Patent ID: 8174530

Claim:
A method of processing data relating to geometrical primitives, each of which has a plurality of vertices, the method using a single instruction multiple data (SIMD) processing apparatus including an array of processing elements, the method comprising the steps of: assigning data of each different vertex to a different one of the processing elements in the array; and on each processing element, and in parallel with one another, producing processed vertex data by performing at least one processing step on vertex data assigned to said processing element by said assigning step; supplying the processed vertex data as feedback data to a mathematical expression evaluator (MEE) through a feedback path, wherein the MEE is separate from the array of processing elements and evaluates a mathematical expression to produce a data input for each of the processing elements, and wherein the feedback path includes direct connections to the processing elements and includes a feedback buffer that stores coefficients from the processing elements for the MEE; and using the feedback path through the feedback buffer and the MEE to communicate data between processing elements, wherein a given data item is communicated as a constant coefficient with other variable coefficients being set to zero.