Graphics processor with pipeline state storage and retrieval

A computing system for 3-D graphics rendering, generating a final rendered image, the system comprising:

• a general-purpose computer having a host processor;
• host memory coupled to the general purpose computer;
• and
• a 3-D graphics processor, the 3-D graphics processor comprising:
• first logic maintaining current pipeline state information, the current pipeline state information divided into a plurality of state partitions;
• second logic indicating one or more changed state partitions, the changed state partitions being one or more of the state partitions in which the stored pipeline state information has changed;
• a first memory storage storing a multiplicity of the changed state partitions;
• third logic generating associations between the graphics primitives and corresponding stored state partitions;
• fourth logic determining when one or more of the stored changed state partitions is needed by one or more other units in the graphics processor;
• and
• fifth logic retrieving one or more of the stored changed state partitions from the first memory partition by using the generated associations.

A computer program for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program comprising a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism, comprising:

• a program module that directs the rendering of a digital representation of a graphics image from a plurality of graphics primitives, to function in a specified manner, storing the final graphics image into a frame buffer memory, the program module including instructions for:
• maintaining current pipeline state information, the current pipeline state information divided into a plurality of state partitions;
• indicating one or more changed state partitions, the changed state partitions being one or more of the state partitions in which the current pipeline state information has changed;
• storing a multiplicity of the changed state partitions;
• generating associations between the graphics primitives and corresponding stored state partitions;
• determining when one or more of the stored changed state partitions is needed to process one of the graphics primitives;
• and
• retrieving one or more of the stored changed state partitions by using the generated associations.