Adaptive selection of an index in a texture cache

• Main Authors: KIM, Chun-Ho, KIM, Lee-Sup
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Application software; Applied sciences; Bandwidth; Computer graphics; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Hardware; Image generation; Integrated circuits; Integrated circuits by function (including memories and processors); Layout; Rendering (computer graphics); Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Shadow mapping; Surface texture; Virtual reality
• ISSN: 1063-6404; 2576-6996
• DOI: 10.1109/ICCD.2004.1347936

For a specified application, there is an opportunity to improve cache performance by smart choosing of index bits of a cache. A texture cache for texture mapping of 3D computer graphics is an example. Texel (texture pixel)-access characteristics for texture mapping are dependent on the rasterization order of a polygon. In this paper, we introduce A-index, a method to reduce memory bandwidth required for fetching texture image data by reducing cache miss through adaptive selection of an index according to span direction of a rasterizer. By designing a texture mapping hardware including a texture cache, it is verified that the number of cache misses and the number of total cycles are reduced by 21.6% and 8.8% for rendering of textured scenes. In addition, we show that the number of cache misses in a texture cache can be estimated more accurately by calculating intra-span replacement when the proposed A-index is used.