Importance

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Abstract

An image generation and manipulation system includes an integrated circuit dedicated exclusively to direct manipulation of pixel values in a frame buffer. This 'rendering processor' draws primitives, performs pixel operations, generates the system display timing and controls the frame buffer, all in response to data and commands delivered to the rendering processor by the host CPU. The degree of pixel processing performed by the rendering processor (and not other hardware or software components) can vary with desired system capability. At a minimum, the rendering processor is capable of drawing pixels into the frame buffer in response to commands received from the host CPU, an illumination processor or other high-level graphics processor. The rendering processor preferably also performs interpolation operations to refine raw pixel values into values meaningful to the display hardware. In addition, the rendering processor can be provided with the ability to perform filtering operations, such as antialiasing and dithering; alpha blending; Z-buffering; clipping to a window or other boundary; double buffering of the image; and texture processing. The rendering processor may include a series of self-actuating registers that are each associated with a particular command. By addressing and writing data into any of these registers, the host implicitly specifies execution of the command associated with the particular register. The rendering processor may also provide a 'slave' mode wherein the drawing hardware of the rendering processor is synchronously controlled by an external processor so that the rendering processor single-steps through the scan-conversion process while the external hardware performs related computations.

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First Claim