Patent · US Active

Filtering unit for floating-point texture data

US8098257B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by

5References

8Claims

0Family size

Assignee

NVIDIA Corporation · US

Inventors

Walter E. Donovan · Saratoga, US
Anders M. Kugler · Sunnyvale, US
Christopher D. S. Donham · San Mateo, US

Key dates

Filing date	Feb 15, 2008
Grant date	Jan 17, 2012
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Aug 14, 2030

Classification

Technology area (CPC G)Physics
CPC primaryG06T2200/28
WIPO fieldComputer technology
WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Floating-point texture filtering units leverage existing fixed-point filter circuits. Groups of floating-point texture values are converted to products of a fixed-point mantissa and a scaling factor that is the same for each texture value in the group. The fixed-point mantissas are filtered using a fixed-point filter circuit, and the filtered mantissa is combined with the scaling factor to determine a floating-point filtered value. Multiple floating-point filter results may be combined in a floating-point accumulator circuit. The same fixed-point filter circuit may also be used to filter fixed-point texture data by providing fixed-point input path that bypasses the format conversion and a fixed-point accumulator.

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