HIDDEN SURFACE REMOVAL IN GRAPHICS PROCESSING SYSTEMS
First Claim
1. A method of operating a graphics processing pipeline that includes a plurality of processing stages including a rasteriser that rasterises input primitives to generate graphics fragments to be processed, each graphics fragment having one or more sampling points associated with it, and a renderer that processes fragments generated by the rasteriser to generate output fragment data, the method comprising:
- when the graphics processing pipeline is processing a set of graphics primitives, depth sorting successive sub-sets of the primitives in the set of graphics primitives prior to the rasteriser generating graphics fragments for processing the primitives.
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Abstract
In a graphics processing pipeline 1, a primitive depth sorting stage 9 is arranged prior to the rasterisation stage 3 and rendering stage 6. The primitive depth sorting stage 9 operates to sort successive sub-sets of primitives in a stream of primitives 2 received by the graphics processing pipeline 1 based on their depth values. The so-sorted primitives are then output from the primitive depth sorting stage 9 in their sorted depth order to the rasteriser 3. This makes the depth test stages 4, 13 of the graphics processing pipeline 1 more efficient in their hidden surface removal operations, because the primitives entering the rasteriser 3 will be in depth order.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method of operating a graphics processing pipeline that includes a plurality of processing stages including a rasteriser that rasterises input primitives to generate graphics fragments to be processed, each graphics fragment having one or more sampling points associated with it, and a renderer that processes fragments generated by the rasteriser to generate output fragment data, the method comprising:
when the graphics processing pipeline is processing a set of graphics primitives, depth sorting successive sub-sets of the primitives in the set of graphics primitives prior to the rasteriser generating graphics fragments for processing the primitives. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of operating a graphics processing pipeline that includes a plurality of processing stages including a rasteriser that rasterises input primitives to generate graphics fragments to be processed, each graphics fragment having one or more sampling points associated with it, and a renderer that processes fragments generated by the rasteriser to generate output fragment data, the method comprising:
when the graphics processing pipeline receives a graphics primitive for processing, adding the primitive to a primitive queue, determining the order in which the primitive should exit the queue based on depth values associated with the primitives in the queue, and outputting primitives from the queue to the rest of the pipeline in the exit order determined based on the depth values associated with the primitives in the queue.
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13. A graphics processing pipeline comprising:
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a plurality of processing stages including a rasteriser that rasterises input primitives to generate graphics fragments to be processed, each graphics fragment having one or more sampling points associated with it, and a renderer that processes fragments generated by the rasteriser to generate output fragment data; and
further comprising;a primitive depth sorter configured to, when the graphics processing pipeline is processing a set of graphics primitives, depth sort successive sub-sets of the primitives in the set of graphics primitives prior to the rasteriser generating graphics fragments for processing the primitives. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A graphics processing pipeline comprising:
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a plurality of processing stages including a rasteriser that rasterises input primitives to generate graphics fragments to be processed, each graphics fragment having one or more sampling points associated with it, and a renderer that processes fragments generated by the rasteriser to generate output fragment data; and
further comprising;a primitive depth sorter configured to, when the graphics processing pipeline receives a graphics primitive for processing, add the primitive to a primitive queue, determine the order in which the primitive should exit the queue based on depth values associated with the primitives in the queue, and output primitives from the queue to the rest of the pipeline in the exit order determined based on the depth values associated with the primitives in the queue.
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25. A computer readable storage medium storing computer software code which when executing on a processor performs a method of operating a graphics processing pipeline that includes a plurality of processing stages including a rasteriser that rasterises input primitives to generate graphics fragments to be processed, each graphics fragment having one or more sampling points associated with it, and a renderer that processes fragments generated by the rasteriser to generate output fragment data, the method comprising:
when the graphics processing pipeline is processing a set of graphics primitives, depth sorting successive sub-sets of the primitives in the set of graphics primitives prior to the rasteriser generating graphics fragments for processing the primitives.
Specification