Restoration filter for truncated pixels
First Claim
1. In a computer graphics system having a graphics processor for computing a pixel to be displayed and a frame buffer for storing a truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed, a method for restoring the pixel to be displayed prior to display, the method comprising the steps of:
- shifting the truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed to the left by one or more bits thereby creating a truncated shifted pixel;
comparing the truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed to a neighboring pixel of the pixel to be displayed;
incrementing said truncated shifted pixel where a value of said neighboring pixel is greater than a value of the pixel to be displayed; and
decrementing said truncated shifted pixel where a value of said neighboring pixel is less than a value of the pixel to be displayed.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for restoring bits of pixels prior to display where the original bits of the pixels were truncated compares each pixel to its neighbors to determine the relative value of each pixel as compared to its neighbors. First, the truncated pixel is shifted. That is, the remaining bits of the pixel are shifted to the left and additional bits are added in the least significant bit positions. Next, the pixel is compared to its neighbors to determine their relative values. For each neighbor that is greater than the pixel in question, the truncated shifted pixel is incremented by one. Similarly, for each neighbor that is less than the pixel in question, the truncated shifted pixel is decremented by one. Once the pixel is evaluated relative to its neighboring pixels, determination of the restored pixel is complete. The restored pixel can then be displayed.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. In a computer graphics system having a graphics processor for computing a pixel to be displayed and a frame buffer for storing a truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed, a method for restoring the pixel to be displayed prior to display, the method comprising the steps of:
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shifting the truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed to the left by one or more bits thereby creating a truncated shifted pixel; comparing the truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed to a neighboring pixel of the pixel to be displayed; incrementing said truncated shifted pixel where a value of said neighboring pixel is greater than a value of the pixel to be displayed; and decrementing said truncated shifted pixel where a value of said neighboring pixel is less than a value of the pixel to be displayed. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. In a computer graphics system having a graphics processor and a frame buffer for storing a truncated portion of a pixel to be displayed, a method for restoring the pixel to its full complement of bits prior to display, the method comprising the steps of:
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comparing the truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed to a neighboring pixel; determining a value of a restored offset portion of the pixel to be displayed based on results of said step of comparing; and appending said restored offset portion to said truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed to restore the pixel to be displayed. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5)
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6. In a computer graphics system having a processor for generating pixels to be displayed and having a frame buffer for storing the pixels generated by the processor, a method for reducing a number of bits required to be stored in the frame buffer to represent a pixel while maintaining image quality, the method comprising the steps of:
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truncating the bits representing the pixel to be displayed to remove a subset of the bits and leave a truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed; storing said truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed in the frame buffer; comparing said truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed to at least one neighboring pixel; and modifying the pixel to be displayed based on said comparison to restore the pixel prior to display. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. In a system for displaying an image using pixels the system having a memory for storing the pixels, a method for reducing a number of bits required to be stored in memory for each pixel while maintaining image quality, the method comprising the steps of:
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truncating the bits for at least one of the pixels to be displayed to remove a subset of the bits and leave a truncated portion for each truncated pixel; storing said truncated portion of each truncated pixel in the memory; comparing said truncated portion of each truncated pixel to at least one neighboring pixel; and modifying said truncated pixels based on said comparing step to restore said truncated pixels prior to display. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer program product for use with a computer system, said computer program product comprising:
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a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for causing the computer system to generate pixels to be displayed, to store the pixels generated by the processor in memory, and to reduce the number of bits required to be stored in the memory to represent each pixel while maintaining image quality, said computer readable program code means comprising computer readable program code means for truncating the bits representing said pixel to be displayed to remove a subset of the bits and leave a truncated portion for said pixel, computer readable program code means for storing, in memory, said truncated portion of the pixel to be displayed, computer readable program code means for comparing said truncated portion to a neighboring pixel, and computer readable program code means for modifying said pixel to be displayed based on said comparison to restore said pixel to be displayed prior to display. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification