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:
Sep. 15, 2015
Filed:
Jan. 16, 2008
Elaine Poon, Richmond Hill, CA;
Xiaoling (Sherry) Xu, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Elaine Poon, Richmond Hill, CA;
Xiaoling (Sherry) Xu, Santa Clara, CA (US);
ATI Technologies ULC, Markham, CA;
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A shader unit is configured to provide an increased and dynamically changeable amount of ALU processing bandwidth. The shader unit includes a plurality of ALUs for processing pixel data according to a shader program. Each of the ALUs is configurable to be enabled and disabled. When disabled, the ALU is powered off, thereby reducing the power consumption of the shader unit. In one embodiment, the plurality of ALUs are logically configured into groups called ALU-pipes, each of which can be enabled and disabled. When an ALU-pipe is disabled, each ALU associated with the disabled ALU-pipe is disabled. The shader unit includes a sequencer that executes the shader program, determines the number of ALUs to be enabled, receives an input data stream of pixel data, assigns groups of pixel data to each enabled ALU, sends the assigned pixel data to their respective ALUs, and sends ALU instructions to the ALUs to process the received pixel data according to the shader program.