Patent ID: 8130223

Claim:
A method for generating an A-Buffer for storing sample information, the method comprising: receiving an image frame comprised of a plurality of pixels, wherein each pixel is comprised of a plurality of samples; dividing the image frame into one or more pixel groups, wherein a number of pixels in each of the one or more pixel groups is based on a tile size and a number of samples in each pixel; generating a sample depth complexity image based on the image frame, wherein each entry in the sample depth complexity image reflects a maximum rendering order index associated with a different one of the samples in the image frame; determining a stack height for each pixel group based on the sample depth complexity image, wherein the stack height reflects a maximum of the maximum rendering order indexes associated with the samples in the pixel group; determining a number of tiles associated with the A-Buffer based on the stack heights for the one or more pixel groups; and allocating memory space for the A-Buffer based on the number of tiles associated with the A-Buffer, wherein a maximum rendering order index corresponds to the number of potentially visible surfaces associated with a different one of the samples in the image frame.