Method for maintaining contiguous texture memory for cache coherency
US5917497A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 10, 1998 |
| Grant date | Jun 29, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 10, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T1/60
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The invention provides a method for downloading texel data into a contiguous block of memory (FIG. 3, 46) in a computer graphics system. The texel data for the first level is downloaded, and from the memory map level number and the size of the MIP map, the amount of contiguous memory needed is allocated for a contiguous block of memory for all of the MIP map levels associated with the texture (FIG. 3, 6). Then, the data for the first MIP map is placed into the contiguous memory in the appropriate location for the level number based upon a computed offset value (FIG. 3, 62). As additional MIP map levels are downloaded, if they have level numbers and sizes which are consistent with the first downloaded MIP map, an offset value is computed, based upon their level number, and they are placed into the appropriate location in the contiguous memory block. Alternatively, if a MIP map is downloaded which is not consistent with the data previously downloaded, it is placed into temporary memory, and a flag is set (FIG. 5, 31). Each time the base level data is downloaded for a particular texture, if there is a consistent set of data which was not in contiguous memory, it is placed into contigu…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.