Patent ID: 7558400

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for determining an optimized number of bilinear samples for computing a texture value for a pixel of a rendered object, the method comprising: computing, using a processing unit, a first desired bilerp count related to a pixel footprint in a first mipmap, wherein the first desired bilerp count is between a first available bilerp count and a second available bilerp count, and a first fractional distance represents the distance between the first desired bilerp count and the first available bilerp count relative to the distance between the second available bilerp count and the first available bilerp count; determining a first modified bilerp count based on the first desired bilerp count; computing a first modified fractional distance based the first modified bilerp count, wherein the first modified fractional distance is equal to zero if the first fractional distance is between zero and a first non-zero value, and the first modified fractional distance is between zero and one if the first fractional distance is within a transition band defined between the first non-zero value and a second non-zero value; computing the texture value for the pixel of the rendered object using the first modified fractional distance to produce image data; and storing the image data in a memory.