Patent ID: 6683615
Filing Date: 2004-01-27
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
A computer system, comprising:at least one central processing unit; at least one main memory which is read/write accessible by said central processing unit; at least one bulk storage unit which is read/write accessible by said central processing unit, and which has a minimum access time, as seen by said central processing unit, which is more than ten times greater than the minimum access time of said main memory; specialized graphics-processing logic, which performs rendering functions on graphics data generated by said central processing unit; and specialized graphics memory which is used by said graphics-processing logic as primary memory, but is not used by said central processing unit as part of said main memory; wherein said main memory is configured to provide a first level of virtualizing for said graphics memory, and said bulk storage is configured to provide a second level of virtualizing for said graphics memory.