone including: receiving a plurality of unarbitrated grant requests at an agent bus interface from a plurality of masters, each requesting access to a backbone connected via a common request channel; determining which of the unarbitrated grant requests is to issue first as a final grant request; storing a master identifier code for the final grant request into a FIFO buffer, the master identifier code associating the final grant request with the issuing master among the plurality of masters; waiting for a backbone grant; and presenting the master identifier code for the final grant request to an agent bus interface, wherein the agent bus interface communicates a command and data for processing via a backbone responsive to the backbone grant to fulfill the final grant request.