3-D rendering engine with embedded memory
View Patent ↗A 3-D rendering engine with embedded memory a graphics engine. A graphics engine is disclosed that includes a rendering engine for receiving graphics primitives and converting them to pixel information for transfer to a display, The rendering engine is operable to access memory locations with multiple memory access requests for a Read or a Write operation and operable in a first address space. A plurality of memory blocks are provided, each individually accessible and all configured in a virtual address space different than said first address space. A memory mapping device is provided for mapping each of the memory requests to the virtual address space. A pipeline engine is operable to pipeline the mapped memory access requests for both Read and Write operations in accordance with a predetermined pipelining scheme. The memory access requests are received in parallel and processed asynchronously, such that access to more than one of the memory blocks can occur at substantially the same time.
1. A processing engine, comprising:
a processing core for receiving an incoming data stream and converting it to output information in a predetermined format for transfer to an output device, said processing core operable to access memory locations with multiple memory access requests for a Read or a Write operation and operable in a first address space;
a plurality of memory blocks, each individually accessible and all of said plurality of memory blocks configured in a virtual address space different than said first address space;
a memory mapping device for mapping each of said memory requests to the virtual address space; and
a pipeline engine for pipelining said mapped memory access requests for both Read and Write operations in accordance with a predetermined pipelining scheme, said memory access requests received in parallel and processed asynchronously, such that access to more than one of said memory blocks can occur at substantially the same time.
2. The processing engine of claim 1 , wherein said processing core, said memory mapping device, said pipeline engine and at least a portion of said plurality of memory blocks are contained within a common bounded space with limited connectivity to external peripheral devices.
3. The processing engine of claim 2 , wherein said plurality of memory blocks includes at least one block of external memory external to said common bounded space.
4. The processing engine of claim 2 , wherein said common bounded space comprises an integrated circuit chip with a limited number of interface pins associated therewith for input/output functions.
5. The processing engine of claim 4 , wherein said pins include an external memory access bus of a finite bit width for transferring data thereacross, and wherein said at least a portion of said plurality of memory blocks comprise embedded memory, and wherein said embedded memory is accessible with an effectively wider memory bus than said external memory bus to allow higher speed access thereto.
6. A processing engine, comprising:
a processing core for receiving an incoming data stream and converting it to output information in a predetermined format for transfer to an output device, said processing core operable to access memory locations with multiple memory access requests for a Read or a Write operation and operable in a first address space;
at least one memory, accessible by said processing core and configured in a virtual address space different than said first address space;
a memory mapping device for mapping each of said memory requests to the virtual address space; and
a pipeline engine for pipelining said mapped memory access requests for both Read and Write operations in accordance with a predetermined pipelining scheme, said memory access requests received in parallel and processed asynchronously, such that said memory access requests can be delivered to said memory in an order different than said predetermined pipelining scheme.
7. The processing engine of claim 6 , wherein said processing core, at least a portion of said memory, said memory mapping device and said pipeline engine are contained within a common bounded space with limited connectivity to external peripheral devices.
8. The processing engine of claim 6 , wherein said memory includes at least one block of external memory external to said common bounded space.
9. The processing engine of claim 6 , wherein said common bounded space comprises an integrated circuit chip with a limited number of interface pins associated therewith for input/output functions.
10. The processing engine of claim 9 , wherein said pins include an external memory access bus of a finite bit width for transferring data thereacross, and wherein said at least a portion of said memory comprise embedded memory, and wherein said embedded memory is accessible with an effectively wider memory bus than said external memory bus to allow higher speed access thereto.