Finally, let’s look at the multi-master feature of the protocol. As mentioned before, there may be more than one master on the bus. When two or more masters initiate communication simultaneously, they both generate a START condition at slightly different times. The diagram above illustrates this case. This situation is resolved by simple arbitration. The master that first sends a ‘1’ wins control of the bus. This way multiple masters can be present on the bus and robust communication can still happen among different ICs.