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:
Mar. 23, 2010
Filed:
Jan. 25, 2007
Yan LU, Beijing, CN;
Wen Sun, Anhui, CN;
Andrew C. Flavell, Redmond, WA (US);
Feng Wu, Beijing, CN;
Shipeng LI, Beijing, CN;
Yan Lu, Beijing, CN;
Wen Sun, Anhui, CN;
Andrew C. Flavell, Redmond, WA (US);
Feng Wu, Beijing, CN;
Shipeng Li, Beijing, CN;
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A technique is described for compressing textures for use in a graphics application, such as a 3D game application. The technique includes parsing first-compressed texture information (e.g., S3TC texture information) into respective components of the first-compressed texture information (such as main color information, color index information, main alpha information, and alpha index information). The technique then further compresses the respective components to yield second-compressed texture information (referred to as modified compressed texture information or MCT texture information). The MCT texture information can be stored and then decoded to reconstruct the original S3TC texture information for use in the graphics application. Compared to the use of unmodified S3TC texture information, the technique allows more economical storage of texture information, as well as more efficient loading of the texture information from storage to memory.