A Distributed Frame Buffer within a Window-Oriented High Performance Graphics System

Today's workstation users demand high computational performance combined with powerful graphics and a comfortable window system. Existing and forthcoming standards like OKS-3D, PHIGS/PHIGS+, X Window System, and PEX have to be supported optimally. This paper presents the architecture of a graphics engine designed to meet the above requirements. Utilizing a distributed frame buffer pixel access with a high bandwidth is achieved. Several functions of a window management system like clipping at arbitrarily shaped window boundaries, fast copying of windows and performing Bit-Block-Transfer operations (BitBlT) are performed by hardware. Finally, a homogeneous and load-adaptive multiprocessor configuration for geometry and rendering calculation is described.