V.92/V.
44 - A new dial-up
softmodem standard
Aureus H.L. Shum
Senior Applications Engineer
Software Products Division,
Motorola Semiconductors HK Ltd.
Abstract
The ITU V.92 standard modem, building on today’s V.90 technol-
ogy, is specifically designed to provide end users with faster and
more convenient access to the internet without additional cost. With
the implementation of V.44 data compression algorithm, there is an
improvement in compression of more than 25%, compared with
existing recommendation V.42bis. This significantly reducing the
file download times and speeding up the web browsing. In this
paper, taking Motorola’s V.92 SM56 PCI II modem as example, we
will present the softmodem hardware and software architecture.
The V.92 new features high-level implementation, which included
QuickConnect, Modem-On-Hold, as well as PCM Upstream, and
the V.44 implementation will be presented, too.
Introduction
In this section, we will introduce briefly what are V.92 and V.44.
V.92 is the new dial-up modem specification from the ITU
(International Telecommunications Union) that introduces three
new features that will add convenience and performance for the
modem user. The three features are QuickConnect, Modem-on-
Hold and PCM Upstream.
QuickConnect will shorten the time it takes to make a con-
nection by training to the phone line characteristics and storing
them for later usage. Thus, the modem handshaking time may be
shortened to half from 25 seconds then.
Modem-on-Hold (MOH) allows you to receive an incoming
call and stay connected to the Internet if call-waiting service is
available. In reverse, a voice call can be initialed while connected
and keep the modem connection. In addition, the MOH feature
will allow the modem connection to survive a call waiting event,
even if one doesn’t accept the call.
PCM Upstream (known as V.90Plus) boosts the upstream data
rates at 24000bps-48000bps with increment of 8000/6 bps be-
tween the user and ISP to reduce upload times for large files and
email attachments.
V.44 offers higher compression ratios. More data can be down-
loaded in the same amount of time, which means that you will
wait less for data to arrive. The most significant improvement
will be noticed when you are browsing and searching the web,
since HTML text files are highly compressible. For most users,
data throughput will be increased by 20 to 60%.
V.92 PCI Software Modem Architecture
In this section, we will introduce the V.92 softmodem hard-
ware architecture. The software architecture will be followed
by then. Here, we will use Motorola V.92 PCI II software mo-
dem as an example for discussion.
A. Hardware Architecture
The V.92 software modem hardware is the same as the V.90
software modem, without any additional components required.
Taking the Motorola PCI II SM56 software modem as an ex-
ample, in this design, the hardware has included a 3.3V PCI
ASIC, a data codec and a line chip, together with some discrete
components. (Fig. 1) The ASIC has provided the functions like
PCI 2.2 bus interface, serial/parallel data conversion, 2-chan-
nel data buffering for modem data receiving and transmission,
as well as GPIO control for the Direct Access Arrangement
(DAA). Serial data is coded or decoded in the Data Codec and
passed across the isolation barrier to the Line Chip. This bar-
rier between the high voltage area and low voltage area is crossed
by using high voltage capacitors and signal is passed digitally
over the link. The DAA behavior is simply changed by pro-
gramming new coefficients inside the register memory of the
data codec and line chip, thus it can adhere to global telephone
line standards like FCC, CTR21, JATE and other country-spe-
cific PTTs without hardware changes. With a few of external
passive components, the silicon DAA can perform functions
such as DC holding, hook switch, AC impedance matching, 2-
4 wires conversion, ring detect, DTMF or pulse dialing and
caller ID detection and storage.
Fig.1 Motorola V.92 PCI II Softmodem Hardware Architecture
International IC – Taipei • Conference Proceedings 27
B. Software Architecture and monitors a modem. Typically, the communications appli-
The software modem architecture based on Window 98/ME/ cation automatically issues them and their options. For V.92
2K OS is shown in Fig.2. new functions, the following 8 more AT commands are imple-
Motorola SM56 V.92 Driver supports Microsoft Windows mented:
9x, NT4, WindowME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP oper-
ating systems. There are two forms of device drivers supported
under PCI II driver model, smserial.vxd and smserial.sys. Each
type of driver is subject to specific operating system installa-
tion. Followings are the matrix of operating system versus driver
model:

B. Modem-On-Hold Implementation
A new property page [Fig. 3] in the help module is implemented
for V.92 to allow users controlling the Modem-On-Hold func-
tion, Call Waiting function, as well as Making Outgoing Call
The virtual device driver (VxD) smserial.vxd contains the procedure. Time Remaining is used to display the time in the
controller which deals with those functions like AT command hold state before the modem disconnected.
interpreter, error correction, data compression and modem con-
trol. It also contains the datapump for data modulation and de-
modulation, line probing, DTMF/pulse dialing, ring detection
etc. This driver registers in the VCOMM as serial communica-
tion device so that it can operate under the operation system
infrastructure. It also registers in Unimodem driver as data/fax
modem. High level application functional calls, thus can then
be translated into specific modem AT commands with the ser-
vice provided by TAPI, which is in turn, served by the
Unimodem driver. In the same way, the Windows Driver Model
(WDM) smserial.sys has provided similar modem functions as
the VxD, but in Windows 2000 OS, rather than served through
the VCOMM, the WDM allows direct communication from the
application software.

Fig. 3 SM56 PCI II V.92 MOH Control

C. Quick Connect Implementation

The analog channel characteristics (equalizer taps and echo
canceller taps) are saved in memory from a V.90 (standard train)
connection. Similarly, the digital characteristics are saved in
the headend side. On subsequent calls to a fast train-equipped
server modem, the client modem examines the answer tone in
Phase1 [Fig. 4] to verify that the line conditions are similar to
its saved parameters. If the parameters match, a fast connection
is attempted with handshake starting at the rate previously ne-
gotiated. If they do not match, a regular V.90 handshake com-
mences.
Fig. 2 SM56 PCI II V.92 software architecture

High Level Implementation

This section, the high level V.92 design on the Motorola SM56
PCI II softmodem will be presented. These implementation are
added over the original V.90 design.

A. V.92 AT Commands
Attention (AT) commands are the means by which one controls Fig. 4 Quick Connect Phase 1

28 International IC – Taipei • Conference Proceedings

D. PCM Upstream Implementation
PCM Upstream operates in a topology similar to that of V.90,
where there must be only one analog loop, between the APCM
and the central office. Implementation is similar to the V.90
and follows V.92 specification.

E. V.44 Implementation
V.44 software chip is mainly implemented in C based on the
ITU V.44 Specification. [4]

Conclusion
In this paper, we go through the V.92 PCI software modem hard-
ware architecture, software architecture. We also present the
high level V.92 implementation. The design provides end users
with faster and more convenient access to the internet without
additional cost. With the implementation of V.44 data compres-
sion algorithm, there is an improvement in compression of more
than 25%, compared with existing recommendation V.42bis.
This significantly reducing the file download times and speed-
ing up the web browsing.

References
[1] Conexant: V.92 The Next Generation White Paper 101382B.
[2] Conexant: V.44 A New Compression Standard Delivering a
New Level of Voice Band Modem Performance White Pa-
per 101383B.
[3] ITU: V.92 Specification
[4] ITU: V.44 Specification

Author’s contact details

Aureus, Hoi Leung Shum
Motorola Semiconductors HK Ltd.
2 Dai King Street, Tai Po Ind. Est.,
N.T., Hong Kong
Phone: 852 2680 7185
Fax: 852 2662 0938
E-mail: r29117@email.sps.mot.com

Marketing contact:
Jacky Liao
Motorola Semiconductors HK Ltd.
9/F, No. 296, Section 4, Jen-Ai Road,
Taipei, Taiwan
Phone: 886-2 2326 6230
E-mail: jacky.liao@motorola.com

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