Patent ID: 7145564

Claim:
A method for video graphics processing, comprising: receiving primitive vertex parameters corresponding to vertices of a video graphics primitive, wherein the primitive vertex parameters for each vertex include a primitive vertex set of three-dimensional coordinates and a primitive vertex normal vector; receiving control information; tessellating the video graphics primitive to produce a plurality of component primitives, wherein each component primitive of the plurality of component primitives is defined by component vertices having corresponding component vertex parameters, wherein component vertex parameters for each component vertex include a component vertex set of three-dimensional coordinates and a component vertex normal vector, wherein the component vertex parameters for each component vertex are derived from at least a portion of the primitive vertex parameters; for each component primitive of the plurality of component primitives: processing the component primitive using a three-dimensional processing pipeline, wherein processing generates pixel data corresponding to the component primitive; and wherein tessellating further comprises tessellating based on a tessellation level, wherein the tessellation level is set by the received control information and determines a number of component primitives included in the plurality of component primitives.