Patent ID: 6552723
Filing Date: 2003-04-22
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
In a tiled 3-D graphics pipeline, an apparatus for sorting image data, the apparatus being operatively coupled to a previous processing stage of the graphics pipeline and a subsequent processing stage of the graphics pipeline, the apparatus being adapted to read the image data from the previous stage, the image data comprising a set of vertices of a geometric primitive, the apparatus comprising:a mid-pipeline sorting unit comprising a memory for storing sorted image data, the mid-pipeline sorting unit being adapted to determine if the geometric primitive intersects at least one region of a set of regions that define the area of a 2-D window, and if the geometric primitive intersects a particular region of the set of regions, the mid-pipeline sorting unit being further adapted to store the set of vertices into the memory in a manner that associates each of the geometric primitive's vertices with the particular region, the mid pipeline sorting unit being further adapted to send the sorted image data to the subsequent stage on a region-by-region basis.