Abstract: A system and method to provide a hierarchical stencil buffer, the method including creating, for a light source of a graphics scene, a hierarchical stencil buffer (HSB) to store stencil values relative to the light source for a plurality of hierarchical levels of pixels, and storing the stencil values in the HSB in a compressed state. In some embodiments, a shadow test may be performed on a pixel to determine whether the pixel is in shadow relative to the light source, wherein the determining references a stored stencil value for a first hierarchical level in the HSB.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and system for pair-wise minimum and minimum mask instructions are generally presented.

Abstract: A media adapter may include a wireless communication interface to receive video data from a remote program and a wired communication interface to send control data to the remote program. The media adapter may also include a display interface to direct the video data to a display device and an input interface to receive the control data for the remote program from a controller. A processor may be arranged to direct the video data to the display interface and to direct the control data to the wired communication interface.