| 摘要 |
An integrated memory controller (IMC) which incorporates novel memory, graphics, and audio processing capabilities in a single logical unit. The IMC includes numerous significant advances which provide greatly increased performance over prior art systems. The integrated memory controller (IMC) includes one or more symmetric memory ports for connecting to system memory. The IMC also includes video outputs, preferably RGB (red, green, blue) outputs as well as horizontal and vertical synchronization signal outputs, to directly drive the video display monitor. The IMC transfers data between the system bus and system memory and also transfers data between the system memory and the video display output, thereby eliminating the need for a separate graphics subsystem. The IMC also improves overall system performance and response using main system memory for graphical information and storage. The IMC system level architecture reduces data bandwidth requirements for graphical display data since the host CPU is not required to move data between main memory and the graphics subsystem as in conventional computers, but rather the graphical data resides in the same subsystem as the main memory. Therefore the host CPU or DMA master is not limited by the available bus bandwidth. The IMC includes compression and decompression engines for compressing and decompressing data within the system. The IMC also includes a novel pointer-based display list architecture which includes windows workspace areas spaces which define the format of the data and the data type to read or written.
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