Method and System For Tile Mode Renderer With Coordinate Shader

• US 20110148901A1
• Filed: 08/25/2010
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Upton, Eben, Edkins, Giles, Keall, Gary, Adams, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,692,848 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/589
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/40 Filling a planar surface by adding surface attributes, e.g. colour or texture
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/005 General purpose rendering architectures

Abstract

A method and system are provided in which one or more processors and/or circuits are operable to generate position information for a plurality of primitives utilizing a coordinate shader, one or more lists based on the generated position information, and rendering information for the plurality of primitives utilizing a vertex shader and the generated one or more lists. The generated one or more lists may comprise indices associated with one or more primitives from the plurality of primitives and with one or more tiles from a plurality of tiles in a screen plane. The position information and the one or more lists may be generated during a first rendering phase, and the rendering information may be generated during a second rendering phase different from the first rendering phase. The coordinate shader may perform a subset of the operations supported by the vertex shader.

Claims

1. A method for graphics processing, comprising:

performing by one or more processors and/or circuits in a video processor;

generating position information for a plurality of primitives utilizing a coordinate shader;

generating one or more lists based on said generated position information, said one or more lists comprising indices associated with one or more primitives from said plurality of primitives and with one or more tiles from a plurality of tiles in a screen plane; and

generating rendering information for said plurality of primitives utilizing a vertex shader and said generated one or more lists.

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

generating said position information and said one or more lists during a first rendering phase; and

generating said rendering information during a second rendering phase different from said first rendering phase.

3. The method according to claim 1, comprising deleting said position information after said generated one or more lists are completed.

4. The method according to claim 1, comprising transforming modeling coordinates from a model space to a viewing space utilizing said coordinate shader.

5. The method according to claim 4, comprising projecting said transformed modeling coordinates onto said screen plane utilizing said coordinate shader.

6. The method according to claim 1, comprising transforming modeling coordinates from a model space to a viewing space utilizing said vertex shader.

7. The method according to claim 6, comprising projecting said transformed modeling coordinates onto said screen plane utilizing said vertex shader.

8. The method according to claim 7, comprising determining, by said vertex shader, one or both of lightning information and texture information from said transformed modeling coordinates.

9. The method according to claim 1, comprising performing, by said coordinate shader, a subset of the operations supported by said vertex shader.

10. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

clipping a primitive from said plurality of primitives that lies outside said screen plane to produce one or more clipped primitives that lie within said screen plane;

associating each of said one or more clipped primitives with one or more tiles from said plurality of tiles in said screen plane; and

adding one or more pointers to said one or more lists, each of said one or more pointers indicating a record corresponding to one of said associated clipped primitives, said record comprising barycentric coordinates of said associated clipped primitive.

11. A system for graphics processing, comprising:

one or more processors operable to generate position information for a plurality of primitives utilizing a coordinate shader;

said one or more processors being operable to generate one or more lists based on said generated position information, said one or more lists comprising indices associated with one or more primitives from said plurality of primitives and with one or more tiles from a plurality of tiles in a screen plane; and

said one or more processors being operable to generate rendering information for said plurality of primitives utilizing a vertex shader and said generated one or more lists.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said one or more processors are operable to:

generate said position information and said one or more lists during a first rendering phase; and

generate said rendering information during a second rendering phase different from said first rendering phase.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein said one or more processors are operable to delete said position information after said generated one or more lists are completed.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein said one or more processors are operable to utilize said coordinate shader to transform modeling coordinates from a model space to a viewing space.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said one or more processors are operable to utilize said coordinate shader to project said transformed modeling coordinates onto said screen plane.

16. The system according to claim 11, wherein said one or more processors are operable to utilize said vertex shader to:

transform modeling coordinates from a model space to a viewing space;

project said transformed modeling coordinates onto said screen plane; and

determine one or both of lightning information and texture information from said transformed modeling coordinates.

17. The system according to claim 11, wherein said one or more processors are operable to utilize said coordinate shader to perform a subset of the operations supported by said vertex shader.

18. The system according to claim 11, wherein said one or more processors comprise one or both of said coordinate shader and said vertex shader.

19. The system according to claim 11, wherein said one or more processors are operable to execute one or both of said coordinate shader and said vertex shader.

20. The system according to claim 11, wherein said one or more processors are operable to:

clip a primitive from said plurality of primitives that lies outside said screen plane to produce one or more clipped primitives that lie within said screen plane;

associate each of said one or more clipped primitives with one or more tiles from said plurality of tiles in said screen plane; and

add one or more pointers to said one or more lists, each of said one or more pointers indicating a record corresponding to one of said associated clipped primitives, said record comprising barycentric coordinates of said associated clipped primitive.