Method and apparatus for rasterizer interpolation

Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Shape generating

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

C345S611000, C345S612000, C345S418000, C345S505000

Reexamination Certificate

active

07920141

ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a rasterizer interpolator. In one embodiment, a setup unit is used to distribute graphics primitive instructions to multiple parallel rasterizers. To increase efficiency, the setup unit calculates the polygon data and checks it against one or more tiles prior to distribution. An output screen is divided into a number of regions, with a number of assignment configurations possible for various number of rasterizer pipelines. For instance, the screen is sub-divided into four regions and one of four rasterizers is granted ownership of one quarter of the screen. To reduce time spent on processing empty times, a problem in prior art implementations, the present invention reduces empty tiles by the process of coarse grain tiling. This process occurs by a series of iterations performed in parallel. Each region undergoes an iterative calculation/tiling process where coverage of the primitive is deduced at a successively more detailed level.

REFERENCES:
patent: 4885703 (1989-12-01), Deering
patent: 5179640 (1993-01-01), Duffy
patent: 5550962 (1996-08-01), Nakamura et al.
patent: 5745118 (1998-04-01), Alcorn et al.
patent: 5794016 (1998-08-01), Kelleher
patent: 5818469 (1998-10-01), Lawless et al.
patent: 5905506 (1999-05-01), Hamburg
patent: 5977997 (1999-11-01), Vainsencher
patent: 5999196 (1999-12-01), Storm et al.
patent: 6118452 (2000-09-01), Gannett
patent: 6184906 (2001-02-01), Wang et al.
patent: 6219062 (2001-04-01), Matsuo et al.
patent: 6222550 (2001-04-01), Rosman et al.
patent: 6292200 (2001-09-01), Bowen et al.
patent: 6323860 (2001-11-01), Zhu et al.
patent: 6344852 (2002-02-01), Zhu et al.
patent: 6353439 (2002-03-01), Lindholm et al.
patent: 6380935 (2002-04-01), Heeschen et al.
patent: 6384824 (2002-05-01), Morgan et al.
patent: 6407736 (2002-06-01), Regan
patent: 6417858 (2002-07-01), Bosch et al.
patent: 6424345 (2002-07-01), Smith et al.
patent: 6557083 (2003-04-01), Sperber et al.
patent: 6570579 (2003-05-01), MacInnis et al.
patent: 6573893 (2003-06-01), Naqvi et al.
patent: 6636232 (2003-10-01), Larson
patent: 6650327 (2003-11-01), Airey et al.
patent: 6650330 (2003-11-01), Lindholm et al.
patent: 6697063 (2004-02-01), Zhu
patent: 6714203 (2004-03-01), Morgan et al.
patent: 6724394 (2004-04-01), Zatz et al.
patent: 6731289 (2004-05-01), Peercy et al.
patent: 6750867 (2004-06-01), Gibson
patent: 6753878 (2004-06-01), Heirich et al.
patent: 6762763 (2004-07-01), Migdal et al.
patent: 6778177 (2004-08-01), Furtner
patent: 6791559 (2004-09-01), Baldwin
patent: 6801203 (2004-10-01), Hussain
patent: 6809732 (2004-10-01), Zatz et al.
patent: 6864893 (2005-03-01), Zatz
patent: 6864896 (2005-03-01), Perego
patent: 6897871 (2005-05-01), Morein et al.
patent: 6980209 (2005-12-01), Donham et al.
patent: 7015913 (2006-03-01), Lindholm et al.
patent: 7061495 (2006-06-01), Leather
patent: 7170515 (2007-01-01), Zhu
patent: 2002/0145612 (2002-10-01), Blythe et al.
patent: 2003/0076320 (2003-04-01), Collodi
patent: 2003/0164830 (2003-09-01), Kent
patent: 2004/0041814 (2004-03-01), Wyatt et al.
patent: 2004/0100471 (2004-05-01), Leather et al.
patent: 2004/0164987 (2004-08-01), Aronson et al.
patent: 2005/0068325 (2005-03-01), Lefebvre et al.
patent: 2005/0200629 (2005-09-01), Morein et al.
Breternitz, Jr., Mauricio et al.; “Compilation, Architectural Support, and Evaluation of SIMD Graphics Pipeline Programs on a General-Purpose CPU”; IEEE; 2003; pp. 1-11.
International Search Report and Written Opinion for PCT Patent Application No. PCT/IB2004/003821; dated Mar. 22, 2005, 15 pp.
European Search Report for European Application No. 03257464.2; dated Apr. 4, 2006, 4 pp.
Foley, James et al.; “Computer Graphics, Principles and Practice”; Addison-Wesley Publishing Company; 1990; pp. 873-899.
Crockett, Thomas W.; “An Introduction to Parallel Rendering”; Elsevier Science B.V.; 1997; pp. 819-843.
Montrym, John S. et al.; “InfiniteReality: A Real-Time Graphics System”; Silicon Graphics Computer Systems; 1997; pp. 293-302.
Humphreys, Greg et al.; “WireGL: A Scalable Graphics System for Clusters”; ACM Siggraph; 2001; pp. 129-140.
Akeley K. et al., “High-Performance Polygon Rendering”; ACM Computer Graphics, vol. 22, No. 4; 1988; pp. 239-246.
Fuchs, Henry et al., “Pixel-Planes 5: A Heterogeneous Multiprocessor Graphics System Using Processor-Enhanced Memories”; Computer Graphics, vol. 23, No. 3, Jul. 1989; pp. 79-88.

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Method and apparatus for rasterizer interpolation does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Method and apparatus for rasterizer interpolation, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for rasterizer interpolation will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2732425

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.