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. 15, 2017
Filed:
Oct. 07, 2010
Jerome F. Duluk, Jr., Palo Alto, CA (US);
John Christopher Cook, Huntsville, AL (US);
Fred Gruner, Brea, CA (US);
Gregory Scott Palmer, Cedar Park, TX (US);
Jerome F. Duluk, Jr., Palo Alto, CA (US);
John Christopher Cook, Huntsville, AL (US);
Fred Gruner, Brea, CA (US);
Gregory Scott Palmer, Cedar Park, TX (US);
NVIDIA Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for executing a software method within a graphics processing unit (GPU) that minimizes the number of clock cycles during which the graphics engine is idled. The function of the software method is performed by a firmware method that is executed by a processor within the GPU. The firmware method is executed to access and optionally update the state stored in the GPU. Unlike execution of a conventional software method, execution of the firmware method does not require an exchange of information between a CPU and the GPU. Therefore, the CPU is not interrupted and throughput of the CPU is not reduced.