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:
Nov. 30, 2004
Filed:
Nov. 30, 2001
Steven E. Molnar, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Bengt-Olaf Schneider, Carmel, NY (US);
John Montrym, Cupertino, CA (US);
James M. Van Dyke, Austin, TX (US);
Stephen D. Lew, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
NVIDIA Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A system and method are provided for the compression of pixel data for communicating the same with a frame buffer. Initially, a plurality of samples is received. It is first determined whether the samples are reducible, in that a single sample value can take the place of a plurality of sample values. If it is determined that the samples are capable of being reduced, the samples are reduced. Reduction is a first stage of compression. It is then determined whether the samples are capable of being compacted. The samples are then compacted if it is determined that the samples are capable of being compacted. Compaction is a second stage of compression. The samples are then communicated with a frame buffer, in compressed form, if possible, in uncompressed form if not. Subsequent reading of frame buffer data takes advantage of the smaller transfer size of compressed data. Compressed data is uncompacted and expanded as necessary for further processing or display. Where possible, data is processed reduced, rather than expanded, to minimize the amount of processing required and transfer bandwidth required. This system and method accelerate the rendering and display of computer-generated images.