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:
Sep. 12, 2006
Filed:
Mar. 03, 2003
Michael F. Deering, Los Altos, CA (US);
Michael G. Lavelle, Saratoga, CA (US);
Douglas C. Twilleager, Oakland, CA (US);
Daniel S. Rice, Oakland, CA (US);
Michael F. Deering, Los Altos, CA (US);
Michael G. Lavelle, Saratoga, CA (US);
Douglas C. Twilleager, Oakland, CA (US);
Daniel S. Rice, Oakland, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A graphical processing system comprising a computational unit and a shadow processing unit coupled to the computational unit through a communication bus. The computational unit is configured to transfer coordinates Cof a point P with respect to a first space to the shadow processing unit. In response to receiving the coordinates C, the shadow processing unit is configured to: (a) transform the coordinate Cto determine map coordinates s and t and a depth value Dfor the point P, (b) access a neighborhood of depth values from a memory using the map coordinates s and t, (c) compare the depth value Dto the depth values of the neighborhood, (d) filter binary results of the comparisons to determine a shadow fraction, and (e) transfer the shadow fraction to the computational unit through the communication bus.