Patent Document ID: 8018467
Application ID: 11158638
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer comprising: a central processing unit; a bus; memory for storing texels that are accessed using texture memory addresses; and a graphics accelerator including: a processor for generating pixel data, including texture coordinates for a texture to be mapped to a surface for display, for a plurality of pixels during a single clock interval; a circuit for translating the texture coordinates into a texture memory address of texels corresponding to a pixel and computing a texture cache address of the texels based on a replacement policy for replacing texels in a texture cache; the texture cache for storing a portion of the texels that are stored in the memory, wherein the portion of the texels are accessed using the texture cache address and are used in generating texture values; a buffer for storing requests for texels corresponding to pixels for a period sufficient to replace texels not stored in the texture cache, wherein a request for the texels corresponding to a pixel includes the texture cache address, pixel data, and texel flags indicating whether each one of the texels corresponding to the pixel is stored in the texture cache; and a circuit for generating texture values from texels to map the texture to pixels describing the surface for display.