Method and apparatus for controlling spatial resolution in a computer system

Abstract

A computer implemented method of producing output pixels for a graphics system includes the steps of receiving one or more input pixels from the graphics system; performing rendering operations on the one or more pixels, wherein the rendering including the steps of: selecting one or more pixels of interest the resolution of which are to be increased; defining a sampling grid or a sampling orientation; multi sampling the one or more pixels of interest having a first resolution and multiple sampling points; collecting information from each sampled point; storing information from each sampled point as a virtual pixel; defining one or more pixels the resolution of which are one of to remain the same as received from the graphics system or the resolution of which are to be reduced; and rendering pixels of interest in a higher resolution than the their first resolution by rendering each virtual pixel into a physical pixel in a displayable frame or offscreen buffer.

What we claim is: 
     
         1 . A computer implemented method of producing output pixels for a graphics system, the steps comprising:
 receiving one or more input pixels from the graphics system;   performing rendering operations on the one or more pixels, the rendering including the steps of:   selecting one or more pixels of interest the resolution of which are to be increased;   defining a sampling grid or a sampling orientation;   multi sampling the one or more pixels of interest having a first resolution and multiple sampling points;   collecting information from each sampled point;   storing information from each sampled point as a virtual pixel;   defining one or more pixels the resolution of which are one of to remain the same as received from the graphics system or the resolution of which are to be reduced; and,   rendering pixels of interest in a higher resolution than the their first resolution by rendering each virtual pixel into a physical pixel in a displayable frame or offscreen buffer.   
     
     
         2 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 rendering the one or more pixels in a second resolution, wherein the second resolution renders one or more of the one or more pixels as pixels with an increased resolution and others of the one or more pixels as pixels with a decreased or the same resolution, wherein the total resolution of the one or more pixels is equal to the first resolution of the one or more pixels;   assessing the one or more pixels of the second resolution to form one or more output pixels, the output pixels; and,   displaying the one or more output pixels in a displayable frame or offscreen buffer.   
     
     
         3 . A computer implemented method of producing output pixels for a graphics system, the steps comprising:
 receiving one or more input pixels from the graphics system;   performing rendering operations on the one or more input pixels, the rendering including the steps of:   selecting pixels of interest;   defining a grid of sampling points;   performing the sampling;   collecting sampling information from each sampled point;   storing sampled information of each sampled point in a virtual pixel rendering virtual pixels as a separate pixel in an array of pixels.   
     
     
         4 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1  further comprising the steps of:
 after the defining steps, collecting users' experience factors and establishing a minimum threshold for at least one users' experiences factor; and, 
 based on the at least one thresholds, maintaining users' experiences above the established thresholds. 
 
     
     
         5 . The computer implemented method of  claim 4  wherein the users' experience is collected from factors including one or more of: frame rate, heat level, responsiveness, displayable frame level, offscreen buffer level and power level. 
     
     
         6 . A computer implemented method of producing output pixels for a graphics system, the steps comprising:
 receiving one or more input pixels from the graphics system;   performing rendering operations on the one or more pixels, the rendering including the steps of:   defining a first grid of sampling points of one or more pixels;   sampling the one or more pixels in the first grid of sampling points;   defining a second grid of sampling points of one or more pixels;   sampling the one or more pixels in the second grid of sampling points;   analyzing the one or more pixels with the first grid of sampling points and the second grid of sampling points for receiving meta data for rendering; purposes; and,   rendering the one or more pixels according to the steps of  claim 4 .   
     
     
         7 . The computer implemented method of  claim 6 , comprising the further step of rotating the first grid of sampling points prior to the step of sampling the first grid of sampling points. 
     
     
         8 . The computer implemented method of  claim 7 , wherein the step of rotating rotates the first grid by less than 90 degrees and preferably about 45 degrees. 
     
     
         9 . A computer implemented method of producing output pixels for a graphics system, the steps comprising:
 receiving one or more input pixels from the graphics system;   performing rendering operations on the one or more pixels, the rendering including the steps of:   selecting one or more pixels of interest the resolution of which are to be increased;   defining a sampling grid or a sampling orientation;   multi sampling the one or more pixels of interest having a first resolution and multiple sampling points;   collecting information from each sampled point;   storing information from each sampled point as a virtual pixel;   defining one or more pixels not of interest;   single sampling the one or more pixels not of interest from a single sampling point; and   rendering the one or more pixels of interest in a higher resolution than the their first resolution by rendering each virtual pixel into a physical pixel in a displayable frame or offscreen buffer.   
     
     
         10 . The computer implemented method of  claim 9 , further comprising stretching the one or more pixels not of interest into a plurality of pixels having the same higher resolution as the pixels of interest such that each pixel not of interest is duplicated into a physical pixel the same as its original pixel. 
     
     
         11 . The computer implemented method of  claim 9 , further comprising stretching the one or more pixels not of interest into a plurality of pixels having the same higher resolution as the pixels of interest such that at least one pixel not of interest is manipulated by an anti-aliasing method into a physical pixel which is different from its original pixel. 
     
     
         12 . The computer implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the anti-aliasing method includes one or more of the following: nearest neighbor, bilinear, Lanczos, BSpline, Mitchel or Gaussian. 
     
     
         13 . The computer implemented method of  claim 12 , wherein the anti-aliasing method takes into account adjacent pixel of interest information.