Patent ID: 7365743

Claim:
A method for rasterizing an image into a pixel array, the method comprising: generating a plurality of assignments, each assignment specifying one or more graphics objects and a region of the pixel array into which the specified graphics objects are to be rasterized, wherein the plurality of assignments includes two or more assignments that specify overlapping regions of the pixel array; establishing a plurality of processes for rasterizing objects into the pixel array, each process being operable to receive an assignment and to rasterize the objects of the assignment into the region of the assignment; selecting assignments for concurrent execution by the processes, the assignments being selected so that no two concurrently executing assignments have overlapping regions, a given assignment being selected for execution only if no executing assignment specifies a region that overlaps the region specified by the given assignment; and concurrently executing the selected assignments by separate processes to rasterize the respective objects of the assignments into their respective regions.