Patent ID: 7193627

Claim:
A programmable graphics processor for generating images using filtered texture samples, comprising: a texture unit configured to receive texture parameters and compute a filtered texture sample, the texture unit including: a trilinear optimization unit configured to compute an optimized level of detail value for a filtered texture sample, the trilinear optimization unit having: a level of detail (LOD) optimization unit configured to receive a level of detail (LOD) value and a predetermined trilinear optimization value and produce the optimized level of detail value, wherein the LOD value includes a fractional portion and an integer portion, and a storage element coupled to the level of detail optimization unit, the storage element storing the predetermined trilinear optimization value wherein, the level of detail optimization unit is configured to compute a modified fractional portion using the fractional portion and the stored optimization value based on a performance mode selected by the user to determine whether a bilinear interpolation or trilinear interpolation is used for each of the texture samples.