Hierarchical tile-based rasterization algorithm
First Claim
1. A hierarchical memory localized triangle rasterization method, comprising the steps of:
- (a) walking a plurality of tiles of pixels and determining if each tile is valid;
(b) breaking each valid tile into a plurality of subtiles and determining if each subtile is valid;
(c) breaking each valid subtile into a plurality of quads and determining if each quad is valid; and
(d) rendering pixels for each valid quad, wherein steps (a) through (d) are performed in parallel.
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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.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A hierarchical memory localized triangle rasterization method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) walking a plurality of tiles of pixels and determining if each tile is valid; (b) breaking each valid tile into a plurality of subtiles and determining if each subtile is valid; (c) breaking each valid subtile into a plurality of quads and determining if each quad is valid; and (d) rendering pixels for each valid quad, wherein steps (a) through (d) are performed in parallel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A hierarchical memory localized rasterization method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) inputting an initial point for a primitive; (b) determining if the primitive is a line or a triangle; and (c) if the polygon is a triangle, rasterizing the triangle in a hierarchical manner, comprising; (c1) walking a plurality of tiles of pixels and determining if each tile is valid; (c2) breaking each valid tile into a plurality of subtiles and determining if each subtile is valid; (c3) breaking each valid subtile into a plurality of quads and determining if each quad is valid; and (c4) rendering pixels for each valid quad, wherein steps (c1) through (c4) are performed in parallel. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for validation of a block of pixels in a hierarchical memory localized triangle rasterization method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) checking if a pixel in the block is found in an area of the screen where pixels belonging to the inside of the triangle are present using edge equations; (b) checking four corners of the block against three edges of the triangle and returning a combined result; (c) determining if the block contains any pixels inside the triangle, based on the combined result; and (d) determining that the block is valid, if the block contains at least one valid pixel inside the triangle. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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Specification