Patent · US Active

Hierarchical tile-based rasterization algorithm

US8139058B2 · kind B2 · utility

3Cited by
3References
18Claims
0Family size

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Key dates

Filing dateNov 3, 2006
Grant dateMar 20, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 19, 2027

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T11/40
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A hierarchical tile-based rasterization method is disclosed. The inventive rasterization algorithm rasterizes pixels in hierarchical rectangles or blocks. The method includes: walking a plurality of tiles of pixels and determining if each tile is valid; breaking each valid tile into a plurality of subtiles and determining if each subtile is valid; breaking each valid subtile into a plurality of quads and determining if each quad is valid; and rendering pixels for each valid quad. These hierarchical levels of block validations are performed in parallel. The inventive rasterization algorithm is further implemented in hardware for better performance.

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