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:
Aug. 20, 2013
Filed:
Jan. 23, 2009
Dmitry Semiannikov, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Korhan Erenben, Mississauga, CA;
Raja Koduri, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Dmitry Semiannikov, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Korhan Erenben, Mississauga, CA;
Raja Koduri, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
ATI Technologies ULC, Markham, Ontario, CA;
Abstract
Embodiments of a method and apparatus for using graphics memory (also referred to as video memory) for non-graphics related tasks are disclosed herein. In an embodiment a graphics processing unit (GPU) includes a VRAM cache module with hardware and software to provide and manage additional cache resourced for a central processing unit (CPU). In an embodiment, the VRAM cache module includes a VRAM cache driver that registers with the CPU, accepts read requests from the CPU, and uses the VRAM cache to service the requests. In various embodiments, the VRAM cache is configurable to be the only GPU cache or alternatively, to be a first level cache, second level cache, etc.