Graphics geometry cache
US6690380B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 27, 1999 |
| Grant date | Feb 10, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 27, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T1/60
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A graphics geometry cache. The basic idea of one embodiment in accordance with the present invention is to utilize a graphics geometry cache together with a graphics pipeline. The graphics geometry cache is a relatively small cache (e.g., 128 entries) used for storing and maintaining vertex data. Specifically, the results of computations performed on vertices by the graphics pipeline (e.g., transformed vertices and attributes such as color) are cached within the graphics geometry cache. Furthermore, the cached entries are tagged by their corresponding vertex coordinates. Subsequently, when a particular vertex is specified for the graphics pipeline, a tag compare is executed through a hashing function to determine whether the graphics geometry data for that particular vertex is stored within the graphics geometry cache. If a hit occurs during the tag compare, a copy of the graphics geometry data is retrieved from the graphics geometry cache rather than having to recompute the graphics geometry data for that particular vertex. Therefore, one of the advantages of the graphics geometry cache of the present embodiment is that it saves computational resources.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.