Method and apparatus for allocating off-screen display memory
US5291188A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 17, 1991 |
| Grant date | Mar 1, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 17, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG09G5/39
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method of allocating space in a frame buffer memory which is not used for storing pixels to be displayed currently including the steps of selecting a portion of the memory to be allocated for off-screen memory; determining the size of an area to be allocated; comparing the size of the area to be allocated with portions of the memory available to be allocated for off-screen memory using a memory allocation technique in which the least area considered is at least as great in either its horizontal or its vertical dimension as the greater dimension of the area to be allocated, the comparison being conducted in a pattern which consistently checks first a minimum area followed by three other minimum areas in an area having a size which is the next power of two larger in each dimension than the minimum area, then four more minimum areas in an adjacent area having a size which is the next power of two larger in each dimension than the minimum area than the minimum area in the pattern, the area selected for the second adjacent area being selected in the same pattern as are the minimum areas; continuing the pattern through areas which increase on the basis of the next power of two larger i…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.