Patent ID: 7176919

Claim:
In a graphics system for video game play including interactive user input controls, a processing pipeline that renders and displays images at least in part in response to said interactive user input controls and to stored polygon vertex data and texture data, a multitexture processing subsystem for selectively mapping texture data corresponding to one or more different textures and/or texture characteristics to surfaces of said rendered and displayed images, said multitexture processing subsystem comprising: a texture mapper that maps textures, and an interactive color/alpha-component blending unit configured within the pipeline to combine said mapped textures, rasterized color and/or alpha component data to produce a computed color and having a feedback mechanism that enables reintroduction of the computed color into the pipeline, wherein a processing of multiple textures is achieved by an iterative use/reuse of the blending unit, the blending unit being capable of iterating via said feed back mechanism at double the rate that said texture mapper can map said textures.