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:
Jul. 09, 2002
Filed:
Aug. 25, 1997
James T. Battle, San Jose, CA (US);
ATI International SRL, Thornhill, CA;
Abstract
A 3-D graphics system combines a software programmed setup processor, a 3-D pipeline, and a software programmed back end processor. The setup processor performs “setup” on polygons for the 3-D pipeline. The 3-D pipeline rasterizes the polygons to create pixels. The back end processor performs back end processing, such as Z-buffering and alpha blending on the pixels. In one embodiment, the throughput of the 3-D graphics system is increased by clusterizing the pixels before back end processing. Specifically, a clusterizer combines pixels into clusters that can be processed by the back end processors without data coherency problems. Furthermore, the pixels are selected for a cluster to minimize memory latency and access times. In some embodiments, clusters are filled with fill addresses by a cluster filler. The filled addresses generated by the cluster filler, do not cause potential hazards in the back end processor.