Patent ID: 7317459

Claim:
In a graphics system including a main processor and a pipelined architecture graphics coprocessor having an embedded frame buffer memory, the embedded frame buffer memory instantiated on a same semiconductor chip substrate as at least a portion of a graphics processing pipeline, and an external frame buffer residing within a main memory of said graphics system, said main memory being configured on one or more semiconductor chips separate from a semiconductor chip containing said graphics processing pipeline, a pixel data copy-out process for copying pixel data from said embedded frame buffer memory to said external frame buffer wherein said copy-out process performs predetermined pixel data conversion and/or filtering operations during transferring of pixel data from said embedded frame buffer to said external frame buffer, the pixel data copy-out process comprising: selecting a region of pixels in the embedded frame buffer as a source for a pixel data copy operation, wherein the selected region of pixels contains MPEG image data in YUV format; selecting a destination in the external frame buffer in said main memory for the pixel data copy operation; and converting the selected region of pixels from a YUV format to an RGB format during said pixel data copy-out process when pixel data is transferred from said embedded frame buffer to said external frame buffer.