Abstract: A method of performing anisotropic texture mip-mapping. The method includes determining a region of support for a set of target pixels of the image to be textured, and mapping the region of support to an area in texture map that is generally elliptical. For each axis of the ellipse the number of samples is determined and a filter function is performed on those samples to find the final color value. For four texels, the filter function is a weighted sum of the color values of each texel, where the weights are determined based on the fraction of the Level of Detail (LOD) and the fraction of the U or V coordinate.

Abstract: An improved target and initiator. The initiator provides a starting address and length information on a bus synchronously with a clock signal. While the starting address and length information are present on the bus, the initiator provides a write or a read request signal that is activated and deactivated synchronously. The initiator then receives from the target unit a grant signal that is activated and deactivated synchronously. After the grant signal is deactivated, for a write operation, the initiator provides a number of write data items on the bus synchronously for capture by the target unit. For a read operation, the target provides a number of read data items on the bus synchronously for capture by the initiator unit. One data item provided in each clock cycle of the clock signal and the number of data items is determined by the length information provided.

Abstract: A method of cubic mapping with texturing is described. Neighboring pixels on an object are mapped to adjacent faces of the cube, but these adjacent faces do not guarantee continuity in the texture mip-map associated with each face. Therefore, the u and v texture map coordinates are adjusted after mapping to adjacent faces to make a continuity adjustment that insures that the LOD for the texture mip-map is the same for each adjacent face. The continuity adjustment includes either switching the u coordinate with the v coordinate or negating one of the coordinates or both. Additionally, if the u and v coordinates are normalized, the normalization may be compensated by adding or subtracting unity from the adjusted coordinate. After the continuity adjustment is made an approximation to the derivative is computed and used to determine the LOD for the mip-map. Texturing can then proceed using the LOD.

Abstract: A system and method for rendering a non-zero thickness line on a pixel-limited output device such that aliasing of the line is reduced. The edges defining a line segment are expanded to insure that any pixel touched by the line segment has its center included in the bounds of the line segment. The area of any pixel partially or fully covered by the expanded line is determined. If one edge of the line traverses the pixel, the area is determined according to whether a triangular or triangular plus parallelogram area is covered. If more than one edge of the line segment traverses a pixel, the area covered is computed based on the single edge case. With the area covered by the line segment known, the color or shading of the pixel is determined by linear interpolation between the line and the background.

Abstract: A system and method for rendering a graphics primitive. A two pass method is employed where, in the first pass, for each block affected by the primitive, whether the pixels of the affected block intersect the front and/or back layers of the block is determined. If there are intersected pixels in the block, a flag is set indicating that the z-buffer must be read to determine the visibility of the affected pixels in the block. On a second pass, the blocks affected by the graphics primitive are again examined. If the flag is not set, then the visible pixels are rendered to the frame buffer based on the front and back layers of the block. If the flag is set, then for each sub-block affected by the primitive, the z-buffer is read and the visible pixels are rendered to the frame buffer based on the reading of the z-buffer.

Abstract: A system and method for rendering a graphics primitive. A two pass method is employed where, in the first pass, for each block affected by the primitive, whether the pixels of the affected block intersect the front and/or back layers of the block is determined. If there are intersected pixels in the block, a flag is set indicating that the z-buffer must be read to determine the visibility of the affected pixels in the block. On a second pass, the blocks affected by the graphics primitive are again examined. If the flag is not set, then the visible pixels are rendered to the frame buffer based on the front and back layers of the block. If the flag is set, then for each sub-block affected by the primitive, the z-buffer is read and the visible pixels are rendered to the frame buffer based on the reading of the z-buffer.

Abstract: A method of performing anisotropic texture mip-mapping. The method includes determining a region of support for a set of target pixels of the image to be textured, and mapping the region of support to an area in texture map that is generally elliptical. For each axis of the ellipse the number of samples is determined and a filter function is performed on those samples to find the final color value. For four texels, the filter function is a weighted sum of the color values of each texel, where the weights are determined based on the fraction of the Level of Detail (LOD) and the fraction of the U or V coordinate.