Talk:NEC μPD7720

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 * Digital signal processing prior to DSP chips began on mainframe computers, but even with multiple TTL MSI chips systems were power-hungry, hot and expensive, with typical DSP systems requiring over 100 chips. The most popular first generation DSP chips, the NEC µPD7720 and Texas Instruments TMS32010, became commercially available in late 1982.  $600 initial cost, not counting development tools.


 * List of first-generation monolithic DPSs: WE DSP1 (Bell Labs), S28211 (AMI), TMS32010 (Texas Instruments), MB8764 (Fujitsu), uPD7720 (NEC).


 * A parallel project [to a Bell Labs effort] at Intel would result in the Intel 2920 announced 25 years ago at ISSCC79 (International Solid-State Circuits Conference 1979). The Intel 2920 included on-chip (D/A) digital/analog and A/D (analog/digital) converters but lacked a hardware multiplier and soon faded from the market. An [sic] NEC project resulted in the NEC µPD7720&mdash;one of the most successful DSPs of all time.  The Bell Labs DSP-1 and NEC µPD7720 announced at ISSCC80.  The original problem they were trying to solve was touch-tone dialing.


 * The uPD7720 was also used as a "Graphics Display Controller" on the NEC "Advanced Personal Computer".


 * Table of various DSP microprocessors giving Company, Model number, Date Introduced and Description. The upd7720 is listed as being introduced in 1981 and described as "Early DSP device".


 * It was not until the following year [1980] that the first real DSPs arrived on the market: the µPD7720 from NEC and the DSP1 from AT&T, which were both presented at the IEEE's International Solid-State Circuits Conference in 1980. The two procesors were largely inspired from research carried out in the telephone industry.


 * Some important DSP processors are: Texas Instruments TMS 32010, TMS32020, TMS320C25, NEC µPD7720, NEC µPD77230, NEC µPD7281, Motorola MC56000, STC DSP128, AMI S2811; Analog devices ADSP2100; National LM32900; Philips PCB5010; Thomson TS68930; AT&T DSP32; OKI NSM6992; Matsushita MN1900; Fujitsu MB8764, etc.


 * Specialized computer architectures for signal processing have been around for quite some time (Allen, 1975). Single-chip DSP microprocessors first appeared in the early 1980s, beginning with the Western Electric DSP1 from Bell Labs, the S28211 from AMI, the TMS32010 from Texas Instruments, the uPD7720 from NEC, and a few others. Early applications fo these devices included voiceband data modems, speech synthesis, consumer audio, graphics and disk drive controllers.  A comprehensive overview of DSP processor generations through the mid-1990s can be found in Lapsley et al. (1997).
 * Note: may be self-published.