Method and apparatus for reading texture data from a cache
First Claim
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1. A texture data reading apparatus, comprising:
- a cache memory including a plurality of read ports and a plurality of regions to store pixel texture data;
an address comparator including a plurality of input ports to receive incoming pixels, wherein the address comparator compares the memory addresses associated with the incoming pixels to determine which regions of cache memory are accessed; and
a cache lookup device to access new texture data from the cache memory for the incoming pixels in the same clock cycle in response to the number of memory regions accessed being less than or equal to the number of cache memory read ports.
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Abstract
A texture data reading apparatus includes a cache memory including a plurality of read ports and a plurality of regions to store pixel texture data. An address comparator includes a plurality of input ports to receive incoming pixels, wherein the address comparator compares the memory addresses associated with the incoming pixels to determine which regions of cache memory are accessed. A cache lookup device accesses new texture data from the cache memory for the incoming pixels in the same clock cycle in response to the number of memory regions accessed being less than or equal to the number of cache memory read ports.
27 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A texture data reading apparatus, comprising:
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a cache memory including a plurality of read ports and a plurality of regions to store pixel texture data;
an address comparator including a plurality of input ports to receive incoming pixels, wherein the address comparator compares the memory addresses associated with the incoming pixels to determine which regions of cache memory are accessed; and
a cache lookup device to access new texture data from the cache memory for the incoming pixels in the same clock cycle in response to the number of memory regions accessed being less than or equal to the number of cache memory read ports. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. The texture data reading apparatus, wherein the cache lookup device accesses new texture data from the cache memory for the incoming pixels in more than one clock cycle in response to the number of memory regions accessed being greater than the number of cache memory read ports.
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6. A rendering apparatus for generating drawing image data, comprising:
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a coordinate processing unit for receiving vertex data of a polygon including coordinates of the vertices, and for generating coordinate data representing coordinates in the polygon from the coordinates of the vertices of the polygon;
a cache memory including a plurality of memory read ports and a plurality of regions to store pixel texture data;
an address comparator to receive vertex data of the polygon including texture coordinates of the vertices and to generate texture addresses in the polygon from the texture coordinates of the vertices of the polygon, the texture addresses referring to texture data in the cache memory, wherein the address comparator compares the texture addresses associated with incoming pixels to determine which regions of cache memory are accessed; and
a cache lookup device to access new texture data from the cache memory for the incoming pixels in the same clock cycle in response to the number of memory regions accessed being less than or equal to the number of cache memory read ports.
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7. A rendering apparatus for generating drawing image data, comprising:
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a cache memory including a plurality of memory read ports and a plurality of regions to store pixel texture data; and
a plurality of rendering units for receiving vertices data of a polygon and for generating data for drawing an image each rendering unit including a texture memory and a reading unit for reading texture data from the texture memory; and
wherein each reading unit includes;
an address comparator to receive vertex data of the polygon including texture coordinates of the vertices and to generate texture addresses in the polygon from the texture coordinates of the vertices of the polygon, the texture addresses referring to texture data in the cache memory, wherein the address comparator compares the texture addresses associated with incoming pixels to determine which regions of cache memory are accessed; and
a cache lookup device to access new texture data from the cache memory for the incoming pixels in the same clock cycle in response to the number of memory regions accessed being less than or equal to the number of cache memory read ports.
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8. A machine readable medium having stored therein a plurality of machine readable instructions executable by a processor to read texture data, comprising:
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instructions to compare the memory addresses associated with incoming pixels to determine which regions of cache memory are accessed;
instructions to access new texture data from the cache memory for the incoming pixels in the same clock cycle in response to the number of memory regions accessed being less than or equal to the number of cache memory read ports; and
instructions to read cache ports and a plurality of regions to store pixel texture data. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method to read texture data, comprising:
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comparing the memory addresses associated with incoming pixels to determine which regions of cache memory are accessed;
accessing new texture data from the cache memory for the incoming pixels in the same clock cycle in response to the number of memory regions accessed being less than or equal to the number of cache memory read ports; and
reading cache ports and a plurality of regions to store pixel texture data. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification