Managing display data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12032852-B2
Application number	US-202117790953-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2021
Priority date	Jan 6, 2020
Publication date	Jul 9, 2024
Grant date	Jul 9, 2024

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method of writing data to, and reading data from, one or more buffers. The method comprises: determining a write rate of writing data into a first buffer; determining a read rate of reading data from the first buffer; determining, using the write rate and the read rate, a portion of the first buffer; writing data into the portion of the first buffer; starting to read data from the first buffer when the writing of data to the portion of the first buffer has finished; and writing data into a remaining part of the first buffer, different from the portion of the first buffer. The portion of the first buffer is determined such that the reading of data from the first buffer does not overtake the writing of data into the first buffer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of writing data to, and reading data from, one or more buffers, the method comprising:
determining a first write rate associated with writing data into a first buffer, wherein only updated parts of the first buffer are written to;
determining a first read rate associated with reading data from the first buffer;
determining a portion of the first buffer associated with the first write rate and the first read rate, wherein the portion of the first buffer is determined such that the reading of data from the first buffer does not overtake the writing of data into the first buffer;
writing data into the portion of the first buffer;
reading data from the first buffer responsive to completing the writing of data to the portion of the first buffer;
writing data into a remaining part of the first buffer, different from the portion of the first buffer; and
wherein determining the portion of the first buffer comprises determining a starting time for beginning to read the data from the first buffer such that t r,0 +(f(m)+1)TR/N≥t w,m , where t r,0 is the time at which the zeroth row is read, f(m) is a function mapping each m-th updated row of M updated rows to a corresponding row in the first buffer, T R is the time required to read the entire first buffer, N is the number of rows of data in the first buffer to be read, and t w,m is the time at which the m-th row is written to the first buffer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first buffer is a first-in first-out (FIFO) buffer.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a second write rate associated with writing data into a second buffer;
determining a second read rate associated with reading data from the second buffer;
determining a portion of the second buffer associated with the second write rate and the second read rate;
writing data into the portion of the second buffer responsive to completing the writing of data to the remaining part of the first buffer, the reading of data from the first buffer being performed concurrently with the writing of data to the portion of the second buffer;
reading data from the second buffer responsive to completing the writing of data to the portion of the second buffer;
writing data into a remaining part of the second buffer, different from the portion of the second buffer; and
wherein the portion of the second buffer is determined such that the reading of data from the second buffer does not overtake the writing of data into the second buffer.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second buffer is a FIFO buffer.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the determining of the portion of the second buffer is based on a ratio of the second read rate and the second write rate.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the portion of the first buffer is based on a ratio of the first read rate and the first write rate.

7. A method of writing data to, and reading data from, a buffer, the method comprising:
determining a write rate associated with writing data into the buffer, wherein only updated parts of the buffer are written to;
determining a read rate associated with reading data from the buffer;
writing data into the buffer;
determining, based on the write rate and the read rate, a time at which data is to be read from the buffer, wherein the time is determined such that the reading of data from the buffer will not overtake the writing of data into the buffer, wherein the time at which the data is to be read from the buffer is determined such that t r,0 +(f(m)+1)TR/N≥t w,m , where t r,0 is the time at which the zeroth row of the buffer is read, f (m) is a function mapping each m-th updated row of M updated rows to a corresponding row in the buffer, T R is the time required to read the entire buffer, N is the number of rows of data in the buffer to be read, and t w,m is the time at which the m-th row is written to the buffer; and
reading data from the buffer at the determined time.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the buffer is a first-in first-out (FIFO) buffer.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein:
the time at which data is to be read from the buffer is calculated based on the time at which the writing of the updated parts to the buffer will be complete.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein all of the data in the buffer is read.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the data comprises display data.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the data comprises tiles of display data.

13. A system comprising:
a non-transitory memory storing instructions; and
one or more hardware processors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to execute the instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to:
determine a first write rate associated with writing data into a first buffer, wherein only updated parts of the first buffer are written to;
determine a first read rate associated with reading data from the first buffer;
determine a portion of the first buffer associated with the first write rate and the first read rate, the portion of the first buffer determined such that the reading of data from the first buffer does not overtake the writing of data to the first buffer;
write data into the portion of the first buffer;
read data from the first buffer responsive to completing the writing of data to the portion of the first buffer;
write data into a remaining part of the first buffer, different from the portion of the first buffer; and
wherein determining the portion of the first buffer comprises determining a starting time for beginning to read the data from the first buffer such that t r,0 +(f(m)+1)TR/N≥t w,m , where t r,0 is the time at which the zeroth row is read, f (m) is a function mapping each m-th updated row of M updated rows to a corresponding row in the first buffer, T R is the time required to read the entire first buffer, N is the number of rows of data in the first buffer to be read, and t w,m is the time at which the m-th row is written to the first buffer.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the determining of the portion of the first buffer is based on a ratio of the first read rate and the first write rate.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein execution of the instructions further causes the system to:
determine a second write rate associated with writing data into a second buffer;
determine a second read rate associated with reading data from the second buffer;
determine a portion of the second buffer associated with the second write rate and the second read rate;
write data into the portion of the second buffer responsive to completing the writing of data to the remaining part of the first buffer, the reading of data from the first buffer being performed concurrently with the writing of data to the portion of the second buffer;
read data from the second buffer responsive to completing the writing of data to the portion of the second buffer; and
write data into a remaining part of the second buffer, different from the portion of the second buffer, wherein the portion of the second buffer is determined such that the reading of data from the second buffer does not overtake the writing of data into the second buffer.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the determining of the portion of the second buffer is based on a ratio of the second read rate and the second write rate.

Assignees

• Displaylink Uk Ltd

Inventors

• Parks Matthew
• Skan Peter

Classifications

• G06F3/0671

  In-line storage system · CPC title

• G06F3/061

  Improving I/O performance · CPC title

• G09G5/393 Primary

  Arrangements for updating the contents of the bit-mapped memory · CPC title

• G06T1/60

  Memory management · CPC title

• G09G5/399

  using two or more bit-mapped memories, the operations of which are switched in time, e.g. ping-pong buffers · CPC title