IMPROVING PIXEL MERGE UNIT EFFICIENCY BY IDENTIFYING SILHOUETTE PIXELS

摘要

In one embodiment, efficiency of a pixel merge unit of a graphics pipeline is increased by identifying a silhouette edge of an input primitive and bypassing the pixel merge unit for fragments associated with the silhouette edge. Identifying partially covered fragments along the silhouette edge and preventing those fragments from entering the pixel merge unit allows existing fragments within the pixel merge unit to reside within the pixel merge unit for a longer period before getting evicted. The additional residency grants fragments additional time to wait for neighboring fragments to arrive, which, in turn, increases the merge rate for fragments that are eligible to be merged.