National Semiconductor Corporation

Bernd Moeschen

Yehezkel Friedman

Zeev Bikowsky

Maurice Valentaten

Zohar Peleg

Yom-Tov Sidi

A multi-mode home terminal system utilizes a single embedded processor and a single RAM for performing modem operations, graphics/video processing and general purpose control tasks. The multi-mode home terminal system supports a wide range of video/graphics standards, modems and voice algorithms. Home terminal input data to be displayed on an associated monitor can be decoded to any display list format or directly to the system's frame buffer. The display lists, frame buffer, font area, and embedded processor memory are located in the same single random access memory, thus allowing the use of a single RAM for DSP data, display lists, video buffers, voice compression/decompression algorithms and embedded controller tasks. The system is flexible for programming the desired video standard, modem type and display list format. Since both the video function and the embedded processor are supported by the same RAM, a RAM arbiter resolves bus contention.

Growing community of inventors

Starnberg, Germany

Bernd Moeschen