Apparatus and method of early pixel discarding in graphic processing unit

摘要

A method to discard pixels early includes a first early depth test maintaining a depth value on a pixel to be discarded by a discard instruction, and a second early depth test updating the depth value on a pixel not to be discarded by the discard instruction. Because of the first and second early depth tests, a number of pixels to be processed by a pixel shading process may be reduced.