Ray Tracing Cache-Bank Routing for Parallel BVH Traversal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ray tracing operations, particularly in real-time applications, face challenges with resource-intensive visibility queries and inefficient ray-scene intersection processing due to the complexity of traversing and intersecting nodes in bounding volume hierarchies (BVHs).
Innovation Solution
Implementing an apparatus and method for stack access throttling in synchronous ray tracing to optimize the management of ray-scene intersections, utilizing techniques such as BVH compression, on-demand builders, and priority selection circuitry to enhance the efficiency of ray traversal operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If ray tracing operations traverse and intersect nodes in bounding volume hierarchies (BVHs) to compute ray-scene intersections, then visibility queries and rendering accuracy are improved, but resource consumption and processing time increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the BVH traversal process by separating read-only traversal operations from write operations. Multiple ray tracing operations can simultaneously read from the same BVH stack without conflict, while write operations are carefully managed to avoid bottlenecks. This segmentation enables parallel processing while maintaining data integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-computing and caching BVH traversal results in a read-only cache. This allows subsequent ray tracing operations to benefit from previously computed intersection data, reducing the need to re-traverse the entire BVH and significantly improving real-time performance.
2Productivity
If the same BVH stack is shared across multiple ray tracing operations, then resource utilization improves, but access conflicts and bottlenecks occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the read-only portion of the BVH stack into a separate cache structure that can be simultaneously accessed by multiple ray tracing operations. This separation allows the original stack to be used exclusively for write operations, eliminating read-write conflicts and simplifying access management.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension to BVH stack management by creating a hierarchical structure with a shared read-only cache at one level and operation-specific writable stacks at another level. This multi-level architecture enables efficient resource sharing while maintaining the simplicity of individual stack access patterns.
3Loss of time
If BVH traversal operations are performed in real-time applications, then rendering timeliness is improved, but computational overhead and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary BVH traversal computations and stores the results in a read-only cache before real-time rendering operations. This pre-computation approach significantly reduces the computational workload during real-time execution, lowering both processing time and energy consumption while maintaining rendering quality.
Data Source
AI summary
For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: ray traversal hardware logic to perform traversal operations to traverse rays through a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) comprising a plurality of BVH nodes, the ray traversal hardware logic comprising a plurality of traversal storage banks to store traversal data associated with the BVH nodes and/or the rays as the ray traversal hardware logic performs the traversal operations; and a cache comprising a plurality of cache banks to store the traversal data prior to being moved into the traversal storage banks for processing by the ray traversal hardware logic; and an inter-bank interconnect comprising: a point-to-point switch matrix to couple any of the cache banks to any of the traversal storage banks; an arbiter/allocator to control the point-to-point switch matrix to establish a particular group of interconnections between the cache banks and the traversal storage banks in a given clock cycle.