Display Output from a Virtualized Environment

There are several possible ways to display content from a virtualized graphics environment:

• Rely on the virtual machine monitor (VMM) or PF driver to composite rendered surfaces from different VMs
• Assign a display engine exclusively to a virtual function (VF), preferably a trusted VF from the VMM perspective, and use the corresponding planes/pipes to output data
• Assign a display pipe or plane to a VF

The graphics virtualization infrastructure is exposed to the system software by the Single Root I/O virtualization standard (SR-IOV) of the PCIe standard. The exposure is accomplished using a PCIe device Physical function that includes the SR-IOV Extended Capability structure, within the PCIe Extended Capabilities list.