Apparatus and method for pipelined bubble squeezer
US6529199B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 25, 1999 |
| Grant date | Mar 4, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 25, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG09G5/393
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
There are many validity tests, such as a depth test, used to determine which pixels are valid or invalid in a 3D computer graphic rendering process. It is not necessary to display the invalid pixels on the screen, because these pixels are hidden behind other objects or other windows. The invalid pixels will eventually be discarded in the rendering process later. Conventional designs pushed pixels into a frame buffer, no matter these pixels pass the validity tests or not. The present invention presents a pipelined bubble squeezer to separate pixels into a valid group and a invalid group. The pixels in the invalid group are not pushed into the frame buffer for achieving a better performance. The pipelined bubble squeezer behaves like many bubbles floating up to the top eventually through an interconnection network of cells.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.