diff --git a/firmware/target/arm/imx233/kernel-imx233.h b/firmware/target/arm/imx233/kernel-imx233.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3c62c1597c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/firmware/target/arm/imx233/kernel-imx233.h
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+/***************************************************************************
+ *             __________               __   ___.
+ *   Open      \______   \ ____   ____ |  | _\_ |__   _______  ___
+ *   Source     |       _//  _ \_/ ___\|  |/ /| __ \ /  _ \  \/  /
+ *   Jukebox    |    |   (  <_> )  \___|    < | \_\ (  <_> > <  <
+ *   Firmware   |____|_  /\____/ \___  >__|_ \|___  /\____/__/\_ \
+ *                     \/            \/     \/    \/            \/
+ * $Id$
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2011 by Amaury Pouly
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+ * as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+ * of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This software is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.
+ *
+ ****************************************************************************/
+#ifndef __KERNEL_IMX233__
+#define __KERNEL_IMX233__
+
+#include "kernel.h"
+
+/* The i.MX233 uses in several places virtual channels to multiplex the work.
+ * To arbiter the use of the different channels, we use a simple channel arbiter
+ * based on a semaphore to count the number of channels in use, and a bitmask
+ * protected by a mutex */
+struct channel_arbiter_t
+{
+    struct semaphore sema;
+    struct mutex mutex;
+    unsigned free_bm;
+    int count;
+};
+
+void arbiter_init(struct channel_arbiter_t *a, unsigned count);
+// doesn't check in use !
+void arbiter_reserve(struct channel_arbiter_t *a, unsigned channel);
+/* return channel on success and OBJ_WAIT_TIMEOUT on failure */
+int arbiter_acquire(struct channel_arbiter_t *a, int timeout);
+void arbiter_release(struct channel_arbiter_t *a, int channel);
+
+#endif /* __KERNEL_IMX233__ */
\ No newline at end of file