GRAPHIC DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20090027403A1
• Filed: 03/20/2008
• Published: 01/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Jung, Chang Kwon
• Granted Patent: US 8,217,951 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/505
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/509 Offload
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/20 Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/06 Use of more than one graphics processor to process data before displaying to one or more screens

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for processing graphic data. According to an embodiment, the graphic data processing apparatus includes a CPU having at least one core; a GPU configured to process graphic data; a usage level checking unit configured to check a usage level of the CPU and/or a usage level of the GPU; and a control unit configured to compare the checked usage level of the CPU with a usage level reference of the CPU and/or to compare the checked usage level of the GPU with a usage level reference of the GPU, to allow the graphic data to be processed in parallel by the CPU and the GPU or only by the GPU according to the comparison results.

Claims

1. A graphic data processing apparatus, comprising:

a CPU having at least one core;

a GPU configured to process graphic data;

a usage level checking unit configured to check a usage level of the CPU and/or a usage level of the GPU; and

a control unit configured to compare the checked usage level of the CPU with a usage level reference of the CPU and/or to compare the checked usage level of the GPU with a usage level reference of the GPU, to allow the graphic data to be processed in parallel by the CPU and the GPU or only by the GPU according to the comparison results.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit allows processing of the graphic data only by the GPU, if the control unit determines that the checked usage level of the GPU is not larger than the usage level reference of the GPU and the checked usage level of the CPU is not smaller than the usage level reference of the CPU.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit allows processing of the graphic data in parallel by the GPU and the CPU, if the control unit determines that the checked usage level of the GPU is larger than the usage level reference of the GPU and the checked usage level of the CPU is smaller than the usage level reference of the CPU.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit allows processing of the graphic data only by the GPU, if the control unit determines that the checked usage level of the GPU is not larger than the usage level reference of the GPU or the checked usage level of the CPU is not smaller than the usage level reference of the CPU.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit allows processing of the graphic data in parallel by the GPU and the CPU, if the control unit determines that the checked usage level of the GPU is larger than the usage level reference of the GPU or the checked usage level of the CPU is smaller than the usage level reference of the CPU.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a data dividing unit configured to receive the graphic data from the control unit and to divide the received graphic data; and

a data combining unit configured to combine, after the GPU and the CPU have respectively processed the divided graphic data, the processed graphic data to display the combined graphic data on a display unit.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control unit transfers the graphic data processed by the CPU to the data combining unit.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a user selection unit configured to allow a user to manually select whether to process the graphic data only by the GPU or in parallel by the GPU and the CPU.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the manual selection of the user made through the user selection unit is overridden by the control unit based on current battery information associated with the apparatus.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the usage levels are use rates for processing the graphic data or system data.

11. A data processing apparatus, comprising:

a dual core CPU;

a GPU configured to process graphic data;

a usage level checking unit configured to check a usage level of the CPU and a usage level of the GPU; and

a control unit configured to control one core of the dual core CPU to process system data and another core of the dual core CPU to be assigned to the GPU for processing the graphic data, in accordance with the checked usage levels of the GPU and the CPU provided by the usage level checking unit.

12. A method of processing graphic data, comprising:

applying a command for processing graphic data;

checking a usage level of a GPU and/or a usage level of a CPU in response to the applied command;

comparing the checked usage level of the GPU with a usage level reference of the GPU and/or the checked usage level of the CPU with a usage level reference of the CPU; and

controlling at least one of the GPU and the CPU to allow the graphic data to be processed in parallel by the GPU and the CPU or only by the GPU according to the comparison results.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the controlling step allows the graphic data to be processed only by the GPU, if it is determined that the checked usage level of the GPU is not larger than the usage level reference of the GPU and the checked usage level of the CPU is not smaller than the usage level reference of the CPU.

14. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the controlling step allows the graphic data to be processed in parallel by the GPU and the CPU, if it is determined that the checked usage level of the GPU is larger than the usage level reference of the GPU and the checked usage level of the CPU is smaller than the usage level reference of the CPU.

15. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the controlling step allows the graphic data to be processed only by the GPU, if it is determined that the checked usage level of the GPU is not larger than the usage level reference of the GPU or the checked usage level of the CPU is not smaller than the usage level reference of the CPU.

16. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the controlling step allows the graphic data to be processed in parallel by the GPU and the CPU, if it is determined that the checked usage level of the GPU is larger than the usage level reference of the GPU or the checked usage level of the CPU is smaller than the usage level reference of the CPU.

17. The method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising;

receiving a user'"'"'s manual selection on whether to process the graphic data only by the GPU or in parallel by the GPU and the CPU; and

controlling at least one of the GPU and the CPU based on the user'"'"'s manual selection.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the user'"'"'s manual selection is overridden based on current battery information.

19. A method of processing graphic data, comprising:

applying a command for processing graphic data;

checking a usage level of a GPU and/or a usage level of a CPU in response to the applied command;

comparing the checked usage level of the GPU with a usage level reference of the GPU and/or the checked usage level of the CPU with a usage level reference of the CPU;

assigning one of cores of the CPU to process the graphic data based on the comparison results;

dividing the graphic data to allow the divided graphic data to be processed in parallel by the assigned core of the CPU and the GPU; and

combining the divided graphic data to allow the combined graphic data to be displayed on a display unit.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the dividing step comprises dividing the graphic data according to split areas on an entire screen of the display unit.