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 multi-buffered 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, and
• the mode injection unit is operative to read the non-spatial data previously stored in a first frame simultaneously while the mode extraction unit is operative to store the non-spatial data in a second frame.