1. A graphics pipeline configured to process non-blended color data of multi-sampled pixels, the graphics pipeline comprising:
a shader engine configured to generate shaded pixels in a reduced form that includes a single color value and a coverage mask that identifies one or more samples of the shaded pixel associated with the single color value based on a currently rasterized geometric primitive; and
a color raster operations (CROP) unit configured to:
accumulate a plurality of shaded pixels in reduced form from the shader engine, wherein the plurality of shaded pixels correspond to a tile of contiguous pixels stored in a memory,
determine whether the plurality of shaded pixels are fully covered by the geometric primitive and whether the tile is stored in a compressed format, wherein the compressed format includes only one color value for each pixel associated with the tile, and
if the plurality of shaded pixels are fully covered by the geometric primitive and the tile is stored in the compressed format, then, for each of the plurality of shaded pixels, blending the single color value associated with the shaded pixel with the one color value associated with the corresponding pixel in the tile to generate a blended pixel, or
if the plurality of shaded pixels are not fully covered by the geometric primitive, then, for each of the plurality of shaded pixels, expanding the single color value associated with the shaded pixel to generate individual samples associated with the shaded pixel and blending each of the individual samples with a corresponding sample associated with the corresponding pixel in the tile to generate the blended pixel.
2. The graphics pipeline of claim 1, wherein the CROP unit is further configured to access a status bit stored in an on-chip memory to determine whether the tile is stored in the compressed format.
3. The graphics pipeline of claim 1, wherein, for each pixel associated with the tile, the CROP unit is further configured to expand the pixel into individual samples.
4. The graphics pipeline of claim 1, wherein the plurality of shaded pixels are fully covered by a geometric primitive if the coverage mask for each of the plurality of shaded pixels identifies that all of the samples within each shaded pixel are associated with the single color value and each of the plurality of shaded pixels includes the same single color value.
5. The graphics pipeline of claim 1, wherein, if the plurality of shaded pixels are fully covered by the geometric primitive and the tile is stored in the compressed format, the CROP unit is further configured to write each of the blended pixels to the tile in the compressed format.
6. The graphics pipeline of claim 5, wherein the CROP unit is further configured to write a status bit stored in an on-chip memory to indicate that the tile is compressed.
7. The graphics pipeline of claim 1, wherein, if the plurality of shaded pixels are not fully covered by the geometric primitive or the tile is not stored in the compressed format, the CROP unit is further configured to write each of the blended pixels to the tile in an uncompressed format.
8. The graphics pipeline of claim 7, wherein the CROP unit is configured to write each of the blended pixels to the tile in the uncompressed format using byte enables to selectively update covered samples.
9. A computing device configured to process non-blended color data of multi-sampled pixels, the computing device comprising:
a memory; and
a processor coupled to the memory and having a graphics processing pipeline that includes:
a shader engine configured to generate shaded pixels in a reduced form that includes only a single color value and a coverage mask that identifies one or more samples of the shaded pixel associated with the single color value based on a currently rasterized geometric primitive; and
a color raster operations (CROP) unit configured to:
accumulate a plurality of shaded pixels in reduced form from the shader engine, wherein the plurality of shaded pixels correspond to a tile of contiguous pixels stored in a memory, determine whether the plurality of shaded pixels are fully covered by the geometric primitive and whether the tile is stored in a compressed format, wherein the compressed format includes only one color value for each pixel associated with the tile, and
if the plurality of shaded pixels are fully covered by the geometric primitive and the tile is stored in the compressed format, then, for each of the plurality of shaded pixels, blending the single color value associated with the shaded pixel with the one color value associated with the corresponding pixel in the tile to generate a blended pixel, or
if the plurality of shaded pixels are not fully covered by the geometric primitive, then, for each of the plurality of shaded pixels, expanding the single color value associated with the shaded pixel to generate individual samples associated with the shaded pixel and blending each of the individual samples with a corresponding sample associated with the corresponding pixel in the tile to generate the blended pixel.
10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the CROP unit is further configured to access a status bit stored in an on-chip memory to determine whether the tile is stored in the compressed format.
11. The computing device of claim 9, wherein, for each pixel associated with the tile, the CROP unit is further configured to expand the pixel into individual samples.
12. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the plurality of shaded pixels are fully covered by a geometric primitive if the coverage mask for each of the plurality of shaded pixels identifies that all of the samples within each shaded pixel are associated with the single color value and each of the plurality of shaded pixels includes the same single color value.
13. The computing device of claim 9, wherein, if the plurality of shaded pixels are fully covered by the geometric primitive and the tile is stored in the compressed format, the CROP unit is further configured to write each of the blended pixels to the tile in the compressed format.
14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the CROP unit is further configured to write a status bit stored in an on-chip memory to indicate that the tile is compressed.
15. The computing device of claim 9, wherein, if the plurality of shaded pixels are not fully covered by the geometric primitive or the tile is not stored in the compressed format, the CROP unit is further configured to write each of the blended pixels to the tile in an uncompressed format.
16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the CROP unit is configured to write each of the blended pixels to the tile in the uncompressed format using byte enables to selectively update covered samples.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A player comprising:
a plurality of sources, at least one of the sources being a removable medium on which audio or video content can be recorded, the player being configured to both record audio or video content onto the removable medium and reproduce audio or video content from the same removable medium, the player further being configured to accept manual loading of the removable medium into the player;
a selecting unit for selecting a current output source from among the plurality of sources, the current output source being the source of audio or video content currently being reproduced by the player;
a detecting unit for detecting whether the removable medium has been manually loaded into the player by a user; and
a switching unit configured to, if no recording request has been entered, automatically switch the current output source of audio or video content currently being reproduced by the player to the removable medium when the detecting unit detects that the removable medium has been manually loaded into the player such that audio or video previously recorded on the removable medium is automatically played back by the player,
wherein, upon a user request to record audio or video information onto the removable medium, the detecting unit determines whether or not the removable medium is already manually loaded in the player, and
if the removable medium is already manually loaded, the player is configured to begin recording audio or video content from the current output source of audio or video content currently being reproduced by the player onto the removable medium without further user input;
if the removable medium is not already manually loaded, the player is configured to enter a standby state, the standby state imposing a switching restriction that prevents the player from automatically switching the current output source of audio or video content currently being reproduced by the player to the removable medium when the detecting unit detects that the removable medium has been manually loaded into the player; and
if the detecting unit detects that the removable medium is subsequently manually loaded into the player, audio or video content from the current output source currently being reproduced by the player is automatically recorded onto the removable medium without further user input, whereby when the removable medium is manually loaded into the player after the entry of the record request, audio or video content from the current output source currently being reproduced by the player is then recorded onto the removable medium as requested by the user without another manually entered record request.
2. A player according to claim 1, further comprising:
a time detecting unit,
wherein audio or video content from the current output source is only automatically recorded onto the removable medium without further user input when the time detecting unit detects that the removable medium is manually loaded into the player before a predetermined time elapses from the entering of the recording request.
3. A player according to claim 1, further comprising:
a time detecting unit,
wherein the time detecting unit cancels the request when the time detecting unit does not detect the manual loading of the removable medium into the player before a predetermined time elapses from the entering of the recording request.
4. A player according to claim 1, wherein, when the detecting unit detects that the removable medium is not manually loaded when the recording request is entered, the audio or video content being reproduced from the current output source is temporarily stopped until the removable medium is manually loaded.
5. A player according to claim 1, further comprising:
a copyright protection detecting unit for detecting copyright protection of an audio or video recording when the recording request is entered,
wherein when the copyright protection detecting unit detects that audio or video recording is disabled by copyright protection, the current output source of audio or video being reproduced is switched to the removable medium when the removable medium is manually loaded into the player.
6. A player according to claim 5, wherein the copyright protection detecting unit detects copyright protection for a source from which audio or video output is produced and copyright protection for a source that permits recording.
7. A player according to claim 1, further comprising:
a restriction detecting unit for detecting a restriction on audio or video recording on the removable medium,
wherein when the restriction detecting unit detects that the recording request is improper for the removable medium, recording data onto the removable medium is prohibited.
8. A player according to claim 1, further comprising:
a memory for storing a source that is the current output source when the operation of the player is stopped,
wherein the selecting unit selects the source stored in the memory when the player is started again.
9. A player according to claim 8, wherein the memory also stores an output stop position at which the output from the current output source is stopped, and when the player is started again the output is started from the output stop position.
10. A player according to claim 1, further comprising:
a plurality of recordable sources, including a source using the removable medium;
a recordable selecting unit for selecting one of the recordable sources; and
a memory for storing data as to which recordable source is to be selected when the recording request is entered,
wherein the recordable selecting unit selects the recordable source stored in the memory when a selection request is not entered.
11. A player according to claim 1, wherein the detecting unit detects a recordable source in which the removable medium is loaded, and the selecting unit selects the detected recordable source.
12. A player according to claim 1, further comprising:
a prompt unit for generating a prompt to the user,
wherein, when the detecting unit detects that the removable medium is not loaded when the recording request is entered, a prompt for loading the removable medium is generated.
13. A player according to claim 12, wherein the prompt is generated within a predetermined period.
14. A player according to claim 12, wherein the prompt unit displays the prompt on a screen.
15. A source switching method for a recording and playback apparatus comprising a plurality of sources, at least one of the sources being a removable medium on which audio or video content can be recorded, the recording and playback apparatus being configured to both record audio or video content onto the removable medium and reproduce audio or video content from the same removable medium, the method comprising:
selecting a current output source from among the plurality of sources, the current output source being the source of audio or video content currently being reproduced by the recording and playback apparatus;
determining whether a request for audio or video content to be recorded onto the removable medium has been entered by a user; and
detecting whether the removable medium has been manually loaded into the recording and playback apparatus, wherein, (a) when it is determined that the recording request has not previously been entered by the user, the current output source from which audio or video content is currently being reproduced by the recording and playback apparatus is automatically switched without user input to the removable medium when it is detected that the removable medium is manually loaded into the recording and playback apparatus by a user,
(b) when it is determined that the recording request has been entered by the user and the removable medium has been manually pre-loaded, the recording and playback apparatus records the audio or video content being reproduced from the current output source onto the removable medium;
(c) when it is determined that the recording request has been entered by the user but the removable medium has not been manually pre-loaded, the recording and playback apparatus is placed into a standby state in which the recording and playback apparatus is prevented from automatically switching the current output source from which audio or video content is currently being reproduced by the recording and playback apparatus to the removable medium when it is detected that the removable medium is subsequently manually loaded into the recording and playback apparatus; and
(d) when it is determined that the recording request has been previously entered by the user, (1) the current output source from which audio or video content is currently being reproduced by the recording and playback apparatus is not switched to the removable medium and (2) recording of audio or video content from the current output source currently being reproduced by the recording and playback apparatus onto the removable medium is automatically started without another recording request input from the user when it is subsequently detected that the removable medium has been manually loaded into the recording and playback apparatus.
16. A source switching method according to claim 15, wherein the current output source is not switched to the removable media source when it is detected that the removable medium is manually loaded into the recording and playback apparatus before a predetermined time elapses from the time of the recording request.
17. A source switching method according to claim 15, wherein, when the manually loading of the removable medium into the recording and playback apparatus is detected after the recording request is entered, audio or video content from the current output source is automatically started without further input from the user.
18. A source switching method according to claim 15, wherein, when it is detected that the removable medium is not manually loaded when the recording request is entered, the player temporarily stops reproducing the audio or video content from the current output source.
19. A player comprising:
a plurality of sources, at least one of the sources being a removable medium on which audio or video content can be recorded, the player being configured to both record audio or video content onto the removable medium and reproduce audio or video content from the same removable medium, the player further being configured to accept manual loading and permit manual removal of the removable medium;
a selecting unit for selecting a current output source from among the plurality of sources, the current output source being the source of audio or video content currently being reproduced by the player;
a detecting unit for detecting whether the removable medium is manually loaded into the player by a user; and
a switching unit for switching the current output source that is the source of audio or video content currently being reproduced by the player,
wherein, if a recording request has not been entered by the user to record audio or video content from the current output source currently being reproduced by the player onto the removable medium when the detecting unit detects that the removable medium is manually loaded in the player, the player automatically switches the current output source that is the source of audio or video content currently being reproduced by the player to the removable medium,
while if the removable medium is manually pre-loaded when the recording request is entered, the player records the audio andor video content currently being reproduced from current output source onto the removable medium,
and if the removable medium is not manually pre-loaded when the recording request is entered, the switching unit imposes a switching restriction so as not to switch the current output source that is the source of audio or video content currently being reproduced by the player to the removable medium when the detecting unit detects that the removable medium is subsequently manually loaded into the player by a user, and when the detecting unit detects that the removable medium is subsequently manually loaded, audio or video content being reproduced from the current output source is automatically recorded onto the removable medium in accordance with the user’s recording request without requiring another recording request to be manually entered.