Patent ID: 7804499

Claim:
A method of varying rasterization performance based on graphics primitive pixel tile coverage, comprising: receiving pixel tile data for a portion of the graphics primitive intersecting a pixel tile that includes a plurality of pixels; determining that the pixel tile is partially covered by the portion of the graphics primitive; dividing the pixel tile data into a plurality of sample shapes, wherein each sample shape is associated with sample data corresponding to a different set of pixels included in the plurality of pixels, and wherein each sample shape is either fully covered by, partially covered by, or not covered by the portion of the graphics primitive; computing, using a rasterization unit within a graphics processor, a coverage mask only for each partially covered sample shapes included in the plurality of sample shapes; encoding a first shape code associated with a first partially covered sample shape based on a first coverage mask corresponding to the first partially covered sample shape; and transmitting sample shape data associated with the first partially covered sample shape to a raster operations unit for z-testing, wherein the sample shape data includes the first coverage mask and the first shape code.