Patents by Inventor Donald William Patterson

Donald William Patterson has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6141721
    Abstract: A method of asynchronously accessing a random access memory having a plurality of rows and columns, where each row has a wordline connected to read and write row decoders and each column is connected to bitlines. A row address is assigned to a first and second row, i.e. a pair of rows. A read address is provided to the read row decoder and a write address is provided to the write row decoder. The read and write addresses are decoded by the read and write row decoders, respectively, and one of the first or second rows is selected for reading. Asynchronous with selecting one of the first or second rows for reading, one of the first or second rows is selected for writing. Data is then read from the row selected for reading and asynchronously data is written into the row selected for writing. Signals are provided which coordinate the reading and writing of data, where in the event reading or writing is being performed, another of the reading or writing is deferred until completion of the first reading or writing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2000
    Assignee: Discovision Associates
    Inventors: Donald William Patterson, William P. Robbins
  • Patent number: 5984512
    Abstract: An MPEG video decompression method and apparatus utilizing a plurality of stages interconnected by a two-wire interface arranged as a pipeline processing machine. Control tokens and DATA Tokens pass over the single two-wire interface for carrying both control and in token format. A token decode circuit is positioned in certain of the stages for recognizing certain of the tokens as control tokens pertinent to that stage and for passing unrecognized control tokens along the pipeline. Reconfiguration processing circuits are positioned in select stages and are responsive to a recognized control token for reconfiguring such stages to handle an identified DATA Token. A wide variety of unique supporting subsystems circuitry and processing techniques are disclosed for implementing the system, including memory addressing, transforming data using a common processing block, time synchronization, asynchronous swing buffering, storing of video information, a parallel Huffman decoder, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 16, 1999
    Assignee: Discovision Associates
    Inventors: Anthony Mark Jones, Colin Smith, Helen Rosemary Finch, Anthony Peter John Claydon, Donald William Patterson, William P. Robbins, Nicholas Birch, David Andrew Barnes
  • Patent number: 5835792
    Abstract: An MPEG video decompression method and apparatus utilizing a plurality of stages interconnected by a two-wire interface arranged as a pipeline processing machine. Control tokens and DATA Tokens pass over the single two-wire interface for carrying both control and data in token format. A token decode circuit is positioned in certain of the stages for recognizing certain of the tokens as control tokens pertinent to that stage and for passing unrecognized control tokens along the pipeline. Reconfiguration processing circuits are positioned in selected stages and are responsive to a recognized control token for reconfiguring such stage to handle an identified DATA Token. A wide variety of unique supporting subsystem circuitry and processing techniques are disclosed for implementing the system, including memory addressing, transforming data using a common processing block, time synchronization, asynchronous swing buffering, storing of video information, a parallel Huffman decoder, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 10, 1998
    Assignee: Discovision Associates
    Inventors: Adrian P. Wise, Kevin D. Dewar, Anthony Mark Jones, Martin William Sotheran, Colin Smith, Helen Rosemary Finch, Anthony Peter John Claydon, Donald William Patterson, Mark Barnes, Andrew Peter Kuligowski, William P. Robbins, Nicholas Birch, David Andrew Barnes
  • Patent number: 5829007
    Abstract: A RAM implementation of asynchronous swing buffering is provided in which two buffers are operated asynchronously; one is written while the other is read. Accordingly, this allows for a data stream having a fast rate of through-put to be resynchronized to another rate, while still maintaining a desired rate. In the invention, the write control and read control both have state indicators for communicating which buffer they are using and whether the controls are waiting for access or are, in fact, accessing that buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 27, 1998
    Assignee: Discovision Associates
    Inventors: Adrian P. Wise, Kevin D. Dewar, Anthony Mark Jones, Martin William Sotheran, Colin Smith, Helen Rosemary Finch, Anthony Peter John Claydon, Donald William Patterson, Mark Barnes, Andrew Peter Kuligowski, William P. Robbins, Nicholas Birch, David Andrew Barnes
  • Patent number: 5821885
    Abstract: An MPEG video decompression method and apparatus utilizing a plurality of stages interconnected by a two-wire interface arranged as a pipeline processing machine. Control tokens and DATA Tokens pass over the single two-wire interface for carrying both control and data in token format. A token decode circuit is positioned in certain of the stages for recognizing certain of the tokens as control tokens pertinent to that stage and for passing unrecognized control tokens along the pipeline. Reconfiguration processing circuits are positioned in selected stages and are responsive to a recognized control token for reconfiguring such stage to handle an identified DATA Token. A wide variety of unique supporting subsystem circuitry and processing techniques are disclosed for implementing the system, including memory addressing, transforming data using a common processing block, time synchronization, asynchronous swing buffering, storing of video information, a parallel Huffman decoder, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Discovision Associates
    Inventors: Adrian P. Wise, Kevin D. Dewar, Anthony Mark Jones, Martin William Sotheran, Colin Smith, Helen Rosemary Finch, Anthony Peter John Claydon, Donald William Patterson, Mark Barnes, Andrew Peter Kuligowski, William P. Robbins, Nicholas Birch, David Andrew Barnes
  • Patent number: 5768629
    Abstract: An MPEG video decompression method and apparatus utilizing a plurality of stages interconnected by a two-wire interface arranged as a pipeline processing machine. Control tokens and DATA Tokens pass over the single two-wire interface for carrying both control and data in token format. A token decode circuit is positioned in certain of the stages for recognizing certain of the tokens as control tokens pertinent to that stage and for passing unrecognized control tokens along the pipeline. Reconfiguration processing circuits are positioned in selected stages and are responsive to a recognized control token for reconfiguring such stage to handle an identified DATA Token. A wide variety of unique supporting subsystem circuitry and processing techniques are disclosed for implementing the system, including memory addressing, transforming data using a common processing block, time synchronization, asynchronous swing buffering, storing of video information, a parallel Huffman decoder, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 16, 1998
    Assignee: Discovision Associates
    Inventors: Adrian P. Wise, Kevin D. Dewar, Anthony Mark Jones, Martin William Sotheran, Colin Smith, Helen Rosemary Finch, Anthony Peter John Claydon, Donald William Patterson, Mark Barnes, Andrew Peter Kuligowski, William P. Robbins, Nicholas Birch, David Andrew Barnes
  • Patent number: 5740460
    Abstract: An MPEG video decompression method and apparatus utilizing a plurality of stages interconnected by a two-wire interface arranged as a pipeline processing machine. Control tokens and DATA Tokens pass over the single two-wire interface for carrying both control and data in token format. A token decode circuit is positioned in certain of the stages for recognizing certain of the tokens as control tokens pertinent to that stage and for passing unrecognized control tokens along the pipeline. Reconfiguration processing circuits are positioned in selected stages and are responsive to a recognized control token for reconfiguring such stage to handle an identified DATA Token. A wide variety of unique supporting subsystem circuitry and processing techniques are disclosed for implementing the system, including memory addressing, transforming data using a common processing block, time synchronization, asynchronous swing buffering, storing of video information, a parallel Huffman decoder, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: April 14, 1998
    Assignee: Discovision Associates
    Inventors: Adrian P. Wise, Kevin D. Dewar, Anthony Mark Jones, Martin William Sotheran, Colin Smith, Helen Rosemary Finch, Anthony Peter John Claydon, Donald William Patterson, Mark Barnes, Andrew Peter Kuligowski, William P. Robbins, Nicholas Birch, David Andrew Barnes