Real-Time Programmable DSPs for Video Processing: The Challenges of Their Development

Video signals can be processed by homogeneous multiple digital signal processors (DSPs) using the overlap-save method. The target application of the video signal processor (VSP) was video phones and video conferencing, along with the development of International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Recommendation H.261, video transmission over ISDN lines on which data rates are multiples of 64 kb/s. A commercial H.261 codec was developed based on the proposed VSP architecture, and the extension to high-definition TV (HDTV) signal processing had also been achieved and demonstrated. This article describes the challenge of real-time programmable VSP development during the 1980s.