US 2003/0146916 A1 · Method of arbitration of memory request for computer graphics system

Abstract

The present invention, a method of the arbitration of memory request for a computer graphics system, consecutively services the requests having the same type in the same period, thereby increasing the chance of page-hit. In this arbitration method, the length of a fixed period is defined by the 3-D graphics engine in accordance with the amount of memory cycles or the amount of the requests, and is used for controlling the amount of the requests of each type. The length of the period can be the cycles of servicing a block comprising a tile or several tiles. Alternatively, instead of defining a fixed length of the period, the 3-D graphics engine can choose another arbitration method of the present invention. Another arbitration method of the present invention is to mark a message at the end of the drawing block, so that the memory control can decide to rotate the service order to the next type of requests according to the block-end message received. The present invention groups and services the memory requests according to the property of 3-D pipelining. Therefore, the page-miss and read-write turnaround penalties can be reduced, so that data can be accessed more efficiently.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A method of the arbitration of memory request for a computer graphics system, the method being used for servicing a plurality of requests having a plurality of types including a first type and a second type, the method comprises:

(a) performing a defining step to determine that the requests of the first type in a first block are serviced in a first period;
the requests of the second type in the first block are serviced in a second period;
and so on;
(b) performing the first period to service the requests of the first type in the first block;
(c) performing the second period, to service the requests of the second type in the first block;
and
(d) and so on, until the Nth period is performed to service all the requests in the first block.

4 more elements

A method of arbitration of memory request for a computer graphics system, the method being used for servicing a plurality of requests having a plurality of types including a first type and a second type, the method comprising:

(a) zeroing a counter;
(b) performing a first defining step to define the length of a plurality of periods in order to limit an amount of the requests serviced in each of the periods;
(c) performing a second defining step to define that the requests of the first type are serviced in a first period, and the requests of the second type are serviced in a second period, and so on;
(d) performing a check step to check if a function of the first type being enabled and the time of the counter being less than the first period;
(e) if the answer of the step (d) is yes, performing a first proceeding step, the first proceeding step comprising:
servicing a first request, wherein the first request is one of the requests of the first type;
accumulating the counter;
and repeating the step (d);
(f) if the answer of the step (d) is no, zeroing the counter and performing the step (g);
(g) performing a second check step to check if a function of the second type being enabled and the time of the counter is less than the second period;
(h) if the answer of the step (g) is yes, performing a second proceeding step, the second proceeding step comprising:
servicing a second request, wherein the second request is one of the requests of the second type;
accumulating the counter;
and
repeating the step (g);
(i) if the answer of the step (g) is no, zeroing the counter and performing step (j);
(j) and so on, to performing a Nth check step to check if a function of the Nth type being enabled and the time of the counter is less than the Nth period;
and
(k) if the answer of the step (j) is yes, performing a Nth proceeding step, the Nth proceeding step comprising:
servicing a Nth request, wherein the Nth request is one of the requests of the N type;
accumulating the counter;
and
repeating the step (j).

20 more elements

A method of arbitration of memory request for a computer graphics system the method being used for servicing a plurality of requests having a plurality of types, the method comprising:

(a) performing a first check step to check if a function of a first type is enabled in a first block and a first block-end message of the first type is not received;
(b) if the answer of the step (a) is yes, performing a first proceeding step, the first proceeding step comprising:
servicing a first request, wherein the first request is one of the requests of the first type;
and
repeating the step (a);
(c) if the answer of the step (a) is no, performing the step (d);
(d) performing a second check step to check if a function of a second type is enabled in the first block and a second block-end message of the second type is not received;
(e) if the answer of the step (d) is yes, performing a second proceeding step, the second proceeding step comprising:
servicing a second request, wherein the second request is one of the requests of the second type;
and
repeating the step (d);
(f) if the answer of the step (d) is no, performing the step (g);
(g) and so on, performing a Nth check step to check if a function of a Nth type is enabled in the first block and a Nth block-end message of the Nth type is not received;
(h) if the answer of the step (g) is yes, performing a Nth proceeding step, the Nth proceeding step comprising:
servicing a Nth request, wherein the Nth request is one of the requests of the Nth type;
and
repeating the step (g).

14 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method of arbitration of memory request for computer graphics system

Life of this patent

Method of arbitration of memory request for computer graphics system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims17