Methods and apparatus for supporting multiple Utopia masters on the same Utopia bus

Methods and apparatus for supporting multiple UTOPIA bus masters on a single UTOPIA bus include coupling two UTOPIA bus masters via three signal lines (Ready, Request, and Grant), designating one of the masters a primary master and the other a secondary master, and coupling both bus masters to the same UTOPIA bus. When receiving cells from the UTOPIA bus, both masters accept cells and screen them (with a lookup table) to determine which cells are addressed to them. When transmitting cells, the primary master normally controls polling and PHY selection. The secondary master asserts the Request line during polling to indicate that it has a cell to send to a PHY that has responded positively to the polling. In response to the Request signal, the primary master asserts the Grant line and control of the bus is given to the secondary master for the next cell cycle. The presently preferred embodiment utilizes an arbitration scheme to assure fairness in allocating control of the bus.