Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

John G Torborg, Jr

Michael A Toelle

William Chambers Powell, Iii

James E Veres

George Easton Scott, Iii

Kent E Griffin

Mark L Kenworthy

Joseph W Chauvin

Steven A Gabriel

Howard Good

John Michael Snyder

James Thomas Kajiya

Conal M Elliott

Om Kumar Sharma

A gsprite engine circuit reads a display list identifying gsprite image layers to be composited for display, retrieves gsprite image data from an external memory, and transforms the gsprite data to display device coordinates. The gsprite image layers represent independently rendered graphical objects in a graphics scene. The gsprite engine can simulate the motion of the graphical objects in a sequence of display images by performing affine transformations on the gsprite image layers. The interface to the gsprite engine circuit includes the display list and gsprite header blocks. The display list enumerates the gsprites to be composited as a display image. The header blocks describe a gsprite transform, which can be an affine transform, used to transform gsprites to display device coordinates. The header blocks also provide an array of references to image blocks or 'chunks' comprising the gsprite.

Processor for controlling the display of rendered image layers and

A display controller, implemented in software or hardware, maintains the primary display image visible on a computer monitor in compressed subregions or chunks. The controller emulates a conventional frame buffer by making the compressed image appear as if it has a linear address space. Most of the image is compressed and the remainder is selectively decompressed and cached to satisfy read and write requests. To display the image, the controller decompresses the display image's constituent subregions and buffers the decompressed data so that it can be scanned out to a display monitor.

Method and system for accessing and displaying a compressed display

A graphics rendering chip serially renders a stream of geometric primitives to image regions called chunks. A set-up processor in the chip parses rendering commands and the stream of geometric primitives and computes edge equation parameters. A scan-convert processor receives the edge equation parameters from the set-up processor and scan converts the geometric primitives to produce pixel records and fragment records. An internal, double-buffered pixel buffer stores pixel records for fully covered pixel addresses and also stores references to fragment lists stored in a fragment buffer. A pixel engine performs hidden surface removal and controls storage of pixel and fragment records to the pixel and fragment buffers, respectively. An anti-aliasing engine resolves pixel data for one pixel buffer while the pixel engine fills the other pixel buffer with pixel data for the next chunk.

Graphics rendering device and method for operating same

A method for rendering graphical objects in a scene to generate a display images includes dividing the geometric primitives of models in a scene among portions or 'chunks' of the view space to which the primitives will be rendered, and then rendering geometry referenced to the chunks in series in a common depth buffer. Geometry for a chunk can be rendered, including sophisticated anti-aliasing and translucency computations, using a minimum of memory. Serially rendering object geometry in chunks provides an effective form of compression because pixel fragments can be generated for one chunk at a time and then resolved. Pixel fragments can be resolved in a post-processing step for one chunk while primitives for another chunk are rasterized.

Method and system for rendering graphical objects to image chunks

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

John G Torborg, Jr