Apparatus and method for performing a stable and short latency sorting operation

A method comprising:

• receiving a set of N input values to be sorted into a sorted order, the set of N input values are obtained with in a graphics pipeline stage;
• comparing each input value with all other input values in parallel to generate at least N*(N−1)/2 comparison result values;
• generating a result matrix having a row associated with each input value, a plurality of bits in each row comprising comparison result values indicating results of comparisons with other input values, wherein a first region of the result matrix is to store a first set of bits comprising the N*(N−1)/2 comparison result values and a second region of the result matrix, opposite the first region, is to store a second set of bits comprising an inverse of the N*(N−1)/2 comparison result values;
• performing parallel additions of the bits in each row to generate N unique result values;
• and
• indexing into the N unique result values to return the sorted order to the graphics pipeline stage.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the operations of:

• receiving a set of N input values to be sorted into a sorted order;
• comparing each input value with all other input values in parallel to generate at least N*(N−1)/2 comparison result values;
• generating a result matrix having a row associated with each input value, a plurality of bits in each row comprising comparison result values indicating results of comparisons with other input values, wherein a first region of the result matrix is to store a first set of bits comprising the N*(N−1)/2 comparison result values and a second region of the result matrix, opposite the first region, is to store a second set of bits comprising an inverse of the N*(N−1)/2 comparison result values;
• performing parallel additions of the bits in each row to generate N unique result values;
• and
• indexing into the N unique result values to return the sorted order.