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. 16, 2003
Filed:
May. 10, 2001
Vineet Goel, Winter Park, FL (US);
Robert S. Hartog, Windermere, FL (US);
Michael A. Mang, Oviedo, FL (US);
ATI Technologies Inc., Christ Church, BB;
Abstract
An apparatus for processing a non-planar graphics primitive employs an associated method of operation and includes a controller, at least one computation engine, memory and at least one lookup table. Responsive to operation codes issued by the controller, the computation engine(s) determines a group of control points based on the position coordinates and normal vectors of the non-planar primitive vertices. The computation engine(s) then determines position coordinates of supplemental vertices defining multiple planar tessellated primitives based on the control points and stored weighting factors that provide a cubic relation between the control points and the position coordinates of the supplemental vertices. A first memory stores at least the control points and at least one lookup table stores the cubic weighting factors. A second memory stores the position coordinates of the non-planar primitive vertices and the supplemental vertices of the planar primitives generated through tessellation for further graphics processing.