Data filters are commonly used to interpolate or filter between discrete data samples. For example, a typical 3D graphics system employs a pipelined data rendering scheme including a rasterizer stage employing one or more texture filters to interpolate or filter texel data. In doing so, a hardware-implemented texture filter's input will be as wide as the widest texel data that the filter may be expected to process. For example, a texture filter unit or module may need to be wide enough to process 32-bit wide texel data. In that case, a typical texture filter unit would be fully utilized when filtering 32-bit wide texel data but would be partially idle when filtering narrower 16-bit or 8-bit texel data.
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