GPU Procedural Desktop Picture Recipe for Memory Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing desktop background systems consume significant RAM and VRAM resources and exhibit abrupt, non-organic transitions between the login screen and desktop picture, limiting customization and visual engagement.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a procedural 'recipe' to compute desktop pictures using a GPU, allowing only the necessary parts of the image to be generated on demand, reducing memory usage and enabling seamless transitions and animations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a static desktop picture is stored in RAM and VRAM, then the desktop background can be displayed, but significant memory resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential procedural recipe and keyframe data from the complete desktop picture, storing only these minimal elements in memory while generating the actual desktop background on-demand through procedural computation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical approach of storing complete picture data in RAM/VRAM with a computational approach using GPU-based procedural generation, substituting memory storage with algorithmic computation
2Reliability
If a static desktop picture is used, then memory resources are allocated, but transitions between login screen and desktop picture are abrupt and nonorganic
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the static desktop picture into a dynamic, time-varying procedural generation system that can smoothly transition between different visual states, enabling organic animations during login, desktop, and logout phases
Solution Approach 2:
The patent pre-computes and stores keyframe recipes that define the start and end states of transitions, allowing the GPU to generate smooth intermediate frames on-demand without requiring the complete transition sequence to be pre-loaded in memory
3Manufacturing precision
If the complete desktop picture is computed and stored, then high-quality visual output is achieved, but both RAM and VRAM copies occupy valuable memory space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the desktop picture through procedural generation rather than physical storage, allowing the system to access and display high-quality visual output without duplicating the complete picture data in memory
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are a system and method for computing a desktop picture. Instead of loading a file that contains the desktop image from memory, the present invention provides for a system and method for opening and retaining a procedural recipe and a small set of instructions that can be executed to compute a desktop picture. The desktop picture can be computed very quickly using a GPU (graphics processing unit), and can be made to move on demand. When a part of the desktop image is needed to composite, that part is computed using a fragment program on the GPU using the procedural recipe and a specially written fragment program into a temporary VRAM buffer. After it is computed and composited, the buffer containing the result of the fragment program may be discarded.