Nortel Networks Corporation

John Donaghy

Claire Greenwood

James McKee

One aspect of the invention provides an apparatus for implementing a state machine. The apparatus comprises a software component and a hardware component each arranged to implement at least one state and to be responsive to at least one input event to perform one or more functions. The apparatus thus implements a hybrid state machine offering the fast performance of a hardware implementation where required, while offering the flexibility and reduced testing times of a software implementation in respect of any aspect of the state machine not implemented in hardware. The apparatus is particularly suited for use in telecommunications systems and, in one embodiment, is arranged to perform pointer interpretation in accordance with ITU-T standard G.783.

Growing community of inventors

Belfast, United Kingdom

John Donaghy