PC-based computing systems employing a bridge chip having a routing unit for distributing geometrical data and graphics commands to parallelized GPU-driven pipeline cores supported on a plurality of graphics cards and said bridge chip during the running of a graphics application
First Claim
1. A PC-based computing system comprising:
- system memory for storing software graphics applications, software drivers and graphics libraries;
an operating system (OS), stored in said system memory;
one or more graphics applications, stored in said system memory, for generating a stream of geometrical data and graphics commands supporting (i) the representation of one or more 3D objects in a scene having 3D geometrical characteristics and (ii) the viewing of images of said one or more 3D objects in said scene;
one or more graphic libraries, stored in said system memory, for storing data used to implement said stream of geometrical data and graphics commands;
a central processing unit (CPU) supported on a motherboard, for executing said OS, said one or more graphics applications, said software drivers and said graphics libraries;
a CPU bus supported on said motherboard;
a bridge chip supported on said motherboard, and including a routing unit located on said CPU bus;
a display surface for displaying said images by graphically displaying frames of pixel data;
a plurality of GPU-driven pipeline cores arranged in a parallel architecture and operating according to a parallelization mode of operation so that said GPU-driven pipeline cores process data in a parallel manner;
a plurality of graphics cards, with one of said plurality of graphics cards having a display interface for interfacing with said display surface,wherein at least one of said plurality of GPU-driven pipeline cores is supported on each said graphics card, andwherein at least one of said plurality of GPU-driven pipeline cores is supported on said bridge chip; and
software multi-pipe drivers, stored in said system memory, and including a GPU driver module allowing said GPU-driven pipeline cores to interact with said OS and said graphic libraries, and a distributed graphic functions control module for configuring said parallelization mode of operation;
wherein said routing unit interfaces said CPU and said GPU-driven pipeline cores;
wherein, for each image of said 3D object to be generated and displayed on said display surface, the following operations are performed;
(i) said routing unit routes said stream of geometrical data and graphic commands, or a portion thereof, from said CPU to one or more of said GPU-driven pipeline cores,(ii) one or more of said GPU-driven pipeline cores process said stream of geometrical data and graphic commands, or a portion thereof, during the generation of each said frame of pixel data, while operating in said parallelization mode, so as to generate pixel data corresponding to at least a portion of said image, and(iii) said routing unit routes pixel data output from one or more of said GPU-driven pipeline cores during the composition of each frames frame of pixel data corresponding to a final image, for display on said display surface.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A PC-based computing system employing a bridge chip with a routing unit to distribute geometrical data and graphics commands to multiple GPU-driven pipeline cores supported on a plurality of graphics cards and the bridge chip. The PC-based computing system includes system memory for storing software graphics applications, software drivers and graphics libraries, and an operating system (OS), stored in the system memory, and a central processing unit (CPU) supported on a motherboard, for executing the OS, graphics applications, drivers and graphics libraries. The routing unit in the bridge chip interfaces with the CPU and the GPU-driven pipeline cores. During the generation and display of each frame of pixel data, the routing unit (i) routes the stream of geometrical data and graphic commands from the graphics application to one or more of the GPU-driven pipeline cores, and (ii) routes pixel data output from one or more of GPU-driven pipeline cores during the composition of frames of pixel data corresponding to final images for display on the display surface.
-
Citations
15 Claims
-
1. A PC-based computing system comprising:
-
system memory for storing software graphics applications, software drivers and graphics libraries; an operating system (OS), stored in said system memory; one or more graphics applications, stored in said system memory, for generating a stream of geometrical data and graphics commands supporting (i) the representation of one or more 3D objects in a scene having 3D geometrical characteristics and (ii) the viewing of images of said one or more 3D objects in said scene; one or more graphic libraries, stored in said system memory, for storing data used to implement said stream of geometrical data and graphics commands; a central processing unit (CPU) supported on a motherboard, for executing said OS, said one or more graphics applications, said software drivers and said graphics libraries; a CPU bus supported on said motherboard; a bridge chip supported on said motherboard, and including a routing unit located on said CPU bus; a display surface for displaying said images by graphically displaying frames of pixel data; a plurality of GPU-driven pipeline cores arranged in a parallel architecture and operating according to a parallelization mode of operation so that said GPU-driven pipeline cores process data in a parallel manner; a plurality of graphics cards, with one of said plurality of graphics cards having a display interface for interfacing with said display surface, wherein at least one of said plurality of GPU-driven pipeline cores is supported on each said graphics card, and wherein at least one of said plurality of GPU-driven pipeline cores is supported on said bridge chip; and software multi-pipe drivers, stored in said system memory, and including a GPU driver module allowing said GPU-driven pipeline cores to interact with said OS and said graphic libraries, and a distributed graphic functions control module for configuring said parallelization mode of operation; wherein said routing unit interfaces said CPU and said GPU-driven pipeline cores; wherein, for each image of said 3D object to be generated and displayed on said display surface, the following operations are performed; (i) said routing unit routes said stream of geometrical data and graphic commands, or a portion thereof, from said CPU to one or more of said GPU-driven pipeline cores, (ii) one or more of said GPU-driven pipeline cores process said stream of geometrical data and graphic commands, or a portion thereof, during the generation of each said frame of pixel data, while operating in said parallelization mode, so as to generate pixel data corresponding to at least a portion of said image, and (iii) said routing unit routes pixel data output from one or more of said GPU-driven pipeline cores during the composition of each frames frame of pixel data corresponding to a final image, for display on said display surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
Specification