Patent · US Expired

System, method and article of manufacture for pixel shaders for programmable shading

US6532013B1 · kind B1 · utility

63Cited by
13References
59Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 31, 2000
Grant dateMar 11, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 18, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T15/60
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for interweaving shading calculations and texture retrieval operations during texture sampling in a graphics pipeline. First, a shading calculation is performed in order to generate output. Next, texture information is retrieved, and another shading calculation is performed using the texture information in order to generate additional output. Texture information may be retrieved and shading calculations may then be repeated as desired. Thereafter, the generated output may be combined. As such, the repeated texture information retrieval and shading calculations may be carried out in an iterative, programmable manner.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.