Pipelined Graphic Engine Frame Interpolation for Mobile Display
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current 3D graphic pipelines face challenges in achieving a high frame rate while maintaining quality, especially in resource-constrained devices like mobile phones, due to high computational demands and limitations in wireless or wired transmission standards, which lead to increased complexity and latency.
Innovation Solution
A graphic engine that generates fully rendered frames at a reduced frame rate and produces additional motion vector information, allowing for motion compensation at a remote smart display to interpolate frames, thereby reducing complexity and eliminating the need for motion estimation on the engine side.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the frame rate is increased to achieve smoother display, then the display quality is improved, but the computational power required and energy consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the frame generation process into two distinct parts: (1) fully rendered key frames generated by the graphic engine at reduced frame rate, and (2) interpolated frames generated by motion compensation at the display. This segmentation allows the computationally intensive rendering operations to be performed less frequently, reducing energy consumption while maintaining high display frame rates through lighter interpolation operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary action by pre-calculating and transmitting motion vectors along with key frames from the graphic engine to the display. This preliminary provision of motion information enables the display to perform efficient motion-compensated interpolation without requiring complex motion estimation algorithms, thereby reducing overall computational power and energy requirements while maintaining high frame rates.
2Productivity
If motion estimation is performed to enable frame interpolation, then frame quality is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the motion estimation function from the graphic engine and relocates it to the display side. The graphic engine only needs to transmit motion vectors and key frames, while the display performs the actual motion compensation and frame interpolation. This extraction significantly reduces the complexity requirements for the graphic engine, making it suitable for resource-constrained devices like mobile phones.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces motion vectors as an intermediary data structure that bridges the key frames generated by the graphic engine and the interpolated frames generated by the display. These motion vectors serve as compact instructions that guide the motion compensation process, enabling high-quality frame interpolation without requiring the graphic engine to perform complex real-time motion estimation operations.
3Use of energy by moving object
If the frame rate is reduced to decrease transmission bitrate, then power consumption is reduced, but the display quality and smoothness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses motion-compensated frame interpolation to create intermediate frames that are copies or approximations of the actual rendered frames. By generating these interpolated copies at the display side using motion vectors from the graphic engine, the system can transmit fewer key frames at lower bitrate while maintaining the perception of high frame rate display, thereby reducing power consumption without significantly deteriorating display quality.
Data Source
AI summary
A graphic system includes a pipelined graphic engine for generating image frames for display. The pipelined graphic engine includes a geometric processing stage for performing motion extraction, and a rendering stage for generating full image frames at a first frame rate for display at a second frame rate. The second frame rate is higher than the first frame rate. A motion encoder stage receives motion information from the geometric processing stage, and produces an interpolated frame signal representative of interpolated frames. A motion compensation stage receives the interpolated frame signal from the motion encoder stage, and the full image frames from the rendering stage for generating the interpolated frames. A preferred application is in graphic systems that operate in association with smart displays through a wireless connection, such as in mobile phones.