AT90USB1286-16MU ATMEL [ATMEL Corporation], AT90USB1286-16MU Datasheet - Page 221

• Manufacturer Part Number: AT90USB1286-16MU
• Description: Microcontroller with 64/128K Bytes of ISP Flash and USB Controller
• Manufacturer: ATMEL [ATMEL Corporation]

20.4
7593A–AVR–02/06
Multi-master Bus Systems, Arbitration and Synchronization
The TWI protocol allows bus systems with several masters. Special concerns have been taken
in order to ensure that transmissions will proceed as normal, even if two or more masters initiate
a transmission at the same time. Two problems arise in multi-master systems:
The wired-ANDing of the bus lines is used to solve both these problems. The serial clocks from
all masters will be wired-ANDed, yielding a combined clock with a high period equal to the one
from the Master with the shortest high period. The low period of the combined clock is equal to
the low period of the Master with the longest low period. Note that all masters listen to the SCL
line, effectively starting to count their SCL high and low time-out periods when the combined
SCL line goes high or low, respectively.
Figure 20-7. SCL Synchronization Between Multiple Masters
Arbitration is carried out by all masters continuously monitoring the SDA line after outputting
data. If the value read from the SDA line does not match the value the Master had output, it has
lost the arbitration. Note that a Master can only lose arbitration when it outputs a high SDA value
while another Master outputs a low value. The losing Master should immediately go to Slave
mode, checking if it is being addressed by the winning Master. The SDA line should be left high,
but losing masters are allowed to generate a clock signal until the end of the current data or
address packet. Arbitration will continue until only one Master remains, and this may take many
• An algorithm must be implemented allowing only one of the masters to complete the
• Different masters may use different SCL frequencies. A scheme must be devised to
transmission. All other masters should cease transmission when they discover that they have
lost the selection process. This selection process is called arbitration. When a contending
master discovers that it has lost the arbitration process, it should immediately switch to Slave
mode to check whether it is being addressed by the winning master. The fact that multiple
masters have started transmission at the same time should not be detectable to the slaves,
i.e. the data being transferred on the bus must not be corrupted.
synchronize the serial clocks from all masters, in order to let the transmission proceed in a
lockstep fashion. This will facilitate the arbitration process.
SCL from
SCL from
Master A
Master B
SCL Bus
Line
TA
Counting Low Period
low
Masters Start
TB
low
TA
Counting High Period
AT90USB64/128
high
Masters Start
TB
high
221