Patent ID: 8098257

Claim:
A graphics processor having a shader module for computing a fragment color, the shader module comprising: a texture fetch unit configured to fetch a plurality of texture values corresponding to a fragment and to determine whether the fetched texture values are in a fixed-point format or a floating-point format; and a texture filter unit coupled to receive the fetched texture values from the texture fetch circuit and configured to apply a filter to the fetched texture values, thereby generating a filter result, the texture filter unit being operable in: a fixed-point mode, in which the texture filter unit applies the filter to the fetched texture values to produce a result in the fixed-point format; and a floating-point mode, in which the texture filter unit applies the filter to the fetched texture values to produce a result in the floating-point format, wherein the texture filter unit is further configured to operate in the fixed-point mode in the event that the fetched texture values are in the fixed-point format and to operate in the floating-point mode in the event that the fetched texture values are in the floating-point format.