Tile Elimination in GPU Rendering Pipelines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Handheld devices face challenges in achieving high computation capability and large bandwidth for GPU rendering due to power consumption constraints, limiting their ability to handle high-resolution displays and complex rendering tasks effectively.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a tile elimination apparatus and method that includes a tile engine, signature value computation unit, repository, and comparison unit within the GPU rendering pipeline, which computes and compares signature values to determine if a tile can be copied from a previous frame instead of being re-rendered, thereby reducing computational load and bandwidth requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If tile-based rendering is used to improve memory access locality and bandwidth efficiency, then rendering performance is improved, but computation capability and bandwidth requirements increase for high-resolution displays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by computing signature values for tiles in advance and storing them in a signature value repository before actual rendering. This allows the system to quickly determine whether tiles need re-rendering by comparing stored signatures with current frame requirements, avoiding redundant computation and reducing power consumption while maintaining rendering performance
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by storing signature values of rendered tiles in a repository and reusing these stored values for subsequent frames when tiles remain unchanged. This eliminates the need to recompute signatures for unchanged tiles, significantly reducing computational load and power consumption while maintaining high rendering performance
2Loss of energy
If signature value computation and comparison is implemented to eliminate tile rendering, then bandwidth usage is optimized, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the rendering pipeline into distinct functional modules: a signature value computation unit that generates signatures, a signature value repository that stores them, and a tile comparison unit that retrieves and compares signatures. This modular segmentation allows each component to perform its function efficiently, optimizing bandwidth usage while managing device complexity through organized functional separation
Data Source
AI summary
An exemplary embodiment describes a method for tile elimination, including: reading in data of a new tile; reading signature values corresponding to the new tile from a signature value repository; generating signature values for the new tile; comparing the read signature values and the generated signature values of the same tile to determine whether the two sets of signature values being identical; when the two sets of signature values being identical, copying the new tile directly from a tile frame buffer without rendering; otherwise, updating the signature value repository with the generated signature values replacing the stored signature values; rendering the tile; and updating the tile frame buffer with the newly rendered tile.