Patent ID: 6859209

Claim:
A graphics system comprising: a texture memory configured to store a plurality of texture layers; a texture accumulation buffer; a hardware accelerator configured to receive vertices defining a triangle, perform first access operations to a first of said texture layers in the texture memory, apply first textures generated in response to said first access operations to samples residing interior to said triangle resulting in first textured samples, and store the first textured samples in the texture accumulation buffer; wherein the hardware accelerator is further configured to (a) perform I th access operations to an I th of said texture layers in the texture memory, (b) access the texture accumulation buffer for (I−1) st cumulatively textured samples, (c) apply I th textures generated in response to said I th access operations to the (I−1) st cumulatively textured samples to obtain I th cumulatively textured samples, and (d) store the I th cumulatively textured samples in said texture accumulation buffer; wherein the hardware accelerator is configured to repeatedly perform (a), (b), (c) and (d) for successive values of the index I, wherein the first textured samples are identical to the (I1) st cumulatively textured samples with I equal to a first of said successive values; wherein the I th cumulatively textured samples with I equal to a last of said successive values are usable to define a portion of a video output signal displayable on a display device; wherein the hardware accelerator is further configured to perform final access operations to a final layer of said texture layers in the texture memory, access the texture accumulation buffer for penultimate cumulatively textured samples, apply final textures generated in response to said final access operations to the penultimate cumulatively textured samples to obtain final cumulatively textured samples, wherein the penultimate cumulatively textured samples are the same as the I th cumulatively textured samples with I equal to the last of said successive values.