Patent Document ID: 5546518
Application ID: 08369649
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. In a data processing apparatus having a graphics display device for displaying a display frame comprising a plurality of display frame pixels, the data processing apparatus having a display frame composition buffer with mapped locations corresponding to the individual display frame pixels, a method of displaying graphic sprites represented by sprite pixels and having specified depths relative to each other, the method comprising the following steps: designating at least one of the graphic sprites to be a video sprite; setting non-transparent pixels of the designated graphic sprite to a pre-selected key value; writing at least the non-transparent pixels of the graphic sprites to the display frame composition buffer; beginning said writing step with the pixels of the graphic sprite having the greatest depth and proceeding with the pixels of the remaining graphic sprites in order of decreasing depth, wherein each sprite pixel written to a particular display frame composition buffer location replaces any sprite pixel previously written to that same particular display frame composition buffer location; overlaying a video image on the display frame, said overlaying being performed only over those display frame pixels contained in the display frame composition buffer which equal the pre-selected key value, the designated graphic sprite and its video image thereby appearing layered among the other graphic sprites in accordance with the respective depths of the graphic sprites.