Graphics system and method for use of sparse textures

Abstract

This disclosure includes example embodiments of graphics processor memory management systems that support the use of graphical textures that are not fully bound or 'backed' in memory throughout their entire lifespans. Such graphical textures are referred to herein as 'sparse textures.' According to some embodiments, sparse textures may be split into fixed-dimension pages in memory wherein, during execution, a user may indicate a desire to map certain pages to physical memory locations and populate such pages with the underlying data. In other embodiments, statistical information obtained from the graphics processor is used to aid in the determination of whether or not a given texture (or portion of a texture) needs physical memory backing. In yet other embodiments, the graphics processor may also enforce ordering guarantees, e.g., in instances when there are fewer pages in memory available than there is a need for backing of at a given moment in time.