According to some embodiments, a method is directed to determining via a plurality of flags stored at a PCI device that the PCI device is to perform a first function. The PCI device is shared with a first software component associated with the first function and a second software component associated with a second function, and the plurality of flags comprise a first component flag to indicate free or busy, a second component flag to indicate free or busy, and a turn flag to indicate the first component or the second component. The method further discloses setting the first component flag to busy, setting the turn flag to first component, and performing the first function when the second software component is not using the PCI device. The first function may access the PCI device if either the second component flag is set to free or if the turn flag is set to first component.