Method and apparatus for transmitting graphics command in a computer graphics system
First Claim
1. A computer graphics system, comprisinga CPU for generating graphics commands of variable length, each of said graphics commands having a first indicator for marking a beginning of said graphics command and a second indicator for denoting the length of said graphics command;
- a graphics processor for processing said graphics commands;
means for transmitting a transmission unit having a predetermined fixed length from said CPU to the graphics processor, said transmission unit containing at least a portion of one of said graphics commands;
means for storing said portion of a graphics command;
means, associated with said graphics processor for receiving said transmission unit and for determining if said transmission unit contains a complete graphics command;
means, responsive to said receiving and determining means, for routing said complete graphics command to said graphics processor; and
means for combining portions of subsequently transmitted transmission units with said stored portion of said transmission unit to form a complete graphics command.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A residue buffer, for temporary storage of portions of transmissions from a CPU to a graphics processor. Graphics commands are transmitted, in transmission units of uniform size, from a processor unit to an address generator, which processes the commands. The portion of the transmission unit not immediately usable by the graphics processor is stored in the residue buffer. The disclosure further describes a computer graphics system, having a graphics processor capable of reading from or writing to main memory, including virtual memory, without any action by the CPU; having a duplicate cache tag store accessible by the graphics system without generating traffic on the system bus; having a FIFO command buffer in main memory for temporary storage of graphics commands; having a "short circuit" feature for routing graphics commands to the command processor in the minimum number of steps; having a cursor control system capable of storing cursor pattern information in, and retrieving cursor pattern information from, main memory; having a cursor bus that is reconfigurable to carry information other than cursor information; and having a frame buffer module that contains no timing or cursor control circuitry.
130 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A computer graphics system, comprising
a CPU for generating graphics commands of variable length, each of said graphics commands having a first indicator for marking a beginning of said graphics command and a second indicator for denoting the length of said graphics command; -
a graphics processor for processing said graphics commands; means for transmitting a transmission unit having a predetermined fixed length from said CPU to the graphics processor, said transmission unit containing at least a portion of one of said graphics commands; means for storing said portion of a graphics command; means, associated with said graphics processor for receiving said transmission unit and for determining if said transmission unit contains a complete graphics command; means, responsive to said receiving and determining means, for routing said complete graphics command to said graphics processor; and means for combining portions of subsequently transmitted transmission units with said stored portion of said transmission unit to form a complete graphics command. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer graphics system, comprising:
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a CPU for issuing graphics commands to a graphics processor, the graphics commands having a variable length, each graphics command having a first indicator for marking a beginning of said graphics command and a second indicator for denoting the length of said graphics command; means for transmitting said graphics commands from said CPU to a main memory, said main memory having a portion for temporarily storing graphics commands issued by said CPU; means for transmitting said graphics commands from said main memory to said graphics processor in transmission units, said transmission units having a fixed predetermined length and containing a first graphics command and a portion of a second graphics command; means for separating the first graphics command from said portion of a second graphics command; means for routing the separated first graphics command to said graphics processor; means for storing said portion of said second graphics command; and means for combining subsequently transmitted portions of graphics commands with said stored portion of said second graphics command to form a complete graphics command. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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Specification