Method and system for graphics rendering using captured graphics hardware instructions

Abstract

A computer-implemented method and system for performing graphics rendering on demand on a graphics subsystem, with only nominal host system operations being required. An application program requiring graphics to be rendered is coded to bound a sequence of calls to basic rendering functions, defining a desired image to be rendered, between begin-program and end-program identifiers. When the application program is executed on a host operating system, a begin-program identifier invokes a function in a graphics device driver in the host system. The function captures the calls to the rendering functions within the application program in a memory as hardware instructions to the graphics subsystem. When the function encounters an end-program identifier, it registers the captured hardware instructions with the host system as an executable program. Subsequently, the application may render the image upon demand by calling the registered executable program, which will execute from the memory on the graphics subsystem, with only nomimal host processor operations being required. Thus, host processor operations and memory normally required for performing graphics rendering are conserved.