Title: Deferred shading graphics pipeline processor having advanced features
Type: issued patent
Patent number: 7,167,181
Issue date: January 23, 2007
Filing date: June 9, 2003 (priority to August 20, 1998)
Link to PDF: 
(Be warned: this is a 398 page monster.)
AIPW Summary: This patent describes a 3D graphics processor including numerous specialized substructures, such as a deferred shading processor pipeline. The processor implements shading, anti-aliasing, texture mapping, and bump mapping. The claims are directed to performing a fragment operation on a per-pixel basis.
At 398 pages (221 drawing sheets), there’s quite a lot going on here. This patent is has ten related cases, so this patent family is quite extensive.