Patent ID: 7363397

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a line description; loading the line description into a DMA controller that is located on a processor, the DMA controller including a minor step accumulator; identifying, within the DMA controller, a major step orientation and a minor step orientation using the line description: wherein the minor step orientation is horizontal when the line description corresponds to a line that travels in a vertically prominent direction; wherein the minor step orientation is vertical when the line description corresponds to a line that travels in a horizontally prominent direction; and wherein a major step is a value that corresponds to the major step orientation and a minor step is a value that corresponds to the minor step orientation, the major step and the minor step used to identify locations in a main memory area from which to retrieve data; retrieving data from the main memory area based on the major step and the minor step using the DMA controller; providing the retrieved data to the processor through a local memory store included with the processor; after providing the retrieved data to the processor, updating the major step using the DMA controller based upon the line description; after providing the retrieved data to the processor, revising a minor step count within the minor step accumulator based upon the line description; determining whether the revised minor step count crosses an integer boundary; updating the minor step in response to determining that the revised minor step count crossed the integer boundary; using the undated minor step and the undated major step to retrieve subsequent data from the main memory area; and providing retrieved subsequent data to the processor through the local memory store included with the processor.