Patent · US Expired

Computer system and method for transferring commands and data to a dedicated multimedia engine

US5870622A · kind A · utility

56Cited by
7References
29Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 10, 1997
Grant dateFeb 9, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 10, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F15/7864
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A computer system and method for transferring multimedia commands and data to a dedicated multimedia engine and/or multimedia memory, wherein the multimedia engine provides increased performance for real-time applications over current computer architectures. The system includes a dedicated multimedia engine coupled directly to the main memory which performs real-time operations, including audio and video function, as well as others. The multimedia engine includes multimedia memory and one or more DSP engines. The CPU writes video and/or audio commands and data to the main memory. The CPU also preferably writes data structure information to the DMA engine which includes the main memory address where the commands and data reside. The DMA engine uses this information to retrieve the commands and data from main memory into the multimedia memory. The DMA engine preferably operates concurrently with the multimedia engine, thus allowing for improved performance. In an alternate embodiment, the CPU writes the main memory address space information to the multimedia engine, and the multimedia engine retrieves the commands and data from main memory into the multimedia memory prior to performi…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.