Sparse refresh of display

Claim 2

A computer-implemented method, comprising: sparsely refreshing a display, wherein the refreshing includes, determining whether one region of a plurality of regions in a frame buffer has been modified, wherein the frame buffer comprises information to be displayed on the display, and wherein the determining includes using an entry for the region in a translation-lookaside buffer; and after the one region has been modified, copying only the one region from the frame buffer to the display, wherein before the one region is modified, the frame buffer has been divided into the plurality of regions.

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining whether the region was written to during the copying; and when region was written to during the copying, marking the region as modified in the entry for the region in the translation-lookaside buffer.

Claim 4

The method of claim 2 , further comprising: when the region was not written to during the copying, marking the region as unmodified in the entry for the region in the translation-lookaside buffer.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed for every region in the frame buffer.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the frame buffer comprises a plurality of tiles, and wherein the tile associated with the write command is one of the plurality of tiles.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the translation-lookaside buffer comprises an address translation field that is to map a plurality of pixels on the display to associated respective tiles in the frame buffer.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the graphics engine is further to receive a command to displace an entry from the translation-lookaside buffer; and determine whether a tile associated with the entry is dirty.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the graphics engine is further to send the tile associated with the entry to the display when the tile associated with the entry is dirty.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the graphics engine is further to write the entry to a page table when the tile associated with the entry is not dirty.

Claim 13

A signal-bearing medium comprising instructions, wherein the instructions when read and executed by a processor comprise: performing a sparse refresh of a display including, determining whether a tile in a frame buffer is dirty, wherein the frame buffer comprises an image to be displayed on the display and the tile comprises a portion of the image, wherein before the determination, the frame buffer has been divided into tiles, and wherein the determining includes using an entry for the tile in a translation-lookaside buffer; and when the tile is dirty, writing the tile to the display.

Claim 14

A signal-bearing medium comprising instructions, wherein the instructions when read and executed by a processor comprise: performing a sparse refresh of a display including, determining whether a tile in a frame buffer is dirty, wherein the frame buffer comprises an image to be displayed on the display and the tile comprises a portion of the image, wherein before the determination, the frame buffer has been divided into tiles, and wherein the determining includes using an entry for the tile in a translation-lookaside buffer; and when the tile is dirty, writing the tile to the display.

Claim 15

The signal-bearing medium of claim 11 , wherein the determining further includes interrogating a tile-state field in an entry associated with the tile in the translation-lookaside buffer.

Claim 16

The signal-bearing medium of claim 12 , wherein the sparse refresh further includes, determining whether the tile was written to during the writing; and when the tile was written to during the copying, marking the tile as modified in the entry.

Claim 19

The apparatus of claim 14 , comprising: a D-type flip-flop, including, a data input coupled to an output of the set-reset flip-flop; and a clock input to be active when the reset input of the set-reset flip-flop is active.

Claim 20

The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the D-type flip-flop further includes, an output to indicate when at least one pixel within the region has been modified but has not been written to the display.

Claim 21

The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the apparatus is duplicated for each entry of a translation-lookaside buffer.

Claim 22

A signal-bearing medium bearing a data structure, comprising: an address translation field to include a mapping of pixels on a display to associated regions in a frame buffer; and a state field to indicate whether the regions in the frame buffer are clean or dirty, wherein the state is for use during a sparse refresh of the display.

Claim 23

A signal-bearing medium bearing a data structure, comprising: an address translation field to include a mapping of pixels on a display to associated regions in a frame buffer; and a state field to indicate whether the regions in the frame buffer are clean or dirty, wherein the state is for use during a sparse refresh of the display.

Claim 24

The signal-bearing medium of claim 18 , wherein one of the regions is clean when all of the pixels within the one region that have been modified have been written to the display.

Claim 25

The signal-bearing medium of claim 18 , wherein one of the regions is dirty when at least one of the pixels within the region has been modified but has not been written to the display.

Claim 26

The signal-bearing medium of claim 18 , wherein a group of the regions comprises a tile.

Claim 27

The signal-bearing medium of claim 18 , wherein each of the regions comprises one respective tile.

Claim 28

A computing device, comprising: a graphics engine; a translation-lookaside buffer communicatively coupled to the graphics engine, wherein the translation-lookaside buffer is for tracking modified regions; a frame buffer communicatively coupled to the translation-lookaside buffer, wherein the frame buffer is used during a sparse refresh of a display; and logic communicatively coupled to the translation-lookaside buffer, wherein the logic includes, a set-reset flip-flop, including, a set input to be active when a region in a frame buffer is modified; and a reset input to be active while the region is being copied to the display; and a D-type flip-flop, including, a data input coupled to an output of the set-reset flip-flop; a clock input to be active when the reset input of the set-reset flip-flop is active; and an output to indicate when at least one pixel within the region has been modified but has not been written to the display.

Claim 29

A computing device, comprising: a graphics engine; a translation-lookaside buffer communicatively coupled to the graphics engine, wherein the translation-lookaside buffer is for tracking modified regions; a frame buffer communicatively coupled to the translation-lookaside buffer, wherein the frame buffer is used during a sparse refresh of a display; and logic communicatively coupled to the translation-lookaside buffer, wherein the logic includes, a set-reset flip-flop, including, a set input to be active when a region in a frame buffer is modified; and a reset input to be active while the region is being copied to the display; and a D-type flip-flop, including, a data input coupled to an output of the set-reset flip-flop; a clock input to be active when the reset input of the set-reset flip-flop is active; and an output to indicate when at least one pixel within the region has been modified but has not been written to the display.

Claim 30

The computing device of claim 23 , wherein the logic is duplicated for every entry in the translation-lookaside buffer.

Claim 31

The computing device of claim 23 , wherein the D-type flip-flop further includes, a set input coupled to a logical-and of a write signal and a copy complement signal.