International Business Machines Corporation

Dwayne Thomas Crump

Steve T Pancoast

Steven Taylor Pancoast

William Bruce Nicol, Ii

Robert Edward Steinbugler

James A Heaney

Robert Christian Schwartz

Chris Alan Nevitt

John Peter Karidis

John David Swansey

Duane Edward Norris

Thomas K Worthington

Russell Alan Resnick

Jonathan James Hurd

Herbert S Steelman

Stephen Taylor Pancoast

Disclosed is a method for transferring data between at least one direct access storage device in a media console and devices in a system unit. The system unit is separate from the media console and includes a microprocessor coupled to a local bus and an expansion bus. An electrical connector having one end coupled to the media console and another end coupled to the system unit is used for electrically connecting device(s) in the console to devices in the system unit. The method includes the steps of monitoring the expansion bus with a first interface in the system unit to determine when a bus cycle initiated by a device in the system unit is directed to the direct access storage device and transferring data from the expansion bus to the direct access storage device via the electrical connector and a second interface in the console when a bus cycle is directed to the direct access storage device.

Method for interfacing a media console and a system unit

Disclosed is a personal computer system that includes a media console coupled to a system unit with a multi-conductor cable. The media console includes a direct access storage device having an opening for receiving a removable storage medium. The system unit is separate from the console and includes a microprocessor coupled to a local bus and an expansion bus, a non-volatile storage device coupled to the local bus and a power supply for supplying power to the system. The cable has one end coupled to the console and another end coupled to the system unit for electrically connecting devices in the console to devices in the system unit. The system unit has a first interface coupled to the expansion bus and the cable, and the console has a second interface coupled to the cable and the direct access storage device in the console. The first interface is operative to (1) determine when a bus cycle initiated by a device in the system unit is directed to the direct access storage device in the console and (2) transfer data from the expansion bus to the direct access storage device via the cable and the second interface when a bus cycle is directed to the direct access storage device.

Multi-conductor cable architecture and interface for a split system

Advantage is taken of Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuit design and manufacture to provide, in a digital data handling system handling display signal streams, a video processor which is capable of high performance due to vector processing and special addressing modes. The video processor has, on a single VLSI device, a plurality of processors which cooperate for generating video signal streams and which employ distinctive addressing modes for memory elements of the device. Each of the plurality of processors has associated instruction and data caches, which are joined together by a wide data bus formed on the same substrate as the processors, and further has registers for controlling access, and the modes of access, to data held in memory.

Video processor with addressing mode control

A digital data handling system handling display signal streams has a video processor which is capable of high performance due to vector processing and special addressing modes. The video processor is a single VLSI device having a plurality of processors, each of which has associated instruction and data caches, which are joined together by a wide data bus formed on the same substrate as the processors. Most audio and/or video compression algorithms use a Huffman style bit compression scheme with compression codes in variable length bit fields. The compressed data is a compacted bit stream which must be interpreted serially in order to extract the codes. In contrast to most microprocessors which process bit streams only inefficiently, the present invention uses a serialization FIFO to provide a hardware assist to the Huffman encoding/decoding.

Video processor with serialization FIFO

Disclosed is a method and apparatus for processing two analog composite video signals to be displayed to a human observer. The system includes at least a first and a second video source for generating first and second analog composite video signals respectively, and a selector coupled to the first and second video sources. The selector is operative to supply either the first or second analog composite video signal to one input of a video processor and independently and simultaneously supply either the first or second analog composite video signal to a second input of the video processor. The video processor is operative under control of a CPU to generate an output analog composite video signal comprised of a portion of the analog composite video signal supplied to the video processor's first input and a portion of the analog composite video signal supplied to the video processor's second input.

Method and system for processing two analog composite video signals

Disclosed is a video game system for connecting to the Internet and allowing a user to transfer/receive data therefrom. The video game system includes a connector port for removably and electrically connecting a cartridge to the game console. The cartridge includes an application program stored therein, a modem and a telephone port for transferring data between the Internet and the video game system via a telephone line. A processor is electrically coupled to a system memory, the connector port and the I/O port. The processor is operative to (1) transfer the application program from the first cartridge to the system memory, execute the application program out of system memory and display an Internet graphical user interface (GUI) on the video display device and (2) execute Internet protocol programs to connect to the Internet and transfer data between the Internet and the video game system via the graphical user interface.

Video game system with internet cartridge

Advantage is taken of Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuit design and manufacture to provide, in a digital data handling system handling display signal streams, a video processor which is capable of high performance due to vector processing and special addressing modes. A single VLSI device has a plurality of processors which cooperate for generating video signal streams and which employ distinctive addressing modes for memory elements of the device. Each of the plurality of processors has associated instruction and data caches, and the processors are joined together by a wide data bus formed on the same substrate as the processors. Each processor has a load/store unit, a translation unit associated with the load/store unit, and an index control register for controlling any translation of data bit streams passed through the load/store unit. The presence and operation of the translation unit enables the device to efficiently process data streams of varying types, thereby broadening the applicability of the device.

Video processor implementing various data translations using control

Disclosed is a media console of a personal computer system that includes a drive housing that can be moved within a base member between an open position and a closed position. A direct access storage device (e.g., floppy disk drive) is disposed within the drive housing and has an opening for receiving a removable storage medium. The open position is characterized in that the opening in the direct access storage device is accessible to a user while the closed position is characterized in that the opening in the direct access storage device is not accessible to the user. The drive housing pivots on pins which are disposed at opposite ends of a back portion of the drive housing. The pins fit within grooves which are located at each end of the base member. A spring coupled to the base member and the drive housing biases the drive housing toward the open position. A latch for latching the drive housing in the closed position is coupled to the base member and the drive housing. Pressing on the top of the drive housing unlatches the latch and allows the drive housing to move from the closed position to the open position.

Computer system having a latching drive housing which pivots on hinge

Disclosed is a personal computer system that includes a media console coupled to a system unit with a multi-conductor cable. The media console contains a direct access storage device (e.g., floppy disk drive) having an opening for receiving a removable storage medium. The system unit is separate from the media console and includes a microprocessor coupled to a first bus, a non-volatile storage device coupled to the first bus and a power supply for supplying power to the the system. The multi-conductor cable has one end coupled to the media console and another end coupled to the system unit for electrically connecting devices in the media console to devices in the system unit.

Split system personal computer having floppy disk drive moveable between

Disclosed is a video game system which provides a user with text based Internet access. The video game system includes first and second connector ports for removably and electrically connecting the game console to first and second cartridges respectively. The first cartridge has a dialer/terminal application program stored therein while the second cartridge includes a modem and a telephone port for transferring data between the Internet and the video game system via a telephone line. A processor is electrically coupled to a system memory, the first and second connector ports and an input/output port. The processor is operative to transfer the application program from the first cartridge to the system memory and execute the application program out of system memory to connect to the Internet and transfer text data between the Internet and the video game system wherein the text data is displayed on a video display device as it is received from the Internet and as it is input from a control device.

Two cartridge video game system with text based internet access

A computer system having suspend and resume capabilities using a plurality of suspend files to save multiple system states. Provision is made for use of multiple operating systems requiring multiple swap files. Also, a cross-session data file monitor prevents corruption of data files from one session to another.

Computer system having a plurality of stored system capability states

A computer system having suspend and resume capabilities using multiple suspend timers. The multiple suspend timers execute such that the computer system suspends after a longer period of time of user inactivity when the system is powered up in an attended mode and suspends after a shorter period of time of inactivity when the system is powered up in an unattended mode. If the system awakens in an unattended mode and user activity is subsequently detected, the system changes to suspend after the longer period of time of user inactivity. The multiple timers are implemented either by a single timer restarted to two different values or by two independent timers having different expiration values.

Computer system having multi-level suspend timers to suspend from

A computer system having suspend and resume capabilities using suspend once resume many (SORM) sessions. In SORM sessions, the state of the computer system at a particular point in time is saved to the nonvolatile memory, e.g., hard drive, so that that exact system state can be resumed from the hard drive. However, the system state is discarded (not saved to the hard drive) when the user is finished with that particular session. Also, with SORM sessions, the suspend file always stays the same; therefore, a computer system resumed from a SORM suspend file is always resumed to a fixed, predetermined state. SORM sessions also facilitate operating systems executing software designed to execute on another operating system. By using the SORM sessions of the present invention, the first operating system can suspend, resume a SORM session containing the second operating system, allow the second operating system to execute the desired program, discard the SORM session, and resume the first operating system where it was interrupted.

Computer system having suspend once resume many sessions

A digital data handling system handling display signal streams has a video processor which is capable of high performance due to vector processing and special addressing modes. The video processor is a single VLSI device having a plurality of processors, each of which has associated instruction and data caches, which are joined together by a wide data bus formed on the same substrate as the processors.

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Apex, NC, United States of America

Dwayne Thomas Crump