2708results about "Filling planer surface with attributes" patented technology

Three-dimensional computer graphics systems and methods and more particularly to structure and method for a three-dimensional graphics processor and having other enhanced graphics processing features. In one embodiment the graphics processor is Deferred Shading Graphics Processor (DSGP) comprising an AGP interface, a command fetch decode (2000), a geometry unit (3000), a mode extraction (4000) and polygon memory (5000), a sort unit (6000) and sort memory (7000), a setup unit (8000), a cull unit (9000), a mode injection (10000), a fragment unit (11000), a texture (12000) and texture memory (13000) a phong shading (14000), a pixel unit (15000), a backend unit (1600) coupled to a frame buffer (17000). Other embodiments need not include all of these functional units, and the structures and methods of these units are applicable to other computational processes and systems as well as deferred and non-deferred shading graphical processors.

A system and method is provided for assembling graphics information as a graphics display for presentation on a visual interface, the graphics information including a plurality of image tiles stored in a data store. The system and method comprise a management module for receiving a graphics request message and for coordinating processing of a selected number of the image tiles to generate at least one representative image tile as the graphics display in response to the graphics request message. The system and method also comprise a graphics system coupled to the management module for receiving processing information from the management module to facilitate access to the selected number of the image tiles. The selected number of image tiles are processed as a combination to generate the least one representative image tile, such that the graphics system includes graphics hardware such as a GPU / VPU configured for processing the graphics information.

A graphics system and method for performing blur effects, including motion blur and depth of field effects, are disclosed. In one embodiment the system comprises a graphics processor, a sample buffer, and a sample-to-pixel calculation unit. The graphics processor is configured to receive a set of three-dimensional (3D) graphics data and render a plurality of samples based on the set of 3D graphics data. The processor is also configured to generate sample tags for the samples, wherein the sample tags are indicative of whether or not the samples are to be blurred. The super-sampled sample buffer is coupled to receive and store the samples from the graphics processor. The sample-to-pixel calculation unit is coupled to receive and filter the samples from the super-sampled sample buffer to generate output pixels, which in turn are displayable to form an image on a display device. The sample-to-pixel calculation units are configured to select the filter attributes used to filter the samples into output pixels based on the sample tags.

A graphics system that is configured to utilize a sample buffer and a plurality of parallel sample-to-pixel calculation units, wherein the sample-pixel calculation units are configured to access different portions of the sample buffer in parallel. The graphics system may include a graphics processor, a sample buffer, and a plurality of sample-to-pixel calculation units. The graphics processor is configured to receive a set of three-dimensional graphics data and render a plurality of samples based on the graphics data. The sample buffer is configured to store the plurality of samples for the sample-to-pixel calculation units, which are configured to receive and filter samples from the sample buffer to create output pixels. Each of the sample-to-pixel calculation units are configured to generate pixels corresponding to a different region of the image. The region may be a vertical or horizontal stripe of the image, or a rectangular portion of the image. Each region may overlap the other regions of the image to prevent visual aberrations.

A hardware-accelerated recirculating programmable texture blender / shader arrangement circulates computed color and alpha data over multiple texture blending / shading cycles (stages) to provide multi-texturing and other effects. Up to sixteen independently programmable consecutive stages, forming a chain of blending operations, are supported for applying multiple textures to a single object in a single rendering pass.

An operator telerobotically controls tools to perform a procedure on an object at a work site while viewing real-time images of the work site on a display. Tool information is provided in the operator's current gaze area on the display by rendering the tool information over the tool so as not to obscure objects being worked on at the time by the tool nor to require eyes of the user to refocus when looking at the tool information and the image of the tool on a stereo viewer.

A graphics system including a custom graphics and audio processor produces exciting 2D and 3D graphics and surround sound. The system includes a graphics and audio processor including a 3D graphics pipeline and an audio digital signal processor. The system achieves highly efficient full-scene anti-aliasing by implementing a programmable-location super-sampling arrangement and using a selectable-weight vertical-pixel support area blending filter. For a 2×2 pixel group (quad), the locations of three samples within each super-sampled pixel are individually selectable. A twelve-bit multi-sample coverage mask is used to determine which of twelve samples within a pixel quad are enabled based on the portions of each pixel occupied by a primitive fragment and any pre-computed z-buffering. Each super-sampled pixel is filtered during a copy-out operation from a local memory to an external frame buffer using a pixel blending filter arrangement that combines seven samples from three vertically arranged pixels. Three samples are taken from the current pixel, two samples are taken from a pixel immediately above the current pixel and two samples are taken from a pixel immediately below the current pixel. A weighted average is then computed based on the enabled samples to determine the final color for the pixel. The weight coefficients used in the blending filter are also individually programmable. De-flickering of thin one-pixel tall horizontal lines for interlaced video displays is also accomplished by using the pixel blending filter to blend color samples from pixels in alternate scan lines.

An accelerated graphics processing subsystem that significantly increases the processing speed of computer graphics commands. The preferred embodiment of this invention presents a first-of-its-kind graphics processing subsystem that combines the processing power of multiple, off-the-shelf, video cards, each one having one or more graphic processor units. The video cards can be used without substantial modification. Under the preferred embodiment, each video card processes instructions for drawing a predetermined portion of the screen which is displayed to the user through a monitor or other visual output device. The invention harnesses the power of multiple video cards without suffering from the high bandwidth constraints affecting prior attempts at parallel graphics processing subsystems.

Systems and methods for generating visual representations of graphical data and digital document processing, including:A method of redrawing a visual display of graphical data whereby a current display is replaced by an updated display, comprising, in response to a redraw request, immediately replacing the current display with a first approximate representation of the updated display, generating a final updated display, and replacing the approximate representation with the final updated display.A method of generating variable visual representations of graphical data, comprising dividing said graphical data into a plurality of bitmap tiles of fixed, predetermined size, storing said tiles in an indexed array and assembling a required visual representation of said graphical data from a selected set of said tiles.A method of processing a digital document, said document comprising a plurality of graphical objects arranged on at least one page, comprising dividing said document into a plurality of zones and, for each zone, generating a list of objects contained within and overlapping said zone.Digital document processing systems adapted to implement the methods.

A fragment processor includes a fragment shader distributor, a fragment shader collector, and a plurality of fragment shader pipelines. Each fragment shader pipeline executes a fragment shader program on a segment of fragments. The plurality of fragment shader pipelines operate in parallel, executing the same or different fragment shader programs. The fragment shader distributor receives a stream of fragments from a rasterization unit and dispatches a portion of the stream of fragments to a selected fragment shader pipeline until the capacity of the selected fragment shader pipeline is reached. The fragment shader distributor then selects another fragment shader pipeline. The capacity of each of the fragment shader pipelines is limited by several different resources. As the fragment shader distributor dispatches fragments, it tracks the remaining available resources of the selected fragment shader pipeline. A fragment shader collector retrieves processed fragments from the plurality of fragment shader pipelines.

A graphics system may include a frame buffer, a processing device coupled to output data, a multipurpose memory device that includes a plurality of storage locations and is coupled to store data output from the processing device, and a multipurpose memory controller coupled to the multipurpose memory device. The multipurpose memory controller may be configured to allocate a first plurality of the storage locations to a first image buffer configured to store image data, a second plurality of the storage locations to a first texture buffer configured to store texture data, and a third plurality of the storage locations to a first accumulation buffer configured to store accumulation buffer data. The multipurpose memory device may be configured to include a first image buffer, a first texture buffer, and a first accumulation buffer at the same time.

A digital reading device includes reader functionality and displays a page turn animation. The digital reading device includes a display displaying a digital content page. The display may include touch-sensitive functionality. Page turn input information including location information is received at the digital reading device. A virtual cylinder is generated based on the information. A corresponding cylinder surface location is determined for each of one or more page locations. The generated cylinder is rendered on the display and the digital content of each of the one or more page locations is textured on the rendered cylinder at the corresponding cylinder surface locations. The digital reading device adaptively tracks the movement of a page input on the display and produces a page turn animation that responds to the movement of the page turn input.

One embodiment of the present invention includes techniques for processing a multi-resolution hierarchy, where an application configures a ROP unit to render all the levels included in the multi-resolution hierarchy to a single composite render target. The ROP unit renders memory pages to the composite render target in pitch order. In contrast, the texture unit accesses the composite render target with memory pages in pitch order for each level of the hierarchy. The application configures the MMU to ensure that the composite render target is correctly interpreted by the texture unit. Notably, the MMU translates ROP unit virtual addresses and texture unit virtual addresses using different mapping strategies to the same physical address space. One advantage of the disclosed embodiments is that rendering to the multi-resolution hierarchy does not require the CPU to execute the state parameter changes that are associated with rendering the different hierarchical levels using prior-art techniques.

A system and method for enhanced multi-sample anti-aliasing. The method includes determining a sampling pattern corresponding to a pixel and adjusting the sampling pattern based on a visual effect (e.g., post-processing visual effect). The method further includes accessing a first plurality of samples based on the sampling pattern. The first plurality of samples may comprise a second plurality of samples within the pixel and a third plurality of pixels outside of the pixel. The method further includes performing anti-aliasing filtering of the pixel based on the first plurality of samples and the sampling pattern.

A raster unit is configured to generate different sample patterns for adjacent pixels within a given frame. In addition, the raster unit may adjust the sample patterns between frames. The raster unit includes an index unit that selects a sample pattern table for use with a current frame. For a given pixel, the index unit extracts a sample pattern from the selected sample pattern table. The extracted sample pattern is used to generate coverage information for the pixel. The coverage information for all pixels is then used to generate an image. The resultant image may then be filtered to reduce or remove artifacts induced by the changing of sample locations.

Disclosed are methods of operating augmented reality (AR) contents, and a device and a system supporting the same. In one method, a real world image is captured using a camera in a portable device. A virtual space corresponding to the real world image is built, by partitioning image elements included in the virtual space into plural background objects and displaying the background objects. Augmented reality contents are generated by mapping one or more user contents onto the background objects. In other embodiments, location information of the portable device is used to obtain AR contents for enhancing captured images.

Systems that employs an adaptable front end for determining a file-type to associate with the output from a source application and for processing the output, as a function of the file type, to generate a display list that is representative of objects and shapes that represent components within the visual presentation of the data. The display list is then processed by a rendering engine, which may be located on an embedded device. The rendering engine processes the components contained within the display list to render an image of the source application's output that may be presented on the display of the device. As will be described below, the adaptable front end determines the file structure of the source being processed, thereby providing a device that may operate with a plurality of different file types, and source applications.

An image processing system is described that receives polygonal image data at the direction of a processor and develops antialiased image data for display on a raster scanned display. In particular, the image system includes a scan convertor for converting the polygonal image data into pixel data, which includes pixel screen coordinates and at least one color value for each polygon covered pixel of the pixel data and a supersample coverage mask indicating an extent of polygon coverage within each polygon covered pixel. The image system also includes a raster system having at least one image processor for receiving the pixel data for each pixel, for developing a region mask based on the supersample coverage mask, and for storing the color value in association with the region mask as anitialiased display data in an image memory in communication with the image processor based on the pixel screen coordinates. The region mask indicates one or more, geographical regions of supersamples within each pixel covered by one or more polygons and indicates a color value stored in the image memory to be assigned to the supersamples in a region. This requires only a single color value for supersamples within a region of a covered pixel to be stored in the image memory. The image system can also be configured to develop and store Z-values, alpha values, stencil values, and texture values for each pixel for storage in the image memory in association with the region mask.

Hybrid sampling of pixels of an image involves generating shading values at multiple shading sample locations and generating depth values at multiple depth sample locations, with the number of depth sample locations exceeding the number of shading sample locations. Each shading sample location is associated with one or more of the depth sample locations. Generation and filtering of hybrid sampled pixel data can be done within a graphics processing system, transparent to an application that provides image data.

Methods and systems for producing three-dimensional images of a scene using relief textures include modeling surfaces in a scene with one or more relief textures. Each relief texture is projected onto its basis plane based on a desired viewpoint to produce a pre-warped image. Each pre-warped image is projected onto one or more polygons used to model the scene. Because the steps of texture mapping and pre-warping are separated, solving for visibility during the pre-warping is facilitated by using one-dimensional pre-warping equations

The present invention relates to a parallel pipeline graphics system. The parallel pipeline graphics system includes a back-end configured to receive primitives and combinations of primitives (i.e., geometry) and process the geometry to produce values to place in a frame buffer for rendering on screen. Unlike prior single pipeline implementation, some embodiments use two or four parallel pipelines, though other configurations having 2^n pipelines may be used. When geometry data is sent to the back-end, it is divided up and provided to one of the parallel pipelines. Each pipeline is a component of a raster back-end, where the display screen is divided into tiles and a defined portion of the screen is sent through a pipeline that owns that portion of the screen's tiles. In one embodiment, each pipeline comprises a scan converter, a hierarchical-Z unit, a z buffer logic, a rasterizer, a shader, and a color buffer logic.

A system and method is provided for assembling graphics information as a graphics display for presentation on a visual interface, the graphics information including a plurality of image tiles stored in a data store. The system and method comprise a management module for receiving a graphics request message and for coordinating processing of a selected number of the image tiles to generate at least one representative image tile as the graphics display in response to the graphics request message. The system and method also comprise a graphics system coupled to the management module for receiving processing information from the management module to facilitate access to the selected number of the image tiles. The selected number of image tiles are processed as a combination to generate the least one representative image tile, such that the graphics system includes graphics hardware such as a GPU / VPU configured for processing the graphics information.

A method and computer graphics system capable of super-sampling and performing programmable real-time filtering or convolution are disclosed. In one embodiment, the computer graphics system may comprise a graphics processor, a sample buffer, and a sample-to-pixel calculation unit. The graphics processor may be configured to generate a plurality of samples. The sample buffer, which is coupled to the graphics processor, is configured to store the samples and may be configured to double-buffer at least part of the stored samples. The sample-to-pixel calculation unit is programmable to select a variable number of stored samples from the sample buffer to filter into an output pixel. The sample-to-pixel calculation unit performs the filter process in real-time, and may be programmable to use a number of different filter types in.a single frame. The sample buffer may be super-sampled, and the samples may be positioned according to a regular grid, a perturbed regular grid, or a stochastic grid.

There is provided a rendering system for processing pixels corresponding to a predetermined graphic in parallel by dividing a two-dimensional image coordinate system into areas each composed of a plurality of pixels of N pixels in a first direction and M pixels in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, i.e. NxM pixels in total, and by allocating NxM computing sections respectively to the NxM pixels contained in that area. Specifically, the rendering system comprises a calculating section for calculating variations of the rendering data with respect to the first and second directions necessary for interpolating values of the rendering data in each pixel within a predetermined graphic from predetermined apex data of the predetermined graphic and an initial value of the rendering data with respect to the coordinate in the first direction which becomes the reference for computing the rendering data with respect to the second direction by means of interpolation by using the value of the predetermined apex data and the variation of the rendering data with respect to the first direction; and NxM computing sections for calculating the rendering data of the pixel in the second direction by means of interpolation by using the above-mentioned initial value and the variation of the rendering data with respect to the second direction. Thereby, the present invention allows the pixels to be rendered in parallel at high speed in the definition of sub-pixel level.

A multi-resolution texture mapping system suitable for large scale terrain rendering using commodity graphics processing units (GPU). The GPU vertex and fragment shaders are used to implement the clip-mapping functionality. The terrain texture is represented by a combination of a mip-map and a multi-level clip-map having independent origins and off-set values. The independent clip-map levels may be independently updated. The offset values allow the origins to be associated with a reference point in a scene to be rendered. The desired clip-map level to be used to render a particular fragment may be determined using the base 2 logarithm of the maximum screen-space derivative of the source texture required by the terrain geometry to be drawn. If the desired clip-map level is non-integer and lies between two clip-map levels, appropriate texel data is created by interpolating between the bounding clip-map levels. This interpolation allows a multi-resolution texture mapping to be displayed.