Patent ID: 9153070
Filing Date: 2015-10-06
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A method of operating a graphics processing pipeline that includes a plurality of processing stages including a rasteriser that rasterises input primitives to generate graphic fragments to be processed, each graphics fragment having one or more sampling points associated with it, and a renderer that processes fragments generated by the rasteriser to generate output fragment data, the method comprising: performing an early culling test in respect of at least one sampling point associated with a fragment generated by the rasteriser before the fragment is sent to the renderer for processing; and if the at least one sampling point passes the early culling test, sending the fragment onwards for processing, broadcasting information related to a position of the at least one sampling point or the fragment that passed the test to at least one processing stage of the graphics processing pipeline and determining if the processing of another sampling point that is in the graphics processing pipeline can be stopped as a consequence of the at least one sampling point passing the early culling test using the broadcast position information to assess whether any of the sampling points or fragments that it is currently processing can have their processing stopped.