Deferred shading graphics pipeline processor having advanced features

A deferred graphics pipeline processor comprising:

• a geometry unit configured to receive primitive data related to a vertex on a surface and output a data stream in response thereto;
• a mode extraction unit configured to receive the data stream from the geometry unit and separate the data stream into spatial data and non-spatial data;
• a sorting unit configured to receive the spatial data from the mode extraction unit for storage;
• a polygon memory configured to receive the non-spatial data from the mode extraction unit for storage;
• and
• a mode injection unit configured to retrieve at least a portion of the non-spatial data from the polygon memory and output retrieved non-spatial data;
• wherein
• the mode injection unit is associated with at least one cache to determine whether the retrieved non-spatial data is cached.

A method for processing pipeline data comprising:

• receiving primitive data related to a vertex on a surface of a screen and outputting a data stream in response thereto;
• separating the data stream into spatial data corresponding to hidden surface removal data and non-spatial data corresponding to rasterization data;
• storing the spatial data in a first memory;
• storing the non-spatial data in a second memory;
• and
• retrieving at least a portion of the non-spatial data from the second memory;
• and
• determining whether retrieved non-spatial data is cached;
• and
• transmitting at least a portion of the non-spatial data in response thereto.

A method for sending image data from a first stage to a second stage in a graphics pipeline in a spatially staggered sequence, the image data including at least one spatial datum corresponding to a vertex of at least one of a plurality of geometry primitives, the method comprising:

• dividing a first two-dimensional window into a first plurality of tiles, the first two-dimensional window having a width corresponding to a horizontal pixel width, and a height corresponding to a vertical pixel height;
• sorting each of the plurality of geometry primitives in the first stage in the graphics pipeline with respect to the first plurality of tiles;
• rounding up the horizontal pixel width and the vertical pixel height to define a second two-dimensional window that is larger than the first two-dimensional window;
• dividing the second two-dimensional window into a second plurality of tiles, each region of the second plurality of tiles corresponding to a tile of the first two-dimensional window;
• numbering each tile of the second plurality of tiles in a row-by-row manner;
• defining a random sequence of tile processing;
• and
• reading the image data out of a memory to the second stage, in a tile-by-tile manner according to the random sequence of tile processing, wherein each tile in the tile-by-tile manner is selected from the second plurality of tiles.