Image Drawing Apparatus Memory Efficiency via Windowed Address Conversion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional frame buffers with non-rectangular display areas suffer from memory inefficiency due to unused areas, which decrease memory usage in graphic display systems.
Innovation Solution
An image drawing apparatus that divides the frame buffer into multiple windows and blocks within a rectangular storage area, assigning physical addresses only to displayed areas, and using a transaction conversion unit to convert virtual addresses to physical addresses based on pixel positions, thereby eliminating unassigned areas from memory storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a frame buffer is used to store image data for non-rectangular display areas, then graphic display can be performed on non-rectangular displays, but many unused areas are generated in the frame buffer decreasing memory efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The frame buffer is divided into multiple windows, where each window corresponds to a specific display area. This segmentation allows the system to allocate memory only for the portions of the frame buffer that correspond to actual display areas, eliminating unused memory regions while maintaining support for non-rectangular display shapes.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the frame buffer are assigned different properties based on whether they correspond to display areas or unused areas. The transaction conversion unit applies different address mapping rules to different windows, converting virtual addresses to physical addresses only for windows that correspond to actual display areas, thereby optimizing memory usage locally in each region.
2Quantity of substance
If the frame buffer is divided into multiple windows with assigned areas, then memory efficiency is improved, but the device complexity increases due to address conversion requirements
Solution Approach 1:
A transaction conversion unit is introduced as an intermediary component between the graphic processing unit and the frame buffer. This unit handles the complex address conversion tasks by maintaining a mapping between virtual addresses and physical addresses for each window, thereby isolating the complexity from the main processing paths and allowing the GPU and frame buffer to operate with simplified interfaces.
3Loss of substance
If physical addresses are assigned only to displayed areas in each window, then wasteful data storage is reduced, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring pixel positions increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary address conversion by the transaction conversion unit before data access occurs. Virtual addresses are pre-mapped to physical addresses based on the window configuration and display area definitions. This preliminary action ensures that when the GPU or display controller accesses frame buffer data, the address translation has already been completed, making pixel position detection straightforward without requiring complex runtime calculations.
Data Source
AI summary
According to embodiments, an image drawing apparatus includes: an SRAM; and a transaction conversion unit configured to convert a transaction based on a virtual address indicating a pixel position in a storage area of the SRAM into a transaction based on a physical address in the SRAM. When the storage area is divided into a plurality of windows in a row direction and a column direction so that each window includes one or more lines, and an assigned area which is assigned the physical address in the SRAM is set in each of the windows, the transaction conversion unit converts the transaction based on the virtual address into the transaction based on the physical address based on whether the pixel position indicated by the virtual address is in the assigned area.