Method and apparatus for texture memory management
US6466223B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 24, 1999 |
| Grant date | Oct 15, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 24, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T15/04
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus for efficiently managing texture memory in computer graphics systems is provided. Texture images are stored in discrete memory-aligned tiles to avoid fragmentation in the texture memory. Larger texture images are divided up into smaller tiles so that they will fit in any available tile region in texture memory. Small texture images usually fit into a single tile and therefore do not usually have to be divided up. Texture images that are larger than a tile region are split up into tile-sized images that are stored individually in any available tile region of texture memory. By dividing up the larger texture images this way, the texture memory is used more efficiently because any gaps that appear in the texture memory due to fragmentation may be filled by the tile-sized images.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.