Method and apparatus for resolving pixel data in a graphics rend

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

Patent

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

G06F 1500

Patent

active

059494280

ABSTRACT:
In a graphics rendering system, an apparatus for resolving depth sorted lists of pixel fragments includes color and alpha accumulators for computing color and alpha values from the pixel fragments in a fragment list. Pixel fragments include color, alpha, coverage data. The coverage data describes how a geometric primitive covers sub-pixel regions of a pixel using a coverage mask. Pixel circuitry according to a clock-optimized approach includes separate color and alpha accumulators for computing color and alpha values for sub-pixel regions of a pixel. The accumulated color values are then summed and scaled to compute final color values for a pixel. To reduce hardware requirements, pixel circuitry in a hardware-optimized approach recognizes that some pixel regions have common accumulated alpha values as each fragment layer is processed. As such, color contributions for fragment layers can be computed using a single color accumulation operation for a pixel region having common alpha values.

REFERENCES:
patent: 4631690 (1986-12-01), Corthout et al.
patent: 4645459 (1987-02-01), Graf et al.
patent: 5287438 (1994-02-01), Kellher
patent: 5295235 (1994-03-01), Newman
patent: 5299298 (1994-03-01), Elmquist et al.
patent: 5363475 (1994-11-01), Baker et al.
patent: 5392385 (1995-02-01), Evangelist et al.
patent: 5488684 (1996-01-01), Gharahorlii et al.
patent: 5522018 (1996-05-01), Takeda et al.
patent: 5561752 (1996-10-01), Jevans
patent: 5563989 (1996-10-01), Billyard
patent: 5586234 (1996-12-01), Sakuraba et al.
patent: 5596686 (1997-01-01), Duluk, Jr.
patent: 5598517 (1997-01-01), Watkins
patent: 5613048 (1997-03-01), Chen et al.
patent: 5630043 (1997-05-01), Uhlin
patent: 5634850 (1997-06-01), Kitahara et al.
patent: 5651104 (1997-07-01), Cosman
patent: 5673401 (1997-09-01), Volk et al.
patent: 5684935 (1997-11-01), Demesa, III et al.
patent: 5684939 (1997-11-01), Foran et al.
patent: 5710876 (1998-01-01), Peercy et al.
patent: 5729669 (1998-03-01), Appleton
patent: 5729672 (1998-03-01), Ashton
patent: 5742749 (1998-04-01), Foran et al.
Akerly, Kurt, "RealityEngine Graphics", ACM Siggraph, Conference Proceedings, pp. 109-116, Aug. 1-6, 1993.
Bae, Seong-Ok, et al, "Patch Rendering: A New Parallel Hardware Architecture for Fast Polygon Rendering", Circuits and Systems, 1991 IEEE International Symposium, pp. 3070-3073, 1991.
Bergman, et al "Image Rendering by Adaptive Refinement", ACM Siggraph '86, vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 29-37, Aug. 18-22, 1986.
Bove, Jr., V. Michael, et al, "Real-Time Decoding and Display of Structured Video", IEEE Multimedia, 1994 international Conference, pp. 456-462, 1994.
Chen, Chein-Liang, et al, "A Raster Engine for Computer Graphics and Image Compositing", Abstract, APCCAS '94, IEEE, pp. 103-108, Dec. 5-8, 1994.
Chrysanthou, Y and Slater, M, "Computing Dynamic Changes to BSP Trees", Computer graphics Forum, vol. II, No. 3, Conference Issue, pp. C-321 to C-342, Sep. 7-11, 1992.
Collaborative work, "Pixel-Planes", Pixel Planes Home Page, uri--http://www.cs.unc.edu/.about.pxpl/, University of North Carolina, pp. 1-25, update, Sep. 26, 1995.
Crawfis, Roger A., et al, "A Scientific Visualization Synthesizer", Visualization, 1991 Conference, pp. 262-267, 1991.
Deering, "Explorations of Display Interfaces for Virtual Reality", IEEE Virtual Reality, 1993 International Symposium, pp. 141-147, 1993.
Deering, Michael, et al, "Leo: A System for Cost Effective 3D Shaded Graphics", ACM Siggraph, Conference Proceedings, pp. 101-108, Aug. 1-6, 1993.
Foley, James D., et al, "Computer Graphics: Principles and Practices", Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 2nd ed. pp. 806-813, 855-921, 1990.
Haeberli, Paul, et al, "The Accumulation Buffer: Hardware Support for High-Quality Rendering", ACM Computer Graphics, vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 309-318, Aug. 1990.
Heb, Andreas, et al, "Three Dimensional Reconstruction of Brains from 2-Deoxyglucose Serial Section Autoradiographs", Image Processing, 1994 International Conference, vol. 3, pp. 290-294, 1994.
Hu, Lincoln, "Computer Graphics in Visual Effects", COMPCON Spring '92, IEEE Computer Society International Conference, pp. 472-474, 1992.
Mcmillan, Leonard, et al, "Plenoptic Modeling: An Image-Based Rendering System", ACM Siggraph, Conference Proceedings, pp. 39-46, Aug. 6-11, 1995.
Oak Technology WARP5 Press Releases, "Oak Technology Sets New Standard for 3D Realism with Breakthrough WARP 5 Chip Architecture", Atlanta, GA, Jun. 19, 1997.
Regan, Matthew and Ronald Pose, "A Interactive Graphics Display Architecture", IEEE Virtual Reality, 1993 International Symposium, pp. 293-299, 1993.
Regan, Matthew and Ronald Pose, "Priority Rendering with a Virtual Reality Address Recalculation Pipeline", ACM Siggraph, '94, Computer Graphics Proceedings, Annual Conference Series, pp. 155-162, 1994.
Regan, Matthew and Ronald Pose, "Low Latency Virtual Reality Display System", Technical report No. 92/166, Monash University, Victoria, Australia, pp. 1-13, Sep. 1992.
Reichlen, "Sparcchair: A One Hundred Million Pixel Display", IEEE Virtual Reality, 1993 International Symposium, pp. 300-307, May 28, 1993.
Runyon, Kenneth R., "Advanced Graphics Processor", Digital Avionics System, 1993 Conference, pp. 394-399, 1993.
Slater, Mel, et al, "Liberation from Flatland: 3D Interaction Based on the Desktop Bat", Eurographics '91, pp. 209-221, 1991.
Slater, Mel, et al, "Liberation from Rectangle: A Tiling Method for Dynamic Modification of Objects on Raster Displays", Eurographics '88, Conference date, Sep. 12-16, 1988, pp. 381-392, 1988.
Slater, Mel, "An Algorithm to support 3D Interaction on Relatively Low Performance Graphics Systems", Comput. & Graphics, vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 311-315, 1992.
Slater, Mel, "Segments on Bit-mapped Graphics Displays", Software--Practice and Experience, vol. 16(II), pp. 965-980, Nov. 1986.
Tan, Wee-Chiew, et al, "Low-Power polygon Renderer for Computer Graphics", Application Specific Array Processors, 1993 International Conference, pp. 200-213, 1993.
Torborg, Jay, et al, "Talisman: Commodity Realtime 3D Graphics for the PC", ACM Siggraph, Conference Proceedings, pp. 353-363, Aug. 4-9, 1996.
Yoo, Terry S., et al, "Direct Visualization of Volume Data", IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications Magazine, vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 63-71, Jul. 92.
Blythe, David, et al, "10 Different Shadow Flavors", Advanced Programming with OpenGL, accessed on internet on May 5, 1998, http://www-europe.sgi.com/Technology/OpenGL/advanced
ode45.htm, updated May 21, 1997.
The NuGraf Developer's 3D Toolkit, "A Technical White Paper", Mar. 1995, accessd on the internet on May 5, 1998, http://www.okino.com/toolkit/overview/main.htm.
"The Accumulation Buffer: Hardware Support for High-Quality Rendering", by P. Haeberli and K. Akeley, Computer Graphics, vol. 24, No. 4, Aug. 1990, pp. 309-318.
"The A-buffer, an Antialiased Hidden Surface Method", by Loren Carpenter, Computer Graphics, vol. 18, No. 3, Jul. 1984, pp. 103-108.
"A New Simple and Efficient Antialiasing with Subpixel Masks", by Andreas Schilling, Computer Graphics, Vo. 25, No. 4, Jul. 1991, pp. 133-141.
"Exact: Algorithm and Hardware Architecture for an Improved A-Buffer", by A. Schilling and W. Strasser, Computer Graphics Proceedings, Annual Conference Series, 1993, pp. 85-91.

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 resolving pixel data in a graphics rend 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 resolving pixel data in a graphics rend, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for resolving pixel data in a graphics rend will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1808745

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