Patent ID: 7876332

Claim:
A method of processing data in a computer-implemented graphics pipeline comprising a rasterizer and a shader, said method comprising: receiving, at said rasterizer, coverage information for a first pixel having associated therewith a first real sample location and a plurality of virtual sample locations, wherein said coverage information identifies which of said virtual sample locations are associated with said first real sample location and which of said virtual sample locations are associated with a different second real sample location associated with a neighboring second pixel; receiving, at said rasterizer, a new primitive that covers only one or more of said virtual sample locations in said first pixel and does not cover said first real sample location; said rasterizer producing modified coverage information by changing said coverage information to account for said new primitive; and said shader writing said modified coverage information to a framebuffer, wherein said shader determines, based on said modified coverage information, whether said shader can write coverage information for said first real sample location to said framebuffer.