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:
Oct. 04, 2011
Filed:
Dec. 10, 2007
Jim Rasmusson, Vellinge, SE;
Tomas Akenine-möller, Lund, SE;
Jon Hasselgren, Bunkeflostrand, SE;
Jacob Munkberg, Malmö, SE;
Jim Rasmusson, Vellinge, SE;
Tomas Akenine-Möller, Lund, SE;
Jon Hasselgren, Bunkeflostrand, SE;
Jacob Munkberg, Malmö, SE;
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ), Stockholm, SE;
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for the processing of frame buffer data, such as color buffer data, in graphics processing applications. Although more generally applicable, these methods and apparatus are particularly useful in real-time, polygon-based, 3D rendering applications. An exemplary method for processing graphics data according to one or more embodiments of the invention begins with the retrieval, from a buffer, of pixel values corresponding to a tile of two or more pixels, and with the updating of one or more of those updated pixel values. The updated pixel values are selectively compressed using a lossy compression operation or a lossless compression operation, based on an accumulated error metric value for the tile. If lossy compression is used, then the accumulated error metric value for the tile is updated; in either event, the compressed pixel values are stored in the frame buffer for further processing. With this approach, the accumulated error caused by successive, or tandem, compression operations may be limited to a pre-determined maximum.