Compaq Computer Corporation, Inc.

Brian H Danielson

David A Dyches

John J Watters

Craig A Estepp

Danley M Carlson

Timothy J McDonald

An accelerated video controller operates in conjunction with a video driver to accelerate certain video operations. If the operating environment requests a polygon operation, the driver (or software on the video controller) will determine whether the specified polygon is simple convex. The determination of whether a convex polygon is simple convex is accomplished by tracing between the vertices of the polygon and comparing the changes in direction relative to a predetermine coordinate axis to a threshold number. If the polygon is simple convex, certain operations can be performed using simpler code or hardware accelerated features. For a polygon fill, if the polygon is simple convex, the edges of the polygon are inspected to determine whether the polygon can be decomposed into a rectangle and a smaller polygon. If so, the video controllers bit engine will be used to perform the fill of the rectangle at high speed, thus reducing the time of the operation.

Method and apparatus for determining simple convex polygons

A graphics controller for use in a computer system stores information from the screen memory portion of its frame buffer in a compressed form, either in a separate compressed data memory or a portion of the frame memory separate from the screen memory. Data in the compressed data memory references color data in a color dictionary. The display controller uses the color data from the compressed data memory to drive the display, thereby reducing accesses to the frame buffer by the display controller. Accordingly, other devices, such as hardware accelerators, have greater opportunities to access the frame buffer.

Method and apparatus for displaying computer graphics data stored in a

Method and apparatus for accelerated filling of polygons on a computer

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Tomball, TX, United States of America

Brian H Danielson