System and method for real-time compression of pixel colors

A system for transferring samples to a frame buffer, comprising:

• (a) means for receiving a plurality of samples generated utilizing a multi-sampling algorithm;
• (b) means for determining whether the samples are capable of being reduced, wherein reduced refers to a reduction of samples that exploits a similarity of attributes thereof that result from an anti-aliasing procedure;
• (c) means for reducing the samples if it is determined that the samples are capable of being reduced;
• and
• (d) means for transferring the samples to a frame buffer for storage therein;
• wherein the samples are both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of a tile reduced utilizing the reduction.

A rasterizer operation module capable of transferring samples to a frame buffer in a graphics system with less bandwidth utilizing a method, the method comprising:

• (a) receiving a plurality of samples generated utilizing a multi-sampling algorithm;
• (b) determining whether the samples are capable of being reduced, wherein reduced refers to a reduction of samples that exploits a similarity of attributes thereof that result from an anti-aliasing procedure;
• (c) reducing the samples if it is determined that the samples are capable of being reduced;
• and
• (d) transferring the samples to a frame buffer for storage therein;
• wherein the samples are both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of a tile reduced utilizing the reduction.

A system for transferring samples to a frame buffer, comprising:

• (a) logic for receiving a plurality of samples generated utilizing a multi-sampling algorithm;
• (b) logic for determining whether the samples are capable of being reduced, wherein reduced refers to a reduction of samples that exploits a similarity of attributes thereof that result from an anti-aliasing procedure;
• (c) logic for reducing the samples if it is determined that the samples are capable of being reduced;
• and
• (d) logic for transferring the samples to a frame buffer for storage therein;
• wherein the samples are both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of a tile reduced utilizing the reduction.

A method for transferring samples to a frame buffer in a graphics system, comprising:

• (a) receiving a tile including a plurality of samples generated utilizing a multi-sampling algorithm;
• (b) reducing the tile of samples if it is determined that the samples are capable of being reduced, wherein reduced refers to a reduction of samples that exploits a similarity of attributes thereof that result from an anti-aliasing procedure;
• (c) processing the tile of samples;
• (d) determining whether the tile of samples is fully reduced;
• (e) if it is determined that the tile of samples is fully reduced, expanding the tile of samples;
• (f) if it is not determined that the tile of samples is fully reduced:
• (i) determining a type of multi-sampling algorithm that was used to generate the tile of samples,
• (ii) determining whether the tile of samples are compressible if a predetermined type of multi-sampling algorithm was used to generate the tile of samples, and
• (iii) compressing the tile of samples if it is determined that the tile of samples is compressible;
• and
• (g) transferring the tile of samples to a frame buffer for storage therein;
• wherein the samples are both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of the tile reduced utilizing the reduction.

A method for the compression of pixel data for storing in a frame buffer, comprising:

• (a) receiving a plurality of samples;
• (b) determining whether the samples are capable of being compressed;
• (c) compressing the samples if it is determined that the samples are capable of being compressed;
• (d) transferring the samples to a frame buffer for storage therein;
• wherein the samples are both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of a tile reduced utilizing the reduction.

A method for processing compressed pixel data, comprising:

• (a) receiving a plurality of samples;
• (b) reading samples from a frame buffer which are associated with the received samples;
• (c) determining whether the samples can be processed in reduced form, wherein reduced refers to a reduction of samples that exploits a similarity of attributes thereof that result from an anti-aliasing procedure;
• (d) processing the samples in at least one of a reduced form and an expanded form;
• (e) attempting to compress the processed samples;
• and
• (f) writing the processed samples to the frame buffer;
• wherein the samples are both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of a tile reduced utilizing the reduction.

A system for processing compressed pixel data, comprising:

• (a) logic for receiving a plurality of samples;
• (b) logic for reading samples from a frame buffer which are associated with the received samples;
• (c) logic for determining whether the samples can be processed in reduced form, wherein reduced refers to a reduction of samples that exploits a similarity of attributes thereof that result from an anti-aliasing procedure;
• (d) logic for processing the samples in at least one of a reduced form and an expanded form;
• (e) logic for attempting to compress the processed samples;
• and
• (f) logic for writing the processed samples to the frame buffer;
• wherein the samples are both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of a tile reduced utilizing the reduction.

A system for processing compressed pixel data, comprising:

• (a) means for receiving a plurality of samples;
• (b) means for reading samples from a frame buffer which are associated with the received samples;
• (c) means for determining whether the samples can be processed in reduced form, wherein reduced refers to a reduction of samples that exploits a similarity of attributes thereof that result from an anti-aliasing procedure;
• (d) means for processing the samples in at least one of a reduced form and an expanded form;
• (e) means for attempting to compress the processed samples;
• and
• (f) means for writing the processed samples to the frame buffer;
• wherein the samples are both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of a tile reduced utilizing the reduction.

A method for transferring a set of samples to a frame buffer in a graphics system, comprising:

• (a) receiving a set of a plurality of samples;
• (b) determining whether the set of samples is capable of being compressed;
• (c) compressing the set of samples if it is determined that the set of samples is capable of being compressed;
• and
• (d) transferring the set of samples to a frame buffer;
• (e) wherein a size of the set of samples is dictated by a transaction size of the frame buffer;
• wherein the samples are both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of a tile reduced utilizing the reduction.

A method for transferring samples to a frame buffer in a graphics system, comprising:

• (a) receiving a plurality of samples generated utilizing a multi-sampling algorithm;
• (b) reducing the samples;
• (c) determining whether the samples are sufficiently compressed by the reduction;
• (d) compressing the samples if it is determined that the samples are insufficiently compressed by the reduction;
• (e) transferring the samples to a frame buffer for storage therein;
• wherein the samples are both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of a tile reduced utilizing the reduction.

A system for transferring samples to a frame buffer, comprising:

• (a) logic for receiving a plurality of samples generated utilizing a multi-sampling algorithm;
• (b) logic for reducing the samples;
• (c) logic for determining whether the samples are sufficiently compressed by the reduction;
• (d) logic for compressing the samples if it is determined that the samples are insufficiently compressed by the reduction;
• (e) logic for transferring the samples to a frame buffer for storage therein;
• wherein the samples are both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of a tile reduced utilizing the reduction.

A method for transferring multi-sampled color data to a frame buffer in a graphics system, comprising:

• (a) determining whether multi-sampled color data can be represented in a reduced form, wherein reduced refers to a reduction that exploits a similarity of attributes that result from an anti-aliasing procedure;
• and
• (b) transferring the multi-sampled color data to a frame buffer for storage therein in the reduced form, if it is determined that the multi-sampled color data can be represented in the reduced form;
• wherein the color data is both compacted and reduced;
• wherein the compaction includes the application of a compression algorithm on bits of a tile reduced utilizing the reduction.