Lookahead pipeline for processing object records in a video system

摘要

There is disclosed herein a system for rapid processing of the data records of many moving and nonmoving objects on a playfield only part of which is displayed and for determining collisions between objects. A search pipeline using a synchronous state machine searching a linked list of the records organized by approximate position on the playfield implements the search function. A lookahead cycle in the state machine is provided to continue searching for the next object which is to be visible while the graphic data from a previously found object is being loaded into a line buffer.