Sparse Volumetric Ray Casting With Occupancy-Based 3D Rendering
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current computer systems face challenges in processing large 3D data sets efficiently, particularly in augmented and mixed reality applications, due to constraints in memory, processing resources, and power, which can lead to latency issues and motion sickness in users.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a sparse volumetric data structure that uses a format like the sparse sexaquaternary tree (SST) to represent 3D objects, allowing for efficient storage and processing by tagging voxels as occupied or empty, reducing storage needs and enabling faster transmission and processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If dense volumetric data structures are used to represent 3D objects in augmented and mixed reality systems, then rendering quality and completeness are improved, but memory usage and processing time increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating between occupied and empty voxels in the volumetric data structure. Only occupied voxels (those containing actual object data) are stored and processed, while empty voxels are implicitly represented. This allows the system to maintain high rendering quality for actual objects while dramatically reducing memory usage by excluding unnecessary empty space representations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and removes empty voxels from the volumetric data structure, keeping only the occupied voxels that contain meaningful data. This extraction process eliminates redundant information while preserving the essential rendering quality, directly resolving the contradiction between complete representation and memory efficiency.
2Measurement precision
If complete volumetric data is processed in real-time augmented and mixed reality systems, then rendering accuracy is improved, but processing latency increases causing motion sickness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the occupied voxels from the complete volumetric data set, eliminating empty voxel processing. This extraction maintains rendering accuracy for actual objects while significantly reducing processing latency by removing redundant computations on empty space, thereby preventing motion sickness in AR/VR applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by processing only the necessary portion of volumetric data (occupied voxels) rather than the complete data set. This partial processing approach maintains sufficient rendering accuracy for the actual objects while reducing overall processing time and latency to prevent motion sickness.
3Adaptability or versatility
If separate graphics processing unit and computer vision subsystem are used in parallel, then system flexibility and existing hardware utilization are improved, but integration complexity and processing efficiency worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the computer vision pipeline output with the graphics rendering pipeline by using the same volumetric data structure (occupied voxel representations) for both depth estimation and rendering. This combination allows existing separate hardware subsystems to work together more efficiently, reducing integration complexity while maintaining system flexibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A ray is cast into a volume described by a volumetric data structure, which describes the volume at a plurality of levels of detail. A first entry in the volumetric data structure includes a first set of bits representing voxels at a lowest one of the plurality of levels of detail, and values of the first set of bits indicate whether a corresponding one of the voxels is at least partially occupied by respective geometry. A set of second entries in the volumetric data structure describe voxels at a second level of detail, which represent subvolumes of the voxels at the first lowest level of detail. The ray is determined to pass through a particular subset of the voxels at the first level of detail and at least a particular one of the particular subset of voxels is determined to be occupied by geometry.