Abstract:
Embodiments of the present invention are directed towards increasing texture filtering performance for texel components represented by more than 8 bits. As the number of bits per component increases, the number of texels that are processed each clock cycle decreases since more bits need to be processed to produce each filtered result. A filtered result may be accumulated over two or more iterations, with each iteration producing a portion of the filtered result. When only a portion of the components for each texel are used, the unused texel components are not processed. Elimination of unnecessary texel processing for unused texel components may improve texture filtering performance.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/823,483, filed Aug. 24, 2006, which is herein incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     One or more aspects of the invention generally relate to computer graphics, and more particularly to processing texture map data. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Conventional graphics processors are exemplified by systems and methods developed to read and filter texture map texels. In particular, conventional texels are represented by 8 bits per component. As the number of bits used to represent each texel component increases to produce a higher quality image, more bits of the texels are processed to produce each filtered result. Similarly when anisotropic filtering is used to produce a higher quality image, more texels are processed to produce each filtered result. Therefore, texture filtering performance may decrease as the anisotropic ratio increases or as the number of bits per texel component increases. 
     Accordingly, there is a need to improve texel filtering performance when anisotropic filtering is used or when texels are represented by more than 8 bits per component. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The current invention involves new systems and methods for increasing texture filtering performance for high bit-count texel components, i.e., texel components that are represented by more than 8 bits. As the number of bits per component increases, the number of texels that are processed each clock cycle decreases since more bits need to be processed to produce each filtered result. A filtered result may be accumulated over two or more passes, with each pass producing a portion of the filtered result. When only a portion of the components for each texel are used, the unused texel components are not processed. Elimination of unnecessary texel processing for unused texel components may improve texture filtering performance. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a respective computer system in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention including a host computer and a graphics subsystem. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the texture unit of  FIG. 1  in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3A  illustrates an embodiment of a method of processing high bit-count texels in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3B  illustrates an embodiment of a method of processing high bit-count texels with component optimization in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4A  is a conceptual diagram showing pixel coverage of a graphics primitive in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4B  illustrates an embodiment of a method of processing texels based on pixel coverage in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 5A ,  5 B, and  5 C are conceptual diagrams showing an anisotropic pixel footprint. 
         FIG. 5D  illustrates anisotropic texture sampling along an axis for anisotropic filtering. 
         FIG. 6A  illustrates an arrangement of four pixels in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 6B ,  6 C, and  6 D illustrate embodiments of a method of pairing texels for processing in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 7A ,  7 B, and  7 C are other conceptual diagrams showing an anisotropic pixel footprint. 
         FIG. 7D  illustrates another embodiment of a method of pairing texels for processing in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8A  illustrates an embodiment of a method of serializing texel processing based on a screen space alignment of the major axis of anisotropy in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8B  illustrates another embodiment of a method of serializing texel processing based on a screen space alignment of the major axis of anisotropy and pixel coverage in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one of skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without one or more of these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in order to avoid obscuring the present invention. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a computing system generally designated  100  including a host computer  110  and a graphics subsystem  175 , including texture unit  175 , in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. Computing system  100  may be a desktop computer, server, laptop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), palm-sized computer, tablet computer, game console, cellular telephone, computer based simulator, or the like. Host computer  110  includes host processor  114  that may include a system memory controller to interface directly to host memory  112  or may communicate with host memory  112  through a system interface  115 . System interface  115  may be an I/O (input/output) interface or a bridge device including the system memory controller to interface directly to host memory  112 . Examples of system interface  115  known in the art include Intel® Northbridge. 
     A graphics device driver, driver  113 , interfaces between processes executed by host processor  114 , such as application programs, and a programmable graphics processor  105 , translating program instructions as needed for execution by graphics processor  105 . Driver  113  also uses commands to configure sub-units within graphics processor  105 . Specifically, driver  113  may provide texture unit  170  with a base address of texture map  142  stored in local memory  140 . The base address of texture map  142  is used by texture unit  170  to read texels from texture map  142 . 
     Host computer  110  communicates with graphics subsystem  175  via system interface  115  and a graphics interface  117  within a graphics processor  105 . Data received at graphics interface  117  can be passed to a front end  130  or written to a local memory  140  through memory controller  120 . Graphics processor  105  uses graphics memory to store graphics data and program instructions, where graphics data is any data that is input to or output from components within the graphics processor, including texture maps. Graphics memory can include portions of host memory  112 , local memory  140 , register files coupled to the components within graphics processor  105 , and the like. 
     Graphics processor  105  includes, among other components, front end  130  that receives commands from host computer  110  via graphics interface  117 . Front end  130  interprets and formats the commands and outputs the formatted commands and data to an IDX (Index Processor)  135 . Some of the formatted commands are used by programmable graphics processing pipeline  150  to initiate processing of data by providing the location of program instructions or graphics data stored in memory. IDX  135 , programmable graphics processing pipeline  150  and a raster operations unit  160  each include an interface to memory controller  120  through which program instructions and data can be read from memory, e.g., any combination of local memory  140  and host memory  112 . 
     IDX  135  optionally reads processed data, e.g., data written by raster operations unit  160 , from memory and outputs the data, processed data and formatted commands to programmable graphics processing pipeline  150 . Programmable graphics processing pipeline  150  and raster operations unit  160  each contain one or more programmable processing units to perform a variety of specialized functions. Some of these functions are table lookup, scalar and vector addition, multiplication, division, coordinate-system mapping, calculation of vector normals, tessellation, calculation of derivatives, anisotropic texture filtering, interpolation, and the like. Programmable graphics processing pipeline  150  and raster operations unit  160  are each optionally configured such that data processing operations are performed in multiple passes through those units or in multiple passes within programmable graphics processing pipeline  150 . Programmable graphics processing pipeline  150  and raster operations unit  160  also each include a write interface to memory controller  120  through which data can be written to memory. 
     In a typical implementation, programmable graphics processing pipeline  150  performs geometry computations, rasterization, and pixel computations. Therefore, programmable graphics processing pipeline  150  is programmed to operate on surface, primitive, vertex, fragment, pixel, sample or any other data. For simplicity, the remainder of this description will use the term “samples” to refer to graphics data such as surfaces, primitives, vertices, pixels, fragments, or the like. 
     Samples output by programmable graphics processing pipeline  150  are passed to raster operations unit  160 , which optionally performs near and far plane clipping and raster operations, such as stencil, z test, and the like, and saves the results or the samples output by programmable graphics processing pipeline  150  in local memory  140 . When the data received by graphics subsystem  175  has been completely processed by graphics processor  105 , an output  185  of graphics subsystem  175  is provided using an output controller  180 . Output controller  180  is optionally configured to deliver data to a display device, network, electronic control system, other computing system  100 , other graphics subsystem  175 , or the like. Alternatively, data is output to a film recording device or written to a peripheral device, e.g., disk drive, tape, compact disk, or the like. 
     At least one set of samples is output by IDX  135  and received by programmable graphics processing pipeline  150 . A set of samples is processed according to at least one program, e.g., geometry, vertex, or shader program. A program can process one or more sets of samples. Conversely, a set of samples can be processed by a sequence of one or more programs. 
     Samples, such as surfaces, primitives, or the like, are received from IDX  135  by programmable graphics processing pipeline  150  and processed in a multithreaded processing unit. Programmable graphics processing pipeline  150  may include several multithreaded processing units. A multithreaded processing unit may receive first samples, such as higher-order surface data, and tessellate the first samples to generate second samples, such as vertices. A multithreaded processing unit may be configured to transform the second samples from an object-based coordinate representation (object space) to an alternatively based coordinate system such as world space or normalized device coordinates (NDC) space. Each multithreaded processing unit may communicate with texture unit  170  using a read interface to read program instructions and graphics data such as texture maps from local memory  140  or host memory  112  via memory controller  120 . Texture unit  170  may include a cache to improve memory read performance by reducing read latency. Alternatively, each multithreaded processing unit has a dedicated instruction read interface to read program instructions from local memory  140  or host memory  112  via memory controller  120 . In other embodiments of the present invention, each multithreaded processing unit may include a texture unit  170 . 
     Graphics primitives may be assembled from vertices and then rasterized to produce fragments for pixels and coverage data. Program instructions configure multithreaded processing units to perform operations such as tessellation, perspective correction, texture mapping, shading, blending, and the like, to produce processed samples. The processed samples are output from programmable graphics processing pipeline to raster operations unit  160 . 
     In some embodiments of computing system  100  graphics processing performance is limited by memory bandwidth, e.g. between host memory  112  and programmable graphics processor  105 , between local memory  140  and graphics processing pipeline  103 , and the like. In those embodiments using a texel cache to reduce the number of texels read from local memory  140  or host memory  112  may improve graphics processing performance. Performance may be further improved by only processing texels for covered pixels and texel components that are used, to produce a filtered result for a pixel. A texel component is used when a shader program specifies that the component as an output of a texture mapping operation. Specifying a component as an input to a texture mapping operation, but not as an output means that the component is not used for the purposes of producing a filtered result for a pixel. Cache performance may be improved by ensuring texel read locality based on the alignment of the major axis of anisotropy in screen space when processing a sequence of texels. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of texture unit  170  of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. Texture unit  170  receives texture requests for fragments produced during rasterization. A fragment is formed by the intersection of a pixel and a primitive. Primitives include geometry, such as points, lines, triangles, quadrilaterals, meshes, surfaces, and the like. A fragment may cover a pixel or a portion of a pixel. Likewise, a pixel may include one or more fragments. Coverage information is also produced during rasterization of the primitive and the coverage information is provided to texture unit  170 . The coverage information may indicate which of one or more sub-pixel sample positions for a pixel are included within a fragment and may be used to perform coverage based optimizations, as described in conjunction with  FIGS. 4A and 4B . 
     Texture unit  170  includes a texture input unit  205  that receives texture state information, e.g., texture IDs, filter parameters, and the like. Texture input unit  205  also receives texture requests including texture coordinates, e.g., u, v, and s, t, and the like, as packets from multithreaded processing units. The texture state information is stored and provided to other units within texture unit  170 . For example, the texture ID may be provided to an address computation unit  250  to determine the base address of the current texture map. The texture requests correspond to a 2×2 pixel quad that is included in a packet. Texture input unit  205  outputs the texture coordinates for the pixel quad in a packet to an LOD (level of detail) unit  210 . As the packet flows through the different units in texture unit  170  the information in the packet is updated by each unit, changing from texture requests including texture coordinates for a pixel quad, to filtered samples for the pixel quad. 
     The LOD unit  210  computes derivative values, e.g., du/dx, du/dy, dv/dx, and dv/dy, for the pixel quad. The pixel footprint size in texture space, level of anisotropy (anisotropic ratio), texture map level of detail, and major axis alignment is determined. In conventional graphics processors a ratio value representing the ratio of the length of the minor axis to the length of the major axis, e.g. minor axis/major axis, is computed using a technique known to those skilled in the art. The ratio value, i.e., anisotropic ratio, is used to determine a number of texture samples to filter during anisotropic filtering to produce the filtered result. Each texture sample is produced by filtering one or more texels. The major axis and minor axis define a footprint that represents the projection of the pixel onto the texture map, as shown in  FIGS. 5A and 7A . The major axis alignment indicates whether the major axis of anisotropy in texture space is more closely aligned with the x axis or with the y axis in screen space. The major axis alignment may be used to perform pixel pairing optimizations to improve texture cache hit rates, as described in conjunction with  FIGS. 8A and 8B . LOD unit  210  outputs the LOD level, the anisotropic ratio, and the major axis alignment to a sampler  225 . 
     Sampler  225  determines a number of texture samples to filter based the anisotropic ratio. Specifically, sampler  225  determines the number of and locations, e.g., texture coordinates, of the number of texture samples needed to approximate the filter as a linear combination of bilinear interpolations. When trilinear filtering is specified, texels are read and processed from two LODs of texture map  142  to produce two linear combinations of bilinear interpolations that are combined to produce the filtered result for each pixel. Sampler  225  serializes the filtering workload into one or more packets that are output to an address computation unit  250 . 
     In some embodiments of the present invention, the packets are ordered by a pixel pairing unit  235  to improve a hit rate of a texel cache  280 . Pixel pairing unit  235  pairs texel reads for texture samples within pixels aligned along the x axis when major axis alignment is along the y axis and pairing texel reads for texture samples within pixels aligned with the y axis when major axis alignment is along the x axis, as described in conjunction with  FIGS. 8A and 8B . Pixel pairing unit  235  may also order the packets to traverse the anisotropic footprint in a particular fashion, e.g., starting in the middle and working outward or starting at one end and working toward the other end, as described in conjunction with  FIGS. 6B ,  6 C,  6 D, and  7 D. 
     As previously described, sampler  225  receives texel coordinates for a pixel quad in a packet. Depending on the texel format (number of bits per texel), number of texel components, filtering mode (bilinear or trilinear), and anisotropic ratio, one or more packets are output by sampler  225  to produce filtered results for the pixel quad. In some embodiments of the present invention, eight bilinear interpolations of 32 bit texels are included in a packet, where a 32 bit texel may include four 8 bit components, two 16 bit components, or one 32 bit component. Therefore, 2:1 anisotropic filtering of a pixel quad may be performed using a single packet for a processing throughput of one pixel quad per clock. In other embodiments of the present invention, fewer or more bilinear interpolations, or different bits per texel, are included in a packet. TABLE 1 shows the number of packets that are output for various 32 bit texel modes. Columns of TABLE 1 include an LOD level, number of bilinear interpolations (bilerps) per pixel, and number of pixels per packet for 32 bit texels. Notice that for anisotropic ratios of 4:1 and greater, each packet includes texels for half of the pixels in a pixel quad. In the case of 6:1 anisotropy the first two packets (packet 0 and 1) include texels for one half of the pixels and the second two packets (packet 2 and 3) includes texels for the other half of the pixels. 
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Serialization of 32 bit texels 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 32 bit texels with bilinear 1:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 LOD 0 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 4 pixels 
               
             
          
           
               
                 32 bit texels with trilinear 1:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 LOD 0 &amp; 1 
                 2 bilerp/pixel 
                 4 pixels 
               
             
          
           
               
                 32 bit texels with bilinear 2:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 LOD 0 
                 2 bilerp/pixel 
                 4 pixels 
               
             
          
           
               
                 32 bit texels with trilinear 2:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 LOD 0 
                 2 bilerp/pixel 
                 4 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 1 
                 LOD 1 
                 2 bilerp/pixel 
                 4 pixels 
               
             
          
           
               
                 32 bit texels with bilinear 4:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 LOD 0 
                 4 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 1 
                 LOD 0 
                 4 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
             
          
           
               
                 32 bit texels with bilinear 6:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 LOD 0 
                 4 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 1 
                 LOD 0 
                 2 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 2 
                 LOD 0 
                 4 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 3 
                 LOD 0 
                 2 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In some embodiments of the present invention, four bilinear interpolations of 64 bit texels are included in a packet, where a 64 bit texel may include four 16 bit components or two 32 bit components. Therefore, 1:1 anisotropic filtering of a pixel quad may be performed using a single packet for a processing throughput of one pixel quad per clock. TABLE 2 shows the number of packets that are output for various 64 bit texel modes. Columns of TABLE 2 include an LOD level, number of bilinear interpolations (bilerps) per pixel, and number of pixels per packet for 64 bit texels. Notice that for anisotropic ratios of 2:1 and greater, each packet includes texels for half of the pixels in a pixel quad. 
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Serialization of 64 bit texels 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 64 bit texels with bilinear 1:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 LOD 0 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 4 pixels 
               
             
          
           
               
                 64 bit texels with trilinear 1:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 LOD 0 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 4 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 1 
                 LOD 1 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 4 pixels 
               
             
          
           
               
                 64 bit texels with bilinear 2:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 LOD 0 
                 2 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 1 
                 LOD 0 
                 2 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
             
          
           
               
                 64 bit texels with bilinear 4:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 LOD 0 
                 4 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 1 
                 LOD 0 
                 4 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 2 
                 LOD 0 
                 4 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 3 
                 LOD 0 
                 4 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In some embodiments of the present invention, four bilinear interpolations of 128 bit texels are included in a packet, where a 128 bit texel includes four 32 bit components. Therefore, 1:1 anisotropic filtering of a pixel quad may be performed using two packets for a processing throughput of half a pixel quad per clock. TABLE 3 shows the number of packets that are output for various 128 bit texel modes. Columns of TABLE 3 include a number of bilinear interpolations (bilerps) per pixel, a number of components per texel, and number of pixels per packet for 128 bit texels. Notice that each packet includes texels for half of the components in a pixel quad for 1:1 anisotropy and half of the components for half of the pixels in a pixel quad for anisotropic ratios of 2:1 and greater. 
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 3 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Serialization of 128 bit texels 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 128 bit texels with bilinear 1:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 components 
                 4 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 1 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 components 
                 4 pixels 
               
             
          
           
               
                 128 bit texels with bilinear 4:1 anisotropy 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Packet 0 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 components 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 1 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 components 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 2 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 components 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 3 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 components 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 4 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 components 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 5 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 components 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 6 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 components 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                 Packet 7 
                 1 bilerp/pixel 
                 2 components 
                 2 pixels 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     Sampler  225  also computes weights, using techniques known to those skilled in the art, for use by a texture filter unit  270  during filtering of the texture samples to produce a filtered result. Sampler  225  outputs packets including the weights and sample locations, represented as texel coordinates, to address computation unit  250 . Address computation unit  250  uses texture parameters (texture ID, and the like) received by texture input unit  205  to determine addresses for reading texels for texture samples from memory via texel cache  280 . Address computation unit  250  outputs the addresses and a read request to texel cache  280 . When a texel is not available in texel cache  280 , i.e., there is a cache miss, texel cache  480  replaces a cache line with data read from memory that includes the texel. Address computation unit  250  passes the weights to texture filter unit  270  for use in producing the filtered results. 
     In some embodiments of the present invention, texel cache  280  is configured to read up to four cache lines in a clock cycle. Therefore, when texel reads are ordered based on the major axis alignment and locality is increased, the texels needed to perform anisotropic filtering may be read in fewer clock cycles, thereby improving performance. 
     Texels read from texel cache  280  are placed in a packet and output to texture filter unit  270 . Texture filter unit  270  optionally performs isotropic filtering to compute each texture sample using the texels read for each texture sample. Texture Filter Unit  470  receives the weights from Address Computation Unit  450  and filters the texture samples using the weights (and linear interpolation for trilinear filtering) to produce filtered results. 
     Several bilinearly interpolated samples may be combined to produce an anisotropically filtered result for a pixel. When sampler  225  serialized a received packet for a pixel quad and produced multiple packets, texture filter unit  270  processes the multiple packets to produce filtered results for the pixel quad. In some embodiments of the present invention, texture filter unit  270  is configured to compute eight bilinearly interpolated samples of 32 bit texel in parallel, four bilinearly interpolated samples of 64 bit texels in parallel, or two bilinearly interpolated samples of 128 bit texels. Therefore, when 128 bit texels are used, the filtered result for an isotropically filtered pixel quad or half of an anisotropically filtered pixel quad is produced in two passes through texture unit  170 , as described in conjunction with  FIG. 3A . The filtered results for a pixel quad are output by texture unit  170  to a multithreaded processing unit within programmable graphics processing pipeline  150 . The multithreaded processing unit may use the filtered results to compute a color for each fragment as specified by a shader program. 
       FIG. 3A  illustrates an embodiment of a method of processing high bit-count texels, in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. All of the high bit-count texels for a pixel quad may not fit within a single packet. For example, texture filter unit  270  may be configured to process a packet each clock cycle and only two 128 bit texels fit within a packet. Therefore, multiple packets are needed to process a pixel quad when 128 bit texels are used. A single packet may be used for 32 and 64 bit texels for an entire pixel quad when texture filter unit  270  is configured to process eight bilinearly filtered 32 bit texels per clock cycle or four bilinearly filtered 64 bit texels. 
     In step  310  sampler  225  receives a packet including texels for a pixel quad. A single set of texture coordinates may be used for an entire pixel quad since texture coordinates for each individual pixel in the 2×2 pixel quad may be derived from that set of texture coordinates. In step  315  sampler  225  determines if the texel format is 32 bits per texel, and, if so, in step  320  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texel coordinates for texture samples. Each texture sample may correspond to four 32 bit texels that are bilinearly interpolated. In step  320  the one or more packets including the 32 bit texels (the texels read from texel cache  280  replace the coordinates) are filtered by texture filter unit  270  to produce filtered results for the pixel quad. A single packet may be output by sampler  225  to provide texel coordinates for eight bilinear interpolations (32 four component texels) that are used to produce a 2:1 anisotropically filtered result for each pixel in the pixel quad. When an anisotropic ratio greater than 2:1 is used, additional packets are output by sampler  225  and processed by texture filter unit  270  to accumulate the filtered results for the pixel quad. Each packet includes texel coordinates for each of the four pixels in the pixel quad. 
     If, in step  315  sampler  225  determines that the texel format is not 32 bits per texel, then in step  325  sampler  225  determines if the texel format is 64 bits per texel. If, in step  325  sampler  225  determines that the texel format is 64 bits per texel, then in step  330  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including 64 bit texel coordinates. In step  330  the one or more packets including 64 bit texels (read from texel cache  280 ) are filtered by texture filter unit  270  to produce filtered results for the pixel quad. A single packet may be output by sampler  225  to provide texel coordinates for four bilinear interpolations (16 four component texels) that are used to produce an isotropically (1:1 anisotropically) filtered result for each pixel in the pixel quad. When an anisotropic ratio greater than 1:1 is used, additional packets are output by sampler  225  and processed by texture filter unit  270  to accumulate the filtered results for the pixel quad. Each packet includes texel coordinates for each of the four pixels in the pixel quad. 
     If, in step  325  sampler  225  determines that the texel format is not 64 bits per texel, then the texel format is 128 bits per texel, and in step  335  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texels coordinates for the 128 bit texels of the pixel quad. However, rather than reading texels for all of the components of the pixel quad, only half of the components are read and processed in a first pass. For example, if each texel includes red, green, blue, and alpha components, then only two of the four components are read and processed in a first pass through texture unit  170 . 
     In step  335  a first set of packets including 128 bit texels are filtered by texture filter unit  270  to produce filtered results for half of the pixel quad components. A single packet may be output in the first set of packets to provide texel coordinates for two bilinear interpolations (8 four component texels) that are used to produce an isotropically filtered result for half of the pixel quad components. When an anisotropic ratio greater than 1:1 is used, additional packets are included in the first set of packets and processed by texture filter unit  270  to accumulate the filtered results for half of the pixel quad components. Each packet includes texel coordinates for half of the components in each of the four pixels in the pixel quad. 
     In order to produce the filtered results for the other half of the pixel components in the pixel quad, in step  340  sampler  225  outputs a second set of packets including the same texel coordinates for the 128 bit texels that were output in step  335 . In step  335  the second set of packets including 128 bit texels (read from texel cache  280 ) are filtered by texture filter unit  270  to produce filtered results for the other half of the pixel quad components. In step  345  the filtered results for the pixel quad are output by texture filter unit  270 . 
       FIG. 3B  illustrates an embodiment of a method of processing high bit-count texels with component optimization, in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. Steps  310 ,  315 ,  320 ,  325 , and  330  are completed as previously described. In step  332  sampler  225  determines if more than two of the texel components are used, and, if so, sampler  225  proceeds to step  335 . A texel component is used when a shader program specifies that the component as an output of a texture mapping operation. Specifying a component as an input to a texture mapping operation, but not as an output means that the component is not used for the purposes of producing a filtered result for a pixel. 
     If, in step  332  sampler  335  determines that two or fewer texel components are used, then in step  337  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texel coordinates for 128 bit texels of the pixel quad and the texel components are filtered by texture filter unit  270  to produce filtered results for the pixel quad components that are used. Sampler  225  indicates the texel components that should be read from texel cache  280  since the component may differ from the components that are read in either the first or the second pass. Texture filtering throughput may be improved for high bit-count texels by performing component optimization, i.e., eliminating the second pass through texture unit  170  to produce the unused components. 
     Another optimization, a coverage optimization based on pixel coverage may be used to improve texture filtering throughput when the anisotropic ratio is high, i.e., greater than 4:1. When at least half of the pixels in a pixel quad are not covered, texel coordinates for the uncovered pixels are not output by sampler  225 . Therefore, the texels for the uncovered pixels are not read or processed, allowing the texel filtering processing throughput to be used to produce filtered results for covered pixels. 
       FIG. 4A  is a conceptual diagram showing pixel coverage of a graphics primitive  401 , in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. Primitive  401  covers at least one pixel in quads  410 ,  415 ,  420 ,  425 ,  430 ,  435 ,  440 , and  445 . Each quad includes a 2×2 pixel region of a render target  400 . Quads  415  and  430  each include 3 or 4 covered pixels and the coverage optimization may not be used to reduce the filtering workload to produce filtered results for those quads. Quads  420 ,  440 , and  445  each include only 2 covered pixels and the coverage optimization may be used to reduce the filtering workload by half for those quads. 
     Sampler  225  indicates whether the texels for the horizontally or vertically oriented pixels should be read from texel cache  280  since the pixel pairs may be oriented in either direction. Sampler  225  also indicates an alignment for the pixel pair. Specifically, a vertical orientation includes either the right or left aligned pixels and a horizontal orientation includes either the upper or lower aligned pixels. For example, quads  440  and  445  are vertically oriented and right aligned and quad  420  is horizontally oriented and lower aligned. Some embodiments of the present invention allow for diagonally oriented combinations of pixels when coverage optimization is used. When only a single pixel is covered, as is the case for quads  410 ,  425 , and  435 , sampler  225  may specify either a horizontal or a vertical orientation and the appropriate alignment. 
       FIG. 4B  illustrates an embodiment of a method of processing texels based on pixel coverage, in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. In step  450  sampler  225  receives a packet including texel coordinates for a pixel quad. In step  455  sampler  225  determines if more than half of the pixels are covered, and, if so, in step  475  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texel coordinates for the pixel quad. In some embodiments of the present invention, when covered pixels are diagonally oriented the coverage optimization cannot be performed and sampler  225  also proceeds to step  475 . 
     If, in step  455  sampler  225  determines that not more than half of the pixels are covered, then in step  460  sampler  225  determines if the covered pixel pair is oriented horizontally. Sampler  225  effectively discards the pixel pair that does not include covered pixels. If, in step  460  sampler  225  determines that the covered pixels are oriented horizontally, then in step  465  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texel coordinates for the upper or lower horizontally oriented pixel pair. Sampler  225  also indicates whether the alignment of the pixel pair within the pixel quad is upper or lower. If, in step  460  sampler  225  determines that the covered pixels are not oriented horizontally, then in step  470  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texel coordinates for the left or right vertically oriented pixel pair. Sampler  225  also indicates whether the alignment of the pixel pair within the pixel quad is left or right. 
     In step  480  the one or more packets including texels read from texel cache  280  are filtered by texture filter unit  270  to produce filtered results for the pixel quad. A single packet may be output by sampler  225  to provide texel coordinates for 32 bit texels that are used to produce an filtered result for a pixel pair with an anisotropic ratio of 4:1 or less, compared with using two packets for the entire pixel quad. Similarly, a single packet may be output by sampler  225  to provide texel coordinates for 64 bit texels that are used to produce an filtered result for a pixel pair with an anisotropic ratio of 2:1 or less. A single packet may also be output by sampler  225  to provide texel coordinates for 128 bit texels that are used to produce an isotropically filtered result for a pixel pair. When larger anisotropic ratios are used, additional packets are output by sampler  225  and processed by texture filter unit  270  to accumulate the filtered results for the pixel pair. Therefore, coverage optimization may improve filtered texel throughput for high bit-count texels and for high anisotropic ratio filtering by eliminating texel reads and processing for uncovered pixels. 
       FIG. 5A  is a conceptual diagram of texture map  142 . A footprint  515  is a pixel footprint in texture space, with a position  535  being the pixel center.  FIG. 5B  illustrates texture map  142  applied to pixels of a surface  540  that is receding in image space. When viewed in image space, footprint  515  (an ellipse) appears as footprint  516  (a circle). Alternatively, footprint  515  may appear as a quadrilateral and footprint  516  may appear as a square. While isotropic filtering of texture samples within a pixel footprint that forms a circle in texture space results in a high-quality image, isotropic filtering of texture samples within a pixel footprint that forms an ellipse, such as footprint  515 , results in an image with aliasing artifacts. In contrast to isotropic filtering, anisotropic filtering uses a rectangular shaped filter pattern, resulting in fewer aliasing artifacts for footprints with major and minor axes that are not similar in length in texture space. 
       FIG. 5C  illustrates footprint  515  including a minor axis  525  that is significantly shorter than a major axis  530 . Minor axis  525  corresponds to the v texture coordinate axis and major axis  530  corresponds to the x texture coordinate axis. The x axis in pixel space is aligned with the u axis in texture space for texture map  142  applied to surface  540 . 
       FIG. 5D  illustrates an application of anisotropic filtering of texture samples  550  along major axis  530 . Texture samples  550  are anisotropically filtered to produce a filtered result. Classic anisotropic filtering filters up to 16 samples in a non-square pattern, compared with 1 sample when isotropic filtering is used. The number of texels read and processed for each sample may be 1, 4, or 8 depending on whether the texture sample is computed by point sampling, bilinearly filtering, or trilinearly filtering, respectively. Therefore, anisotropic filtering requires reading more texels than isotropic filtering. Furthermore, when a texel cache is used to improve performance of a texture unit within a graphics processor, reading more texels requires accessing more cache lines. Texel cache read locality may be improved by organizing cache read requests in a sequence of packets when two or more pixels are processed in parallel, i.e., when texels are read for texture samples within two or more pixels, as described further herein. Improving texel cache read locality may improve texture mapping performance. 
       FIG. 6A  illustrates an arrangement of four pixels, a pixel  600 , a pixel  601 , a pixel  602 , and a pixel  603 , in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. Parameter derivative values such as du and dv relative to x and y, e.g., du/dx, dv/dx, du/dy, and dv/dy, may be computed for a pixel quad such as pixels  600 ,  601 ,  602 , and  603 . Pixels  600  and  601  and pixels  602  and  603  are aligned along the x axis in pixel space and pixels  600  and  602  and pixels  601  and  603  are vertically oriented, i.e., aligned along the y axis, in pixel space. The derivative values may be used by sampler  225  to determine the texel coordinates of anisotropic samples for each of pixel  600 ,  601 ,  602 , and  603 . The four pixels are generally processed in parallel, and thus the texels required for these four pixels are also read and processed in parallel. 
       FIG. 6B  illustrates an embodiment of a method of ordering reads of texels for texture samples for use in an anisotropic texture map filtering computation in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. The anisotropic ratio is used to determine the number of texture samples that are filtered to produce each filtered result. In  FIG. 6B , the level of anisotropy is 2:1, so texels for two texture samples are read for each of pixel  600 ,  601 ,  602 , and  603 . Texels for texture samples  610 ,  611 ,  612 ,  613 ,  614 ,  615 ,  616 , and  617  may be read in the following order when the texel format is 64 bits: texels for texture samples  610 ,  612 ,  611 , and  613  in one clock cycle and texels for texture samples  614 ,  616 ,  615 , and  617  in another clock cycle. Instead of reading texels for one texture sample for each pixel, texels for two texture samples are read for two pixels during each clock cycle. Specifically, texels for groups of texture samples are read for a pair of pixels that are vertically oriented in pixel space when the major axis of anisotropy is aligned with the x axis in pixel space, such as pixels  600  and  602  or pixels  601  and  603 . 
     A group of texture samples may include a single texture sample, two texture samples, such as texture samples  610  and  611 , or more texture samples. When a pixel quad is split for high bit-count texels or for a high anisotropic ratio, the pixel quad should be split horizontally or vertically based on the alignment of the major axis of anisotropy to ensure texel cache locality. Ordering texel reads based on texture sample locality may result in an increase in shared cache line accesses, reducing the number of clock cycles needed to read the texels needed to produce each filtered pixel. 
       FIG. 6C  illustrates another embodiment of a method of ordering reads of texels for texture samples for use in an anisotropic texture map filtering computation in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. In  FIG. 6C , the level of anisotropy is 4:1, so texels for four texture samples are read for each pixel  600 ,  601 ,  602 , and  603 . In one embodiment of the present invention, texels for pairs of groups of texture samples  623 ,  622 ,  620 , and  621  are read starting at one end of the major axis of anisotropy in texture space and ending at the opposing end of the major axis of anisotropy. Specifically, 64 bit texels for texture samples  623 ,  622 ,  620 , and  621  are read in the following order: texels for texture samples  623  in a first clock cycle, texels for texture samples  622  in a second clock cycle, texels for texture samples  620  in a third clock cycle, and texels for texture samples  621  in a fourth clock cycle. 
     32 bit texels for texture samples  623 ,  622 ,  620 , and  621  are read in the following order: texels for texture samples  623  and  622  in a first clock cycle and texels for texture samples  620  and  621  in a second clock cycle. 128 bit texels for texture samples  623 ,  622 ,  620 , and  621  are read in the following order: two texel components for texture samples  623  in a first clock cycle, two texel components for texture samples  622  in a second clock cycle, two texel components for texture samples  620  in a third clock cycle, and two texel components for texture samples  621  in a fourth clock cycle. The 128 bit texel sequence is repeated to read the remaining components for the 128 bit texels. In alternate embodiments of the present invention, texels for a smaller or larger number of texture samples are read during a single clock cycle, dependent on the number of read ports on texel cache  280 . 
       FIG. 6D  illustrates yet another embodiment of a method of ordering reads of texels for texture samples for use in an anisotropic texture map filtering computation, in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. In  FIG. 6D , the level of anisotropy is 8:1, so texels for eight texture samples are read for each pixel  600 ,  601 ,  602 , and  603 . In one embodiment of the present invention, texels for pairs of groups of texture samples  637 ,  636 ,  635 ,  634 ,  630 ,  631 ,  632 , and  633  are read starting at one end of the major axis of anisotropy in texture space and ending at the opposing end of the major axis of anisotropy. Specifically, 64 bit texels for texture samples  637 ,  636 ,  635 ,  634 ,  630 ,  631 ,  632 , and  633  are read in the following order: texels for texture samples  637  in a first clock cycle, texels for texture samples  636  in a second clock cycle, texels for texture samples  635  in a third clock cycle, texels for texture samples  634  in a fourth clock cycle, texels for texture samples  630  in a fifth clock cycle, texels for texture samples  631  in a sixth clock cycle, texels for texture samples  632  in a seventh clock cycle, and texels for texture samples  633  in an eighth clock cycle. 
     32 bit texels for texture samples  637 ,  636 ,  635 ,  634 ,  630 ,  631 ,  632 , and  633  are read in the following order: texels for texture samples  637  and  636  in a first clock cycle, texels for texture samples  635  and  634  in a second clock cycle, texels for texture samples  630  and  631  in a third clock cycle, and texels for texture samples  632  and  633  in a fourth clock cycle. 128 bit texels for texture samples  637 ,  636 ,  635 ,  634 ,  630 ,  631 ,  632 , and  633  are read in the following order: two texel components for texture samples  637  in a first clock cycle, two texel components for texture samples  6636  in a second clock cycle, two texel components for texture samples  635  in a third clock cycle, two texel components for texture samples  634  in a fourth clock cycle, two texel components for texture samples  630  in a fifth clock cycle, two texel components for texture samples  631  in a sixth clock cycle, two texel components for texture samples  632  in a seventh clock cycle, and two texel components for texture samples  633  in an eighth clock cycle. The 128 bit texel sequence is repeated to read the remaining components for the 128 bit texels. In alternate embodiments of the present invention, texels for a smaller or larger number of texture samples are read during a single clock cycle, dependent on the number of read ports on texel cache  280 . 
       FIG. 7A  is another conceptual diagram of texture map  142 . A footprint  715  is a pixel footprint in texture space, with a position  735  being the pixel center.  FIG. 7B  illustrates texture map  142  applied to pixels of a surface  740  that is receding in image space. When viewed in image space, footprint  715  (an ellipse) appears as footprint  716  (a circle). 
       FIG. 7C  illustrates footprint  715  including a minor axis  725  that is significantly shorter than a major axis  730 . Minor axis  725  corresponds to the u texture coordinate axis and major axis  730  corresponds to the v texture coordinate axis. Texture map  142  is rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise when applied to surface  740 , therefore the x axis in pixel space is aligned with the v axis in texture space and the y axis in pixel space is aligned with the u axis in texture space. Likewise, major axis  730  corresponds to the x coordinate axis in pixel space and minor axis  725  corresponds to the y coordinate axis in pixel space. 
     Using the embodiment of the present invention described in conjunction  FIG. 6C , where the major axis of anisotropy in texture space is aligned with the x axis in pixel space, vertically oriented pixel would be read in parallel as a pair. However,  FIG. 7D  illustrates another embodiment of a method of pairing reads of texels for use in an anisotropic texture map filtering computation in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. Specifically, texels for groups of texture samples are read for a pair of pixels that are horizontally aligned in pixel space when the major axis of anisotropy is aligned with the y axis in pixel space, such as pixels  600  and  601  or pixels  602  and  603 . 
     In  FIG. 7D , the level of anisotropy is 4:1, so texels for four texture samples are read for each of pixel  600 ,  601 ,  602 , and  603 . Specifically, in one embodiment of the present invention, texels for pairs of groups of texture samples  710 ,  711 ,  712 , and  713  are read in the following order: 64 bit texels for texture samples  710  in a first clock cycle, texels for texture samples  711  in a second clock cycle, texels for texture samples  712  in a third clock cycle, and texels for texture samples  713  in a fourth clock cycle. 
     32 bit texels for texture samples  710 ,  711 ,  712 , and  713  are read in the following order: texels for texture samples  710  and  711  in a first clock cycle and texels for texture samples  712  and  713  in a second clock cycle. 128 bit texels for texture samples  710 ,  711 ,  712 , and  713  are read in the following order: two texel components for texture samples  710  in a first clock cycle, two texel components for texture samples  711  in a second clock cycle, two texel components for texture samples  712  in a third clock cycle, and two texel components for texture samples  713  in a fourth clock cycle. The 128 bit texel sequence is repeated to read the remaining components for the 128 bit texels. In alternate embodiments of the present invention, texels for a smaller or larger number of texture samples are read during a single clock cycle, dependent on the number of read ports on texel cache  280 . In alternate embodiments of the present invention, texels for a smaller or larger number of texture samples are read during a single clock cycle, dependent on the number of read ports on texel cache  280 . 
     When a pixel quad is split into multiple packets for processing high bit-count texels or for a high anisotropic ratio, the alignment of the major axis of anisotropy in pixel space is used to split the pixel quad horizontally or vertically to ensure texel cache locality and improve the cache hit rate. Pairing texel reads based on texture sample locality may result in an increase in shared cache line accesses, reducing the number of clock cycles needed to read the texels needed to produce each filtered pixel. Allowing pixel quads to be split vertically or horizontally is also used to support the coverage optimization. 
       FIG. 8A  illustrates an embodiment of a method of serializing texel processing based on a screen space alignment of the axis of anisotropy to perform a pixel pairing optimization, in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. The method is used for pixel quads that are processed in multiple packets, such as high bit-count texels and high anisotropic ratio pixels. In step  800  sampler  225  receives a packet including texel coordinates for a pixel quad. In step  805  pixel pairing unit  235  determines if the major axis of anisotropy is more closely aligned with the x axis or with the y axis. If, in step  805  pixel pairing unit  235  determines the major axis alignment is the x axis, then in step  810  pixel pairing unit  235  pairs texel reads for texture samples within pixels that are vertically aligned, i.e., aligned with the y axis in pixel space. 
     If, in step  805  pixel pairing unit  235  determines the major axis alignment is not the x axis, i.e., the major axis alignment is the y axis, then in step  815  pixel pairing unit  235  pairs texel reads for texture samples within pixels that are horizontally aligned, i.e., aligned with the x axis in pixel space. In step  825  sampler  225  outputs the packets including paired texels to address computation unit  250  and the texels are provided by texel cache  280 . In step  830  the one or more packets including texels read from texel cache  280  are filtered by texture filter unit  270  to produce filtered results for the pixel quad. 
       FIG. 8B  illustrates another embodiment of a method of serializing texel processing using the pixel pairing optimization and the coverage optimization in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention. The method is also used for pixel quads that are processed in multiple packets, such as high bit-count texels and high anisotropic ratio pixels. In step  850  sampler  225  receives a packet including texel coordinates for a pixel quad. In step  855  sampler  225  determines if the texel format is 32 bits per texel, and, if so, in step  865  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texel coordinates for the 32 bit texels. If, in step  855  sampler  225  determines if the texel format is not 32 bits per texel, then in step  860  sampler  255  determines if each output packet includes two of the four pixels in the pixel quad rather than including all four pixels. If, in step  860  sampler  255  determines that each packet includes four pixels, then in step  865  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texel coordinates for the 64 bit texels. 
     If, in step  860  sampler  255  determines that each packet includes two of the four pixels, then in step  870  sampler  225  determines if more than half of the pixels in the quad are covered, and, if so, in step  875  pixel pairing unit  235  determines if the major axis of anisotropy is aligned with the x axis. In some embodiments of the present invention, when covered pixels are diagonally oriented the coverage optimization cannot be performed and sampler  225  also proceeds from step  870  to step  875 . If, in step  875  pixel pairing unit  235  determines that the major axis of anisotropy is aligned with the x axis, then in step  876  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texel coordinates for the upper and lower horizontally oriented pixel pairs. If, in step  875  pixel pairing unit  235  determines that the major axis of anisotropy is not aligned with the x axis, then in step  878  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texel coordinates for the upper and lower vertically oriented pixel pairs. 
     If, in step  870  sampler  225  determines that more than half of the pixels in the quad are not covered, then in step  880  sampler  225  determines if the covered pixels are horizontally oriented. If, in step  880  sampler  225  determines that the covered pixels are oriented horizontally, then in step  884  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texel coordinates for the upper or lower horizontally oriented pixel pair. Sampler  225  also indicates whether the alignment of the pixel pair within the pixel quad is upper or lower. If, in step  880  sampler  225  determines that the covered pixels are not oriented horizontally, then in step  882  sampler  225  outputs one or more packets including texel coordinates for the left or right vertically oriented pixel pair. Sampler  225  also indicates whether the alignment of the pixel pair within the pixel quad is left or right. 
     In step  892  sampler  225  outputs the one or more packets to address computation unit  250  and the texels are provided by texel cache  280 . In step  896  the one or more packets including texels read from texel cache  280  are filtered by texture filter unit  270  to produce filtered results for the pixel quad. Pairing texel reads based on texture sample locality in steps  878  and  876  may result in an increase in shared cache line accesses, reducing the number of clock cycles needed to read the texels needed to produce each filtered pixel. Allowing pixel quads to be split vertically or horizontally and eliminating pixel pairs that are not covered also reduces the number of clock cycles needed to produce each filtered pixel and improves texel filtering throughput. 
     Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that any system configured to perform the method steps of  FIG. 3A ,  3 B,  4 B,  8 A, or  8 B, or their equivalents, are within the scope of the present invention. One embodiment of the invention may be implemented as a program product for use with a computer system. The program(s) of the program product define functions of the embodiments (including the methods described herein) and can be contained on a variety of computer-readable storage media. Illustrative computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to: (i) non-writable storage media (e.g., read-only memory devices within a computer such as CD-ROM disks readable by a CD-ROM drive, flash memory, ROM chips or any type of solid-state non-volatile semiconductor memory) on which information is permanently stored; and (ii) writable storage media (e.g., floppy disks within a diskette drive or hard-disk drive or any type of solid-state random-access semiconductor memory) on which alterable information is stored. 
     When a pixel quad is split into multiple packets for processing high bit-count texels or for a high anisotropic ratio, the alignment of the major axis of anisotropy in pixel space is used to perform a pixel pairing optimization and split the pixel quad horizontally or vertically to ensure texel cache locality and improve the cache hit rate. A pixel coverage optimization is used to eliminate texel reads and filtering operations for uncovered pixels, possibly improving texel filtering throughput. High bit-count texels may be processed by splitting pixel quads and processing texel components in separate passes to accumulate filtered results for the high bit-count texels. When some components are not needed, component optimization may be used to eliminate texel reads and filtering operations for those components, possibly improving texel filtering throughput. 
     While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow. The foregoing description and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The listing of steps in method claims do not imply performing the steps in any particular order, unless explicitly stated in the claim. 
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