Patent · US Expired

System software for use in a graphics computer system having a shared system memory

US6070002A · kind A · utility

7Cited by
5References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 13, 1996
Grant dateMay 30, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 13, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T1/60
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A computer system having a shared system memory, and system software in the computer system, are described herein. One or more user applications execute in the computer system. The computer system has a general purpose, shared system memory that is used for all processing, including video input/output operations and image conversion operations. The computer system also has a multimedia access and control module (MACM), which is the input/output interface between the computer system and the external world. In operation, the MACM receives, at one of its video input ports, video data comprising a video image (such as a frame or a field). The MACM stores the video image in a first buffer contained in a first buffer pool of the system memory. The first buffer pool was previously created by a user application. The user application previously associated the first buffer pool with the MACM's video input port. A video imaging and compression module (VICM) performs image conversion operations. Each user application creates one or more converter contexts of the VICM. Each converter context is capable of performing an image conversion operation. In operation, a converter context of the VICM pe…

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