Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Douglas C Twilleager

Michael Frank Deering

Michael G Lavelle

Daniel S Rice

A graphical processing system comprising a computational unit and a shadow processing unit coupled to the computational unit through a communication bus. The computational unit is configured to transfer coordinates Cof a point P with respect to a first space to the shadow processing unit. In response to receiving the coordinates C, the shadow processing unit is configured to: (a) transform the coordinate Cto determine map coordinates s and t and a depth value Dfor the point P, (b) access a neighborhood of depth values from a memory using the map coordinates s and t, (c) compare the depth value Dto the depth values of the neighborhood, (d) filter binary results of the comparisons to determine a shadow fraction, and (e) transfer the shadow fraction to the computational unit through the communication bus.

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Oakland, CA, United States of America

Douglas C Twilleager