Processor complex for executing multimedia functions
US5892966A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 27, 1997 |
| Grant date | Apr 6, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 27, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S707/99948
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A computer processor complex including a hardware processor coupled to a multimedia coprocessor is provided. This computer processor complex is capable of separately processing a stream of non-multimedia instructions in addition to a stream of multimedia instructions such as are used in MPEG audio and video. The computer processor complex includes a visible register set including registers for a program counter and a data pointer. The program counter is used to hold the address in memory where the multimedia instructions are located and the data pointer indicates where the data, corresponding to these multimedia instructions, is located in memory. A hardware processor is coupled to a first bidirectional port on the visible register set and a multimedia coprocessor is coupled to a second bidirectional port on the visible register set. The bidirectional ports allow the hardware processor and the coprocessor to exchange data and status information typically using an interrupt based communication mechanism. A main memory device is also coupled to the hardware processor over bidirectional port and coupled to the multimedia processor over a second bidirectional port. This arrangement all…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.