Patent ID: 7466316

Claim:
A method of processing graphics data and video data in an integrated circuit having a first type of processor that is a three-dimensional graphics processor having dedicated graphics hardware including a graphics pipeline for processing graphics data including hardware stages for processing geometry data, fragment data and pixel data to perform graphics operations including triangle setup, texture address calculations, texture filtering, and z testing, the three-dimensional graphics processor being operative to perform graphics processing operations and also a subset of video processing operations, the integrated circuit also including a second type of processor that is a video processor to perform video processing operations with the video processor being further operative to perform a subset of two-dimensional graphics processing operations not requiring dedicated graphics hardware, the method comprising: receiving operations to be scheduled and scheduling operations based on processors that support each of four classes of operation; for an operation within a first class of graphics processing operations supported by only the three-dimensional graphics processor, scheduling execution on said three-dimensional graphics processor; for an operation within a second class of video processing operations supported by only the video processor, scheduling execution on said video processor; for an operation within a third class of graphics processing operations that is commonly supported by both types of processors, selecting only one of said types of processors for executing said graphics processing operation; and for an operation within a fourth class of video processing operations that is commonly supported by both types of processors, selecting only one of said types of processor for executing said video processing operation; the three-dimensional graphics processor and the video processor being separate processors having different processing capabilities, said video processor not including a version of the dedicated graphics hardware of the three-dimensional graphics processor and the video processor having a lower precision than the three-dimensional graphics processor such that said video processor is incapable of performing a full range of three-dimensional graphics operations.