Ati Technologies Ulc

Ati Technologies Inc.

Ati International Srl

Andi Skende

Laurent Lefebvre

Stephen L Morein

Andrew Evan Gruber

Steven Morein

Andy Gruber

Mark Fowler

Kevin M Olson

A graphics processing architecture in one example performs vertex manipulation operations and pixel manipulation operations by transmitting vertex data to a general purpose register block, and performing vertex operations on the vertex data by a processor unless the general purpose register block does not have enough available space therein to store incoming vertex data; and continues pixel calculation operations that are to be or are currently being performed by the processor based on instructions maintained in an instruction store until enough registers within the general purpose register block become available.

Graphics processing architecture employing a unified shader

A graphics processing architecture in one example performs vertex manipulation operations and pixel manipulation operations by transmitting vertex data to a general purpose register block, and performing vertex operations on the vertex data b a processor unless the general purpose register block does not have enough available space therein to store incoming vertex data; and continues pixel calculation operations that are to be or are currently being performed the processor based on instructions maintained in an instruction store until enough registers within the general purpose register block become available.

A graphics processing architecture employing a single shader is disclosed. The architecture includes a circuit operative to select one of a plurality of inputs in response to a control signal; and a shader, coupled to the arbiter, operative to process the selected one of the plurality of inputs, the shader including means for performing vertex operations and pixel operations, and wherein the shader performs one of the vertex operations or pixel operations based on the selected one of the plurality of inputs. The shader includes a register block which is used to store the plurality of selected inputs, a sequencer which maintains vertex manipulation and pixel manipulations instructions and a processor capable of executing both floating point arithmetic and logical operations on the selected inputs in response to the instructions maintained in the sequencer.

A method and apparatus for processing portions of primitives that are being rendered is presented. Primitives that are received are divided into portions that correspond to pixel blocks of the frame. The frame includes a plurality of pixel blocks where each of the pixel blocks includes a plurality of pixels that are included in the frame. Thus, the pixel blocks divide the frame into a number of smaller blocks. A representative Z value for each portion of the primitive is determined, and the representative Z value for the portion of the primitive is compared with a representative buffered Z, which may be the representative buffer Z value for the pixel block to which the portion corresponds. If the representative Z value for the portion compares favorably with the representative buffered Z value such that the portion is determined to lie completely behind the information currently stored for that pixel block, the portion is discarded. If the representative Z value for the portion compares with the representative buffer Z value in such a way that not all of the portion is ensured of being positioned behind currently buffered data for the pixel block, the portion of the primitive is processed further such that pixel fragments corresponding to the portion are generated and combined with the information currently stored for that pixel block. The representative buffered Z values for each of the pixel blocks may be derived based on a compression scheme applied to the Z values for each of the individual pixel blocks.

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Shrewsbury, MA, United States of America

Andi Skende