3dfx Interactive, Inc.

Kenneth M Whaley

Gary Tarolli

A system and method for enabling a graphics processor to operate with a CPU that reorders write instructions without requiring expensive hardware and which does not significantly reduce the performance of the driver operating on the CPU. The invention allows the graphics processor to evaluate the data sent to it by software running on the CPU in its intended and proper order, even if the CPU transmits the data to the graphics processor in an order different from that generated by the software. The invention works regardless of the particular write reordering technique used by the CPU, and is a very low-cost addition to the graphics processor, requiring only a few registers and a small state machine. The invention identifies the number of 'holes' in the reordered write instructions and when the number of holes becomes zero a set of received data is made available for execution by the graphics processor.

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Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Kenneth M Whaley