The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 11, 2001
Filed:
Jan. 08, 1999
Andrew D. Bowen, San Jose, CA (US);
Gregory C. Buchner, Los Altos, CA (US);
Remi Simon Vincent Arnaud, San Jose, CA (US);
Daniel T. Chian, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
James Bowman, Pescadero, CA (US);
Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for synchronizing the execution of a sequence of graphics pipelines is provided. For a representative embodiment a sequence of graphics pipelines are connected in a daisy-chain sequence. Each pipeline operation can be controlled to operated in one of two modes. The first is a local mode where the pipeline outputs its own digital video data. The second is a pass-through mode where the pipeline outputs digital video data received from preceding graphics pipelines. The pipelines are configured to allow an application executing on a host process to select the next pipeline that will enter local mode operation. The pipeline that is selected to enter local mode operation asserts a local ready signal when it is ready to begin outputting its digital video information. Each of the pipelines monitors the state of a global ready signal. When the global ready signal becomes asserted it means that the pipeline that is selected to enter local mode operation is ready. It also means that all other pipelines that are configured to work in parallel with the sequence of pipelines are ready. At this time, selected the selected pipeline enters local mode operation. The remaining pipelines in the sequence either enter or remain in pass-through mode operation.