Ati International Srl

Ati Technologies Ulc

Ati Technologies Inc.

Other

Gordon Fraser Grigor

Vladimir F Giemborek

John E Haberfellner

Indra Laksono

Barry G Wilks

James Doyle

Antonio Asaro

David L J Glen

Hugo Chung

Kin Man William Yee

A method and apparatus for configuring multiple displays includes determining, in connection with an image or portion thereof to be displayed on the multiple displays at the same time, whether received display preferences can be fulfilled in observance of: configuration properties of the multiple displays and configuration properties of a computing system, such as the capabilities of display controllers. The method and apparatus also determine whether a current configuration of the multiple displays to the computing system can be reconfigured such that the display preferences of the multiple displays can be fulfilled at the same time while maintaining effective configuration of a current configuration when the display preferences cannot be fulfilled, and display the images of a portion thereof on the multiple displays at the same time.

Method and apparatus for configuring multiple displays associated with a computing system

A method and apparatus for configuring multiple displays associated with a computing system begins when display preferences regarding at least one of the multiple displays are received. The display preferences indicate desired selections of which images are to be displayed on which displays and may be based on user selections or application selections. Having received the display preferences, a coupling controller within a video graphics processing circuit determines whether the display preferences can be fulfilled in observance of configuration properties. The configuration properties include limitations of the displays (e.g., refresh rate, resolution) and the computing system (e.g., display controller capabilities) and/or rules of the computing system (e.g., at least one screen must be actively coupled at all times). If the display preferences can be fulfilled, the coupling controller causes display controllers to be operably coupled to displays. If, however, the display preferences cannot be fulfilled, the coupling controller determines whether the current configuration can be reconfigured to allow the display preferences to be fulfilled with minimal affect on the perceived current configuration. If so, the coupling controller causes the video graphics processing circuitry to be reconfigured.

In accordance with the present invention, a write behind controller receives control information from a display device controller in order to determine a current location available in a frame buffer for receiving information. Write accesses of the frame buffer by a rendering engine are prohibited if the access is to an area below a currently available location of the frame buffer. Generally, the rendering engine will be stalled when the requested address location has not yet displayed its data. Subsequently, the write access to the frame buffer is allowed when location has been rastered.

Method and apparatus for a write behind raster

A graphic interface device produces a video signal for a display such that the user may select between landscape and portrait image display modes. The graphic interface device has a pixel data memory array from which a video output signal is derived. A primary graphics engine renders graphics in a landscape orientation in conjunction with a frame buffer. The primary landscape graphics engine stores rendered graphics to the pixel data memory array and also copies selected graphics in data blocks within the frame buffer called surfaces. In order to provide other display modes to display images in different physical orientations, a mode control is provided in conjunction with a rotated pixel data array buffer to facilitate the rendering of portrait oriented graphics by the primary landscape graphics engine. In addition, to facilitate the efficiency and speed of rendering portrait oriented graphics, a secondary portrait graphics engine is provided. To enable the secondary portrait graphics engine to access the frame buffer directly, a rotated surface buffer is used by the primary landscape engine to store copies of data written to the rotated data array buffer in the frame buffer in a portrait orientation.

Video graphic interface device and method for portrait and landscape image display modes

An address access control system dynamically forms a plurality of address ranges in a predefined unified address structure during operation of a computer system. A plurality of memory clients is operatively connected to the unified address structure. A plurality of capabilities is also provided with respect to memory clients accessing address ranges. A memory controller is operatively connected to the plurality of memory clients and to the unified address structure. The memory controller dynamically structures an association of a respective range of the plurality of ranges with at least one respective capability of a plurality of capabilities for at least one memory client of the plurality of memory clients.

Method and apparatus for controlling memory client access to address ranges in a memory pool

A method and apparatus for controlling multiple displays from a drawing surface begins by obtaining a drawing surface setting that includes at least one of a refresh rate, resolution, and pixel depth. A user may select the drawing surface settings or are default parameters of the computer system. The processing continues by determining whether each of the multiple displays includes a display mode that substantially matches the drawing surface setting. If each of the multiple displays includes a display mode that matches the drawing surface setting, the images stored in the drawing surface are provided to the multiple displays based on the drawing surface setting. As such, the images will be displayed in full, without virtual desktop operation, unless selected by the user. If, however, at least one of the multiple displays does not include a display mode that matches the drawing surface setting, an alternate drawing surface setting is generated, which may be done by modifying the refresh rate, the resolution, and/or the pixel depth of the drawing surface settings. Having generated the alternate surface settings, another determination is made as to whether each of the multiple displays includes a display mode that substantially matches the alternate drawing surface setting. If not, another alternate drawing surface setting is generated until a match is found or until exhausted. If exhausted, one of the displays is dropped from the process, i.e., it operates in a virtual desktop mode, and the process repeats for the remaining displays.

Method and apparatus for controlling multiple displays from a drawing surface

A multi-view panning system and method links a plurality of virtual desktops into one larger desktop that may be navigated through the use of a position indicator over multiple display devices. The system and method facilitates multiple view panning by a user. In one embodiment, a separate panning rectangle is defined for each display device and a separate viewing area is associated with each panning rectangle. A common multi-display surface is defined to bound all pan locking rectangles associated with each display device of interest. Movement of a position indicator across at least one boundary of one pan locking rectangle causes the position indicator to control which data is contained in the second rectangular view on the second display to facilitate multi-view panning in a common surface, such as a desktop surface, over multiple displays.

Single surface multi-view panning system and method for multiple displays

A method and apparatus for improved double buffering within a computing system begins when a series of data blocks are received from a central processing unit at a rate independent of a processing rate of a recipient engine. For example, a video graphics circuit receives a series of data blocks representing video frames from the central processing unit at a rate independent of the refresh rate of the display. As the data blocks are received, the video graphics circuit queues commands of the data blocks. Typically, the commands include processing commands and a processing rate synchronize command. To process the data blocks, the co-processor pulls commands from the queued list and processes them to produce recipient data. As the co-processor is producing the recipient data, it is utilizing a first buffer. The co-processor continues to process the commands and storing the results into the first buffer until the processing rate synchronize command is detected. At this point, the co-processor pauses processing of the commands. At the beginning of the next cycle of the processing rate, the recipient data is provided from the first buffer to the recipient engine and the co-processor resumes processing of commands, which relate to another data block. As the co-processor is processing the commands of the second data block, it is utilizing a second buffer to store the processed data, i.e., the second recipient data.

Method and apparatus for improved double buffering

A method and apparatus for memory allocation in a multi-processor system is accomplished by mapping portions of a shared memory to a first and second processor. The mapping is performed such that either of the processors' portions can be enlarged or reduced based on the memory that is located between the portions allocated to the processors. When a processor requests additional memory and there is sufficient free memory between the processors' respective portions, the appropriate amount of the free memory is allocated to the requesting processor.

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Toronto, Canada

Gordon Fraser Grigor