Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory – Storage accessing and control – Memory configuring
Reexamination Certificate
1997-08-08
2001-01-09
Chan, Eddie P. (Department: 2751)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory
Storage accessing and control
Memory configuring
C711S159000, C711S160000, C711S165000, C711S155000, C710S068000, C709S247000, C345S205000, C345S520000, C382S232000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06173381
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to computer system architectures, and more particularly to an integrated memory and graphics controller which includes an embedded data compression and decompression engine for increased system bandwidth and efficiency.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Since their introduction in 1981, the architecture of personal computer systems has remained substantially unchanged. The current state of the art in computer system architectures includes a central processing unit (CPU) which couples to a memory controller interface that in turn couples to system memory. The computer system also includes a separate graphical interface for coupling to the video display. In addition, the computer system includes input/output (I/O) control logic for various I/O devices, including a keyboard, mouse, floppy drive, hard drive, etc.
In general, the operation of a modern computer architecture is as follows. Programs and data are read from a respective I/O device such as a floppy disk or hard drive by the operating system, and the programs and data are temporarily stored in system memory. Once a user program has been transferred into the system memory, the CPU begins execution of the program by reading code and data from the system memory through the memory controller. The application code and data are presumed to produce a specified result when manipulated by the system CPU. The code and data are processed by the CPU and data is provided to one or more of the various output devices. The computer system may include several output devices, including a video display, audio (speakers), printer, etc. In most systems, the video display is the primary output device.
Graphical output data generated by the CPU is written to a graphical interface device for presentation on the display monitor. The graphical interface device may simply be a video graphics array (VGA) card, or the system may include a dedicated video processor or video acceleration card including separate video RAM (VRAM). In a computer system including a separate, dedicated video processor, the video processor includes graphics capabilities to reduce the workload of the main CPU. Modern prior art personal computer systems typically include a local bus video system based on either the peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or the VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) VL bus, or perhaps a proprietary local bus standard. The video subsystem is generally positioned on a local bus near the CPU to provide increased performance.
Therefore, in summary, program code and data are first read from the hard disk to the system memory. The program code and data are then read by the CPU from system memory, the data is processed by the CPU, and graphical data is written to the video RAM in the graphical interface device for presentation on the display monitor. The CPU typically reads data from system memory across the system bus and then writes the processed data or graphical data back to the I/O bus or local bus where the graphical interface device is situated. The graphical interface device in turn generates the appropriate video signals to drive the display monitor. It is noted that this operation requires the data to make two passes across the system bus and/or the I/O subsystem bus. In addition, the program which manipulates the data must also be transferred across the system bus from the main memory. Further, two separate memory subsystems are required, the system memory and the dedicated video memory, and video data is constantly being transferred from the system memory to the video memory frame buffer.
FIG. 1
illustrates the data transfer paths in a typical computer system using prior art technology.
Computer systems are being called upon to perform larger and more complex tasks that require increased computing power. In addition, modem software applications require computer systems with increased graphics capabilities. Modem software applications typically include graphical user interfaces (GUIs) which place increased burdens on the graphics capabilities of the computer system. Further, the increased prevalence of multimedia applications also demands computer systems with more powerful graphics capabilities. Therefore, a new computer system and method is desired which provides increased system performance and in particular, increased video and/or graphics performance, than that possible using prior art computer system architectures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention comprises an integrated memory controller (IMC) which includes data compression/decompression engines for improved performance. The memory controller (IMC) of the present invention preferably sits on the main CPU bus or a high speed system peripheral bus such as the PCI bus. The IMC includes one or more symmetric memory ports for connecting to system memory. The IMC also includes video outputs to directly drive the video display monitor as well as an audio interface for digital audio delivery to an external stereo digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
The IMC transfers data between the system bus and system memory and also transfers data between the system memory and the video display output. Therefore, the IMC architecture of the present invention eliminates the need for a separate graphics subsystem. The IMC also improves overall system performance and response using main system memory for graphical information and storage. The IMC system level architecture reduces data bandwidth requirements for graphical display since the host CPU is not required to move data between main memory and the graphics subsystem as in conventional computers, but rather the graphical data resides in the same subsystem as the main memory. Therefore, for graphical output, the host CPU or DMA master is not limited by the available bus bandwidth, thus improving overall system throughput.
The integrated memory controller of the preferred embodiment includes a bus interface unit which couples through FIFO buffers to an execution engine. The execution engine includes a compression/decompression engine according to the present invention as well as a texture mapping engine according to the present invention. In the preferred embodiment the compression/decompression engine comprises a single engine which performs both compression and decompression. In an alternate embodiment, the execution engine includes separate compression and decompression engines.
The execution engine in turn couples to a graphics engine which couples through FIFO buffers to one or more symmetrical memory control units. The graphics engine is similar in function to graphics processors in conventional computer systems and includes line and triangle rendering operations as well as span line interpolators. An instruction storage/decode block is coupled to the bus interface logic which stores instructions for the graphics engine and memory compression/decompression engines. A Window Assembler is coupled to the one or more memory control units. The Window Assembler in turn couples to a display storage buffer and then to a display memory shifter. The display memory shifter couples to separate digital to analog converters (DACs) which provide the RGB signals and the synchronization signal outputs to the display monitor. The window assembler includes a novel display list-based method of assembling pixel data on the screen during screen refresh, thereby improving system performance. In addition, a novel antialiasing method is applied to the video data as the data is transferred from system memory to the display screen. The internal graphics pipeline of the IMC is optimized for high end 2D and 3D graphical display operations, as well as audio operations, and all data is subject to operation within the execution engine and/or the graphics engine as it travels through the data path of the IMC.
As mentioned above, according to the present invention the execution engine of the IMC includes a compression/decompression engine for compressing and decompressing data within the system. The IMC
Chan Eddie P.
Conley Rose & Tayon PC
Hood Jeffrey C.
Interactive Silicon, Inc.
Kim Hong
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