Patent ID: 7616211
Filing Date: 2009-11-10
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A rendering processor for multipass rendering in which a rendering process on rendering primitives are divided into a plurality of operation passes, comprising: a primitive generating unit which generates data related to the rendering primitives processed in each of the operation passes in multipass rendering; a rasterizer which rasterizes the data related to the rendering primitives in each of the operation passes and input from the primitive generating unit so as to sequentially generate pixel data; and a shader which processes the pixel data by executing an instruction in each of the operation passes using a pipeline process, wherein the shader supplies a pass switching signal to the primitive generating unit with a time margin before first pixel data in a current operation pass arrives at a final stage of the pipeline process, and the primitive generating unit is prompted by the receipt of the pass switching signal to suspend the generation of the data related to the rendering primitives in the current operation pass and starts generating the data related to the rendering primitives in a next operation pass.