Texture unit, image rendering apparatus and texel transfer method for transferring texels in a batch

Abstract

An image rendering apparatus is provided to reduce the amount of data communicated between a shader and a texture unit. The texture unit performs a texture mapping operation for mapping a texture to an object in a three-dimensional space. An input unit receives a single texture address parameter from the shader unit. A coordinate generation unit generates a plurality of texel coordinates based on the texture address parameter. A retrieval unit retrieves a plurality of texel values corresponding respectively to the plurality of generated texel coordinates in a texture cache or in an external texture buffer. An output unit outputs the retrieved texel values to the shader unit in a batch. Since a plurality of texel values are read from a single texture address parameter input, the bandwidth for communications from the shader to the texture unit may be saved.