Patent Document ID: 7593010
Application ID: 10666917
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method for processing rendering data containing vertices, comprising: defining a vertex cache as a software cache located within a transform and lighting module and containing vertices in a floating-point format; determining that a first vertex of the rendering data has already been transformed but not lighted and storing the first vertex in the vertex cache such that the first vertex bypasses a transformation module of the transform and lighting module; converting the vertices in a floating-point format into a normalized homogeneous coordinate system (NHCS) fixed-point format by performing lighting and texture generation and transformation to obtain NHCS fixed-point format vertices; performing view frustum clipping on the NHCS fixed-point format vertices after the lighting and texture generation and transformation; transforming vertices of the rendering data that have not already been transformed from model space into clip space; and continuing to store vertices of the rendering data that have already been transformed but not lighted in the vertex cache as needed to facilitate a single streamline branched architecture that avoids processing duplication of the vertices; wherein defining a vertex cache, determining that a first vertex of the rendering data has already been transformed, converting the vertices, performing view frustum clipping, transforming vertices, and continuing to store vertices are performed using a processing device of the computer.