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. 13, 2012
Filed:
Oct. 10, 2006
Patrick R. Brown, Raleigh, NC (US);
Eric S. Werness, San Jose, CA (US);
Patrick R. Brown, Raleigh, NC (US);
Eric S. Werness, San Jose, CA (US);
NVIDIA Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods for providing a unified instruction set allow shader programs of different types to use a common instruction set. The unified instruction set provides easy access for new graphics hardware features and faster compile times for shader programs. Programmers may use the unified instruction set to write fragment, vertex, or geometry programs. Functions that use the unified instruction set can be included in shader, vertex, or geometry programs without modification. Existing shader programs may be compiled to produce shader microcode based on the unified instruction set. The shader microcode may then be executed by processing units designed to support the unified instruction set.