Patent ID: 8085272

Claim:
A method for improving frame buffer efficiency in a parallel rendering system, comprising: receiving a common input stream through a distributor; tracking an occurrence of a periodic event within the common input stream; generating a plurality of fragment streams from the common input stream, wherein each fragment stream is independently processed by a different shader engine and corresponds to one of a plurality of raster operation (ROP) request streams; based on the occurrence of the periodic event within the common input stream, inserting a tick in a first fragment stream in the plurality of fragment streams, wherein generation of the tick is based on a location in screen space where work associated with the first fragment stream is being performed; utilizing the tick to influence the processing of the first fragment stream so that the plurality of ROP request streams maintains substantially the same coherence as the common input stream; specifying an area in the screen space that relates to certain portions of a frame buffer; advancing a tick count associated with the first fragment stream in response to a tile of work associated with the first fragment stream falling outside of the specified area; and transmitting the tick through a coherence tick packet in response to no work being transmitted to branches of the parallel rendering system during the clock cycle in which the tick is generated.