Patent ID: 7683905

Claim:
A method for processing fragments in a graphics processor pipeline, comprising: providing a fragment processing unit within the graphics processor pipeline; receiving a first fragment associated with a position by the fragment processing unit; processing the first fragment associated with the position to obtain a processed first fragment; maintaining a record of processing the first fragment in a conflict detection unit; receiving a second fragment associated with the position by the fragment processing unit; interlocking the second fragment subject to completion of the processing of the first fragment by updating the record in the conflict detection unit; writing the processed first fragment to a graphics memory; transmitting a notification to the conflict detection unit indicating that the processed first fragment has been written to the graphics memory; removing the record upon receipt of the notification by the conflict detection unit; unlocking the second fragment upon removal of the record; and processing the second fragment in the fragment processing unit without flushing the pipeline between processing the first and second fragments.