This paper presents a model of an embedded system to be implemented in FPGAs. Moreover, the architecture features of the FPGA are explored by the realization of a complex system to recognize characters and search words in a database. The mixing of signal processing and scalar processing in the same system require different architecture characteristics. The explored example shows that some minor adaptation on FPGAs could handle these complex system developments. This paper presents the main ideas behind this design approach, and a comparison in terms of area and processing speeds of both solutions.