System and method for producing an antialiased image using a merge buffer
US6633297B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 20, 2001 |
| Grant date | Oct 14, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 9, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T11/40
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
In a graphics pipeline, a rasterizer circuit generates fragments for an image having multiple surfaces that have been tessellated into primitive objects, such as triangles. First and second fragments are associated with the same pixel. A merge buffer merges the first fragment with the second fragment when the two fragments belong to the same tessellated surface, the first fragment's primitive is adjacent to the second fragment's primitive, both fragments face either toward or away from the viewer, and the first and second fragment are sufficiently similar that merging is unlikely to introduce visually objectionable artifacts. A frame buffer receives fragments from the merge buffer, stores the fragments, combines the fragments into pixels, and outputs the pixels to a display.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.