| Entries |
| Document | Title | Date |
|---|
| 20080211810 | GRAPHIC RENDERING METHOD AND SYSTEM COMPRISING A GRAPHIC MODULE - A method for rendering a three dimensional scene on a displaying screen comprises: generating for a tile of a current scene a hierarchical z-buffer which comprises a plurality of levels organized according to depth values; calculating a minimum depth value d of a submitted primitive; calculating an intersection area associated with said primitive with respect to said tile; providing a multiplicity of aligned regions each associated with a level of the hierarchical z-buffer so that the exact area calculated is suitable to be covered, at least entirely, by the union of such aligned regions; comparing the minimum depth value d of the submitted primitive with corresponding maximum depth values v | 09-04-2008 |
| 20080211811 | Drawing Apparatus for Displaying Image Data About a Plurality of Objects Including Semitransparent Object and Opaque Object on Computer Display Screen - A drawing apparatus which can display image data about a plurality of objects including opaque objects and semitransparent objects, each having information about a depth direction, on a computer display screen. | 09-04-2008 |
| 20080225049 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING A PLURALITY OF STENCIL REFERENCE VALUES FOR A CORRESPONDING PLURALITY OF PIXELS OR PIXEL SAMPLES - Based on a driver programmable stencil reference value command, stencil reference value logic produces a plurality of stencil reference values for a corresponding plurality of pixels or pixel samples. At least one of the plurality of stencil reference values has a different value than at least one other of the plurality of stencil reference values. The driver programmable stencil reference value command may include a reference to instruction data or instruction data itself such that the graphics processing logic produces the plurality of stencil reference values based on the instruction data. Stencil logic performs a stencil test on the produced plurality of stencil reference values with respect to or without reference to a previously produced plurality of stencil values. Stencil logic performs stencil operations based on the result of the stencil test. | 09-18-2008 |
| 20080246764 | Early Z scoreboard tracking system and method - Early Z scoreboard tracking systems and methods in accordance with the present invention are described. Multiple pixels are received and a pixel depth raster operation is performed on the pixels. The pixel depth raster operation comprises discarding a pixel that is occluded. In one exemplary implementation, the depth raster operation is done at a faster rate than a color raster operation. Pixels that pass the depth raster operation are checked for screen coincidence. Pixels with screen coincidence are stalled and pixels without screen coincidence are forwarded to lower stages of the pipeline. The lower stages of the pipeline are programmable and pixel flight time can vary (e.g., can include multiple passes through the lower stages). Execution through the lower stages is directed by a program sequencer which also directs notification to the pixel flight tracking when a pixel is done processing. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20080273033 | Depth Operations - Described are a video graphics system, graphics processor, and methods for rendering three-dimensional objects. A buffer is partitioned into tiles of pixels. Each pixel of each tile includes at least one sample. A primitive is received and determined to fully cover one of the tiles of the buffer. A section of the primitive that maps to the fully covered tile is tested to determine whether that section of the primitive may be drawn in its entirety. A value is stored in the buffer for the fully covered tile in response to determining that the section of the primitive may be drawn in its entirety. The value indicating that every sample of the fully covered tile has a depth value determined by the primitive. | 11-06-2008 |
| 20080284780 | METHOD FOR ENABLING ALPHA-TO-COVERAGE TRANSFORMATION - An alpha-to-coverage transformation is performed by a pixel shader. The pixel shader compares data of a transparency column of a pixel and thresholds of sub-pixels of the pixel to generate a plurality of coverage masks, and stores the plurality of coverage masks in the LSBs of the transparency column of the pixel, and finally update the data of the sub-pixels according to the coverage masks stored in the transparency column of the pixel. A new instruction “a | 11-20-2008 |
| 20080297505 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REAL-TIME 3D VIEWER WITH RAY TRACE ON DEMAND - A computer implemented method of providing a photo-realistic view on demand of a real-time interactive three dimensional simulation, the method comprising: providing a real-time interactive three dimensional simulation; selecting a camera position; and ray tracing the provided real-time interactive three dimensional simulation as a function of the selected camera position, the ray tracing providing the photo-realistic view. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20080297506 | Ray Tracing with Depth Buffered Display - An image is generated that includes ray traced pixel data and rasterized pixel data. A synergistic processing unit (SPU) uses a rendering algorithm to generate ray traced data for objects that require high-quality image rendering. The ray traced data is fragmented, whereby each fragment includes a ray traced pixel depth value and a ray traced pixel color value. A rasterizer compares ray traced pixel depth values to corresponding rasterized pixel depth values, and overwrites ray traced pixel data with rasterized pixel data when the corresponding rasterized fragment is “closer” to a viewing point, which results in composite data. A display subsystem uses the resultant composite data to generate an image on a user's display. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20080309666 | Stereo graphics system based on depth-based image rendering and processing method thereof - A stereo graphics system based on depth-based image rendering is disclosed. A master pipeline renders a first image from graphics data and derives a depth image relating to the first image. A rendering unit accesses the first image and the depth image from the master pipeline and renders a second image based on the first image and the depth image. First and second frame buffers retrieves and stores the first and second images, and a compositor accesses the first and second images from the frame buffers and combines the images to generate a resulting image. | 12-18-2008 |
| 20090002368 | METHOD, APPARATUS AND A COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR UTILIZING A GRAPHICAL PROCESSING UNIT TO PROVIDE DEPTH INFORMATION FOR AUTOSTEREOSCOPIC DISPLAY - A device for generating a 3D image based on 2D graphical content of an image and depth information (i.e., Z-map) to be displayed on a display includes an application processor, a graphical processing unit (GPU), a 3D rendering unit and a display. The application processor is capable of sending 2D graphical content to the GPU, which is stored in memory. The GPU also includes a depth table having predefined depth information corresponding to the 2D graphical content. The GPU includes a depth module which monitors or identifies the 2D graphical content and requests a graphics library to paint a corresponding area in the Z-map that has the same size and position in the Z-map as that of the 2D graphical content. The GPU sends the 2D graphical content and the painted Z-map to a 3D rendering unit which creates a 3D image to be shown on a display. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090027389 | Three-dimensional shape drawing device and three-dimensional shape drawing method - An object is to provide a three-dimensional shape drawing device which is capable of drawing a three-dimensional shape at a high speed. A high order bit comparing section compares high order bits of a depth value retained by a high order Z-buffer memory with high order bits of a depth value calculated by a depth value calculation section. If these two sets of high order bits are same, a low order bit comparing section compares low order bits of the depth value retained by a low order Z-buffer memory with low order bits of the depth value calculated by the depth value calculation section. If a depth indicated by the high order bits of the depth value calculated by the depth value calculation section is shallow, the high order bits of the depth value retained by the high order Z-buffer memory and the low order bits of the depth value retained by the low order Z-buffer memory are updated. If a depth indicated by the low order bits of the depth value calculated by the depth value calculation section is shallow, the low order bits retained by the low order Z-buffer memory are updated. | 01-29-2009 |
| 20090058852 | GRAPHICS PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHODS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS UTILIZING MINIMUM-DEPTH OCCLUSION CULLING AND ZIG-ZAG TRAVERSAL - A plurality of rows of tiles is defined in a graphics display field comprising a plurality of rows of pixels, each tile including pixels from at least two rows of pixels. Occlusion flags for respective tiles of a row of tiles for a graphics primitive are set based on whether respective representative depth values for the tiles of the row of tiles meet an occlusion criterion. Pixels in rows of pixels corresponding to the row of tiles are processed for the graphics primitive in a row-by-row manner responsive to the occlusion flags. The processing may include processing rows of pixels in the row of tiles using a zig-zag traversal algorithm. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20090066693 | Encoding A Depth Map Into An Image Using Analysis Of Two Consecutive Captured Frames - A computer implemented method of calculating and encoding depth data from captured image data is disclosed. In one operation, the computer implemented method captures two successive frames of image data through a single image capture device. In another operation, differences between a first frame of image data and a second frame of the image data are determined. In still another operation, a depth map is calculated when pixel data of the first frame of the image data is compared to pixel data of the second frame of the image data. In another operation, the depth map is encoded into a header of the first frame of image data. | 03-12-2009 |
| 20090085914 | No-reference video quality model - Methods and apparatus relating to video analysis are described. In an embodiment, a method comprises determining desirable features of the video content values, determining undesirable features of the video content values, constructing a quality model using the desirable features and the undesirable features, and storing the quality model in a memory module. Other embodiments are also described. | 04-02-2009 |
| 20090091569 | Apparatus and Method for Processing Pixel Depth Information - An apparatus for rendering an image includes a command binning module. The command binning module generates binned image information by classifying command information into bins that each correspond to a display tile of an image to be rendered. The command binning module generates image depth information for each display tile based on the binned command information. | 04-09-2009 |
| 20090102842 | CLIPPING GEOMETRIES IN RAY-CASTING - A computer implemented method for creating a depth range buffer for supporting clipping geometries for ray-casting includes inputting image data, establishing a depth range buffer for specifying a start and an end point of each ray, computing a near depth of the image data corresponding to the start point of each ray, computing a far depth of the image data corresponding to the end point of each ray, clipping the volume by restricting ray-casting within the start and end points of the depth range buffer, and rendering a portion of the image data corresponding to the visible depth range. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090109218 | SYSTEM FOR SUPPORTING RECOGNITION OF AN OBJECT DRAWN IN AN IMAGE - A system including a memory device that stores, in association with each of a plurality of areas obtained by dividing an input image, an feature amount of an object drawn in the area; a selection section that selects a range of the input image to be recognized by a user based on an instruction therefrom; a calculation section that reads the feature amount corresponding to each area contained in the selected range from the memory device, and calculates an index value based on each read feature amount; and a control section that controls a device which acts on an acoustic sense or a touch sense based on the calculated index value. | 04-30-2009 |
| 20090160857 | Unified Compression/Decompression Graphics Architecture - A unified compression/decompression architecture is disclosed for reducing memory bandwidth requirements in 3D graphics processing applications. The techniques described erase several distinctions between a texture (compressed once, and decompressed many times), and buffers (compressed and decompressed repeatedly during rendering of an image). An exemplary method for processing graphics data according to one or more embodiments of the invention thus begins with the updating of one or more tiles of a first image array, which are then compressed, using a real-time buffer compression algorithm, to obtain compressed image array tiles. The compressed image array tiles are stored for subsequent use as a texture. During real-time rendering of a second image array, the compressed image array tiles are retrieved and decompressed using a decompression algorithm corresponding to the buffer compression algorithm. The decompressed image array tiles are then applied as a texture to one or more primitives in the second image array. | 06-25-2009 |
| 20090179894 | Computing system capable of parallelizing the operation of multiple graphics processing pipelines (GPPLS) - A computing system capable of parallelizing the operation of multiple graphics processing pipelines (GPPLs), and including one or more CPUs, in communication with a memory space, and a parallel graphics processing subsystem (PGPS) supporting an object-division mode of parallel operation including at least four stages, namely, decomposition, distribution, rendering and recomposition. The PGPS includes a plurality of graphic processing pipelines (GPPLs), wherein each GPPL includes a color frame buffer and Z depth buffer. Within each GPPL, a partial complementary-type color image of the | 07-16-2009 |
| 20090184959 | Method and apparatus for rendering - A rendering apparatus and method are provided. The rendering method includes: reading a block, corresponding to a fragment, from among compressed blocks stored in a depth buffer, by considering frequency information corresponding to the fragment and prepared in advance; and performing a depth test for the fragment by considering the restored block. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090184960 | System and Methods for Rendering Transparent Surfaces in High Depth Complexity Scenes Using Hybrid and Coherent Layer Peeling - Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for rendering three-dimensional scenes including transparent surfaces are described, including two techniques for efficient rendering of transparent surfaces that exploit partial ordering in the scene geometry. The first (hybrid layer peeling) may combine unordered meshes with ordered meshes in an efficient way, and may be well suited for rendering scenes such as volumes with embedded transparent meshes. The second (coherent layer peeling) may efficiently detect and render correctly sorted fragment sequences for a given pixel in one iteration, allowing for a smaller number of passes than traditional depth peeling. Pre-sorting and/or periodic sorting of some or all of the surfaces in a scene may be performed, but perfect sorting may not be required. The methods may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof, such as by program instructions executable on one or more CPUs and/or GPUs. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090195542 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS - In an image processing apparatus using a read buffer, in a case where access request target data is not stored in the read buffer, the read buffer is controlled such that data corresponding to a position having coordinates, which is most distant from a position having coordinates corresponding to the access request target data, is discarded or replaced. Consequently, the image processing apparatus increases the probability that data corresponding to a position close to a position corresponding to the access request target data remains in the read buffer. Accordingly, the hit rate of the read buffer is increased. Thus, the frequency of access to an external memory can be reduced. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090251463 | IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD AND INFORMATION STORAGE MEDIUM - To provide an image processing device capable of simplifying a process for highlight expression. The present invention relates to an image processing device for displaying a picture obtained by viewing a virtual three dimensional space from a given viewpoint. According to the present invention, a first object (an inner surface object ( | 10-08-2009 |
| 20090322746 | RATIONAL Z-BUFFER FOR DECREASING A LIKELIHOOD OF Z-BUFFER COLLISIONS - A “Rational Z-Buffer” provides various techniques for reducing artifacts when rendering graphics using z-buffers. In particular, the Rational Z-Buffer reduces the likelihood of z-buffer collisions when using hardware or software z-buffer algorithms to render graphics by delaying homogenous division of pixels until after occlusion testing. Further, occlusion testing between any two pixels, p | 12-31-2009 |
| 20090322747 | Graphics processing with hidden surface removal - The rapid depth testing for hidden surface removal in graphics processing may be achieved by depth testing representative pixels of a group of pixels. In one embodiment, the worst case pixels of a group of pixels can be identified. The worst case pixels can then be compared to worst case values stored in a hierarchical Z-buffer. Depending on the results, the entire set of pixels of the group may pass or fail the depth test. As a result, in some cases, it is not necessary to depth test every pixel. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20100073368 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO DETERMINE CONSERVATIVE VIEW CELL OCCLUSION - Methods and systems to determine view cell occlusion, including to project objects of a 3-dimensional graphics environment to a 2-dimensional image plane with respect to the view point, to reduce sizes of corresponding object images, to generate an occluder map from the reduced-size object images, to compare at least a portion of the object images to the occluder map, and to identify an object as occluded with respect to the view cell when pixel depth values of the object image are greater than corresponding pixel depth values of the occluder map. Methods and systems to reduce an object image size include methods and systems to nullify pixel depth values within a radius of an edge pixel, and to determine the radius as a distance from the edge pixel to a second pixel so that a line between the view point and the second pixel is parallel with one or more of a line and a plane that is tangential to a sphere enclosing the view cell and a point on the object that corresponds to the edge pixel. | 03-25-2010 |
| 20100128034 | Apparatus and method for processing three dimensional image on multi-layer display - An apparatus and method of processing three-dimensional (3D) images on a multi-layer display may generate virtual depth information based on original depth information, and display 3D images having various depth values using the generated virtual depth information. Also, the apparatus and method may appropriately provide color information to each of a plurality of display layers, thereby preventing an original image from being damaged. | 05-27-2010 |
| 20100128035 | METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND DATA STRUCTURES FOR GENERATING A RASTERIZER - Methods, systems and data structures produce a rasterizer. A graphical state is detected on a machine architecture. The graphical state is used for assembling a shell rasterizer. The machine architecture is used for selecting replacement logic that replaces portions of shell logic in the shell rasterizer. The machine architecture is used for selectively inserting memory management logic into portions of the shell logic to produce. | 05-27-2010 |
| 20100194747 | Dynamic Fragment Coverage Antialiasing - The following discloses antialiasing systems and methods. Information about one or more fragments or primitives in a pixel area may be dynamically stored. The stored information may include, for example, depth, color, location and coverage. The coverage and depth information may be tracked at a higher frequency across the pixel than the number of fragments or primitives. Fragments or primitives that enter into a pixel area may be compared with fragments or primitives that have been stored. The comparisons may be based on depth and coverage. Either the incoming fragment or the stored fragment may be deleted based on the comparisons. Information associated with fragments that are preserved may be sampled at any location associated with their coverage area of a pixel. Fragments or primitives that are not discarded may be preserved for a final resolve process, which may incorporate information available from neighboring pixel areas. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100214292 | RENDERING PROCESSING APPARATUS AND COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM HAVING RENDERING PROCESSING PROGRAM STORED THEREIN - In an image processing for rendering a three-dimensional virtual space by using a perspective projection transformation and a depth comparison that uses a Z buffer, firstly, polygons to be rendered in a rendering process of one frame are classified into a first-type polygon and a second-type polygon. Next, the rendering process is performed for the first-type polygon. Subsequently, at least one of a near value and a far value of a clip space is set to a value different from a value used in the rendering process for the first-type polygon. The rendering process for the second-type polygon is performed by using the clip space having at least one of the far value and the near value having been set to the value different from the value used in the rendering process for the first-type polygon. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100231588 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RENDERING INSTANCE GEOMETRY - A method and apparatus for rendering instance geometry whereby all culling, level of detail (LOD) and scene management is performed directly on a GPU. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100253682 | IMAGE GENERATING APPARATUS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM - The present invention relates to an image generating apparatus for generating an image from a viewpoint specified by a user. According to the invention, the apparatus has a storage unit that stores a plurality of pre-images from viewpoints on predetermined lines and depth maps indicating a depth value of each pixel of a corresponding pre-image, and an image generating unit that generates a first image from a first viewpoint based on the pre-images and depth maps. | 10-07-2010 |
| 20100295851 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RENDERING SHADOWS - A method including identifying a set of shadow casters and a set of shadow receivers in a frame of a scene lighted by at least a first light source, constructing a first 3D grid from the first light source's point of view fully enclosing a first volume of the scene, projecting each of the one or more shadow casters and growing each cell of the first 3D grid that includes one or more projected casters. Constructing a second 3D grid from the first light source's point of view fully enclosing the first volume and growing each cell of the second 3D grid that includes at least a portion of one or more shadow receivers and for which a corresponding cell of the first 3D grid has been grown. Forming a third 3D grid by intersecting the first 3D grid with the second 3D grid and marking for rendering into a shadow map each shadow caster that intersects the third 3D grid. | 11-25-2010 |
| 20110090222 | VISUALIZATION OF SCARING ON CARDIAC SURFACE - A method for imaging a myocardial surface includes receiving an image volume. A myocardial surface is segmented within the received image volume. A polygon mesh of the segmented myocardial surface is extracted. A surface texture is calculated from voxel information taken along a path normal to the surface of the myocardium. A view of the myocardial surface is rendered using the calculated surface texture. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110090223 | CREATING AND VIEWING THREE DIMENSIONAL VIRTUAL SLIDES - Systems and methods for creating and viewing three dimensional digital slides are provided. One or more microscope slides are positioned in an image acquisition device that scans the specimens on the slides and makes two dimensional images at a medium or high resolution. These two dimensional digital slide images are provided to an image viewing workstation where they are viewed by an operator who pans and zooms the two dimensional image and selects an area of interest for scanning at multiple depth levels (Z-planes). The image acquisition device receives a set of parameters for the multiple depth level scan, including a location and a depth. The image acquisition device then scans the specimen at the location in a series of Z-plane images, where each Z-plane image corresponds to a depth level portion of the specimen within the depth parameter. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110298801 | VIEW GENERATION USING INTERPOLATED VALUES - Images provide rich information regarding what they depict. For example, an image may have additional information, such as depth and/or 3D location values, for some points within the image. It may be advantageous to extrapolate the values from the valued points to the entire image because a new view of the image may be generated based upon values of points. Accordingly, an interpolated image may be generated by interpolating values for unvalued points based upon values of valued points. In particular, a set of valued points having desired cost paths may be determined for an unvalued point. A model may be applied to the set of valued points to interpolate a value for the unvalued point. One or more interpolated images may be projected onto a new view. In particular, points within an interpolated image may be projected onto locations within the new view based upon values of the points. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20120075305 | GRAPHIC FOR USE IN DETERMINING A CHARACTERISTIC OF A CONSUMABLE - A graphic may include a consumable and having optically encoded information. | 03-29-2012 |
| 20120212488 | GRAPHIC PROCESSOR AND METHOD OF EARLY TESTING VISIBILITY OF PIXELS - A graphic processor includes a rasterizer configured to process vertex data to generate fragment data based on a maximum depth value, a minimum depth value, and a mask bit of each pixel included in one tile, each mask bit indicating whether each pixel is drawn or not, the vertex data including three dimensional information of the pixels, a pixel shader configured to process the fragment data to generate color data, and a raster operation unit configured to convert the color data to pixel data to be displayed. | 08-23-2012 |
| 20120212489 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TILE BASED DEPTH BUFFER COMPRESSION - A method and apparatus are provided for compressing depth buffer data in a three dimensional computer graphics system. The depth buffer data is divided into a plurality of rectangular tiles corresponding to rectangular areas in an associated image. The number of starting point locations in a tile are identified and a difference in depth value determined between each starting point and depth values of each of at least two further locations. Using this information depth values are predicted at a plurality of other locations in the tile and where these predicated values substantially match an actual depth value at location is assigned to a plane associated with respective starting point. Starting point location depth value difference data and plane assignment data for each tile and locations in the tile not assigned to a plane, then stored. | 08-23-2012 |
| 20120218266 | STORAGE MEDIUM HAVING STORED THEREIN DISPLAY CONTROL PROGRAM, DISPLAY CONTROL APPARATUS, DISPLAY CONTROL SYSTEM, AND DISPLAY CONTROL METHOD - In a game apparatus, firstly, a depth value in accordance with a state of a virtual three-dimensional space is obtained. Then, an image for left eye and an image for right eye which are obtained by shifting a two-dimensional object that does not exist within the virtual three-dimensional space by a shift amount in accordance with the depth value are synthesized with an image for left eye and an image for right eye which are obtained by capturing the three-dimensional object by a virtual stereo camera, respectively, and the respective synthesized images are rendered, thereby a stereoscopic image is generated. The stereoscopic image obtained as above is outputted to an upper LCD. | 08-30-2012 |
| 20120229463 | 3D IMAGE VISUAL EFFECT PROCESSING METHOD - The present invention discloses a 3D image visual effect processing method comprising the steps of providing a 3D image, and the 3D image being composed of a plurality of objects, and each of the objects having object coordinates; providing a cursor, and the cursor having cursor coordinates; determining whether or not the cursor coordinates are coincident with the object coordinates of one of the objects; changing a depth coordinate parameter corresponding to the object coordinates of the plurality of object, if the cursor coordinates are coincident with the object coordinates of one of the objects; and redrawing an image of the object matched with the cursor coordinates. Therefore, the invention can highlight the 3D image of an image corresponding to the cursor to enhance the visual effect and interaction. | 09-13-2012 |
| 20130083022 | HYBRID HIDDEN-LINE PROCESSOR AND METHOD - A method for providing hybrid hidden-line processing for a plurality of polygons representing tessellated image data, wherein each polygon comprises a plurality of edges, is provided. The method includes generating a back-facing plate comprising polygons on a back-facing side of a silhouette of the tessellated image data and a front-facing plate comprising polygons on a front-facing side of the silhouette of the tessellated image data. The method includes tracing the edges and identifying at least one visibility change pixel in each of a subset of the traced edges. The method includes, for each visibility change pixel, determining whether the traced edge is from the same plate as a polygon corresponding to the visibility change pixel. The method includes, for each traced edge that is determined to be from the same plate as the polygon corresponding to the visibility change pixel, displaying the traced edge. | 04-04-2013 |
| 20130127855 | Stenciled Layer Peeling Graphics Processing - A method, system, and computer-readable storage medium are disclosed for rendering an artwork comprising a plurality of surfaces, wherein the plurality of surfaces comprises a plurality of semi-transparent surfaces unsorted in depth. An identifier of the nearest semi-transparent surface may be determined and stored in a stencil count of a stencil buffer. The depth of the second nearest semi-transparent surface may be determined using a stencil test based on the stencil count to bypass the nearest semi-transparent surface. The second nearest semi-transparent surface may be rendered to an image buffer, and the nearest semi-transparent surface may be rendered to the image buffer. | 05-23-2013 |
| 20130176309 | IMAGING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR IMAGING HIDDEN OBJECTS - An imaging device that segments a data set into one or more data sub-sets, each data sub-set comprising a plurality of measurement values of one or more neighboring spots; determines, per pixel, costs for the measurement values acquired at a position corresponding to a position of the pixel determines a pixel value for a pixel by determining a label value from a set of label values; and selects the measurement value at the spot indicated by the determined label as the pixel value. | 07-11-2013 |
| 20130181991 | Five-Dimensional Occlusion Queries - A standard occlusion query (OQ) may be generalized to five dimensions, which can be used for motion blurred, defocused, occlusion culling. As such, the occlusion query concept is generalized so that it can be used within 5D rasterization, which is used for rendering of motion blur and depth of field. For 5D rasterization, occlusion culling may be done with OQs as well, applied to solve other rendering related problems. | 07-18-2013 |
| 20130194264 | UNTRANSFORMED DISPLAY LISTS IN A TILE BASED RENDERING SYSTEM - A three-dimensional computer graphics rendering system allows a tile-based rendering system to operate with a reduced amount of storage required for tiled screen space geometry by using an untransformed display list to represent the screen's geometry. | 08-01-2013 |
| 20130207977 | Method and Apparatus for Rendering Translucent and Opaque Objects - A method and an apparatus provided for rendering three-dimensional computer graphic images which include both translucent and opaque objects. A list of objects which may be visible in the images is determined and for each pixel in the list a determination is made as to whether or not the object in the list may be visible at that pixel. A data tag is stored for a transparent object determined to be visible at the pixel, and the data tag and object data are passed to a texturing and shading unit when the translucent object is determined to be overwriting the location in the tag buffer already occupied by another data tag. | 08-15-2013 |
| 20130265305 | Compressed Depth Cache - A depth cache keeps the depth data in compressed format when possible. This involves a more flexible cache implementation, where a tile may occupy a variable amount of cache lines depending on whether it can be compressed or not. One advantage of some embodiments this depth cache is that the effective cache size increases proportionally to the compression ratio. The memory bandwidth can be reduced, compared to a system compressing the data after the cache in some embodiments. Alternatively, pre-cache compression may increase the effective cache size by a factor of two or more, compared to a post-cache compressor, at equal or higher performance. | 10-10-2013 |
| 20130286015 | Optimal depth mapping - A method for providing optimal correction to depth mapping between captured and displayed stereoscopic content. The solution is derived in a continuous form that can be implemented through CGI scaling techniques compatible with image rendering techniques. Similar correction can be implemented with variable depth-dependent camera separation and disparity re-mapping. The latter is applicable to correcting existing stereoscopic content. | 10-31-2013 |
| 20130328873 | FORWARD RENDERING PIPELINE WITH LIGHT CULLING - A method for enhanced forward rendering is disclosed which includes a depth pre-pass, light culling and a final shading. The depth pre-pass minimizes the cost of final shading by avoiding high pixel overdraw. The light culling stage calculates a list of light indices overlapping a pixel. The light indices are calculated on a per-tile basis, where the screen has been split into units of tiles. The final shading evaluates materials using information stored for each light. The forward rendering method may be executed on a processor, such as a single graphics processing unit (GPU) for example. | 12-12-2013 |
| 20140085300 | Stochastic Depth Buffer Compression Using Generalized Plane Encoding - Unlike a static primitive, where the depth function is planar, the depth function for a moving and defocused triangle is a rational function in time and the lens parameters. Compact depth functions can be used to design an efficient depth buffer compressor/decompressor, which significantly lowers total depth buffer bandwidth usage. In addition, this compressor/decompressor is substantially simpler in the number of operations needed to execute, which makes it more amenable for hardware implementation than previous methods. | 03-27-2014 |
| 20140085301 | IMAGE GENERATION APPARATUS, IMAGE GENERATION METHOD, IMAGE GENERATION PROGRAM, AND INTEGRATED CIRCUIT - An image generation apparatus that renders a target pixel in a target scene by using Z-buffering, comprising: a unit that calculates a statistical value indicating distribution characteristics of Z depth values in a predetermined scene; a unit that, by using the statistical value, converts a Z depth value for the target pixel into a converted Z depth value; a unit that generates a first Z depth value for the target pixel by using the converted Z depth value and generates a second Z depth value for the target pixel by using the converted Z depth value or the Z depth value for the target pixel; and a unit that performs a first comparison using the first Z depth value as one comparison subject and, only when the first comparison cannot be successfully performed, performs a second comparison using the second Z depth value as one comparison subject. | 03-27-2014 |
| 20140098096 | DEPTH TEXTURE DATA STRUCTURE FOR RENDERING AMBIENT OCCLUSION AND METHOD OF EMPLOYMENT THEREOF - A graphics processing subsystem operable to efficiently render an ambient occlusion texture. In one embodiment, the graphics processing subsystem includes: (1) a memory configured to store a depth data structure according to which a full-resolution depth texture is represented by a plurality of unique reduced-resolution depth sub-textures, and (2) a graphics processing unit configured to communicate with the memory via a data bus, and, for a given pixel, execute a program to employ the plurality of unique reduced-resolution depth sub-textures to compute a plurality of coarse ambient occlusion textures, and to render the plurality of coarse ambient occlusion textures as a single full-resolution ambient occlusion texture for the given pixel. | 04-10-2014 |
| 20140111512 | BUFFER CLEARING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COMPUTER GRAPHICS - According to one exemplary embodiment of a buffer clearing apparatus for computer graphics, a buffer clearing (BC) hardware agent is configured to interface between one or more system buses and a memory controller, to execute one or more frame buffer clearing operations while performing memory access or power of buffer-related operations at the same time. The BC hardware agent keeps track of a plurality of status to read from and/or write to a frame buffer. When the frame buffer is to be cleared, the BC hardware agent clears a clear tag table. When a background pixel of the frame buffer is to be read, the BC hardware agent returns a background value stored in itself. | 04-24-2014 |
| 20140118347 | TWO-PASS CACHE TILE PROCESSING FOR VISIBILITY TESTING IN A TILE-BASED ARCHITECTURE - One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a graphics processing system. The graphics processing system includes a screen-space pipeline and a tiling unit. The screen-space pipeline is configured to perform visibility testing and fragment shading. The tiling unit is configured to determine that a first set of primitives overlaps a first cache tile. The tiling unit is also configured to first transmit the first set of primitives to the screen-space pipeline with a command configured to cause the screen-space pipeline to process the first set of primitives in a z-only mode, and then transmit the first set of primitives to the screen-space pipeline with a command configured to cause the screen-space pipeline to process the first set of primitives in a normal mode. In the z-only mode, at least some fragment shading operations are disabled in the screen-space pipeline. In the normal mode, fragment shading operations are enabled. | 05-01-2014 |
| 20140118348 | HIGHER ACCURACY Z-CULLING IN A TILE-BASED ARCHITECTURE - A graphics processing pipeline configured for z-cull operations. The graphics processing pipeline comprising a screen-space pipeline and a tiling unit. The screen-space pipeline includes a z-cull unit configured to perform z-culling operations. The tiling unit is configured to determine that a first set of primitives overlaps a first cache tile. The tiling unit is also configured to transmit the first set of primitives to the screen-space pipeline for processing. The tiling unit is further configured to select between processing the first set of primitives in a full-surface z-cull mode or processing the first set of primitives in a partial-surface z-cull mode. The tiling unit is also configured to cause the z-cull unit to process the first set of primitives in the full-surface z-cull mode or to process the first set of primitives in the partial-surface z-cull mode. | 05-01-2014 |
| 20140139524 | Depth Buffering - In accordance with some embodiments, depth values may be split into more and less significant bits. By so doing, some processing can be done based only on the more significant bits. Where the number of more significant bits is significantly less than the total number of bits, some memory bandwidth can be preserved. In other words, by only using the more significant bits for some of the depth buffering operations, memory bandwidth usage can be reduced, improving efficiency. | 05-22-2014 |
| 20140146045 | SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR SAMPLING A HIERARCHICAL DEPTH MAP - A system, process, and computer program product are provided for sampling a hierarchical depth map. An approach for sampling the hierarchical depth map includes the steps of generating a hierarchical depth map and reading a value associated with a sample pixel from a target level of the hierarchical depth map based on a difference between the sample pixel and a target pixel. The hierarchical depth map includes at least two levels. | 05-29-2014 |
| 20140267257 | Smooth Draping Layer for Rendering Vector Data on Complex Three Dimensional Objects - Systems and methods for rendering vector data in conjunction with a three-dimensional model are provided. In particular, a smooth transparent draping layer can be generated and rendered overlaying the three-dimensional model. The vector data can be texture mapped to the smooth transparent draping layer such that the vector data appears to be located along a surface in the three-dimensional model. The three-dimensional model can be a model of a geographic area and can include terrain geometry that models the terrain of the geographic area and building geometry that models buildings, bridges, and other objects in the geographic area. The smooth transparent draping layer can conform to the surfaces defined by the terrain geometry. The vector data can be texture mapped to the smooth transparent draping layer such that the vector data appears to be located along the surface of the terrain geometry but can be occluded by the building geometry. | 09-18-2014 |
| 20140267258 | Hidden Culling in Tile-Based Computer Generated Images - A method and system is provided for culling hidden objects in a tile-based graphics system before they are indicated in a display list for a tile. A rendering space is divided into a plurality of regions which may for example be a plurality of tiles or a plurality of areas into which one or more tiles are divided. Depth thresholds for the regions, which are used to identify hidden objects for culling, are updated when an object entirely covers a region and in dependence on a comparison between a depth value for the object and the depth threshold for the region. For example, if the depth threshold is a maximum depth threshold, the depth threshold may be updated if an object entirely covers the tile and the maximum depth value of the object is less than the maximum depth threshold. | 09-18-2014 |
| 20140292754 | EASY SELECTION THRESHOLD - A method, system, and computer readable storage medium/computer program product provide the ability to select an object in a three-dimensional (3D) scene. A 3D scene is displayed and consists of a first object that is displayed in the foreground and a second object that is occluded or partially occluded by the first object. An object selection option is activated. A transparency threshold value is defined for the first object. A location in the displayed 3D scene is selected. Such a location is located on a portion of the first object that occludes the second object. Based on the transparency threshold value and the location, either the first object or the second object is selected and displayed in a visually distinguishable manner. | 10-02-2014 |
| 20140306957 | REGIONAL COMPOSITING - A method for regional compositing includes compositing a plurality of video planes and at least one graphics plane. Graphics elements of the at least one graphics plane may be stored into a single graphics plane. A rectangle may be associated to one or more graphics elements of the single graphics plane. A Z-order of the plurality of video planes and the at least one graphics plane may be determined according to rectangular regions defined by rectangles associated with graphics elements of the single graphics plane. A pixel-by-pixel Z-order may be performed based on the determined Z-order of the plurality of video planes and the at least one graphics plane. | 10-16-2014 |
| 20140306958 | STEREOSCOPIC RENDERING SYSTEM - A stereoscopic rendering system is disclosed that comprises a depth buffer having at least two depth buffer portions respectively corresponding to different views of a scene, the depth buffer arranged to store depth values indicative of the depth of pixels in a scene, and the depth buffer portions having different associated depth value ranges so that the different depth buffer portions are distinguishable from each other. The system also includes an image buffer arranged to store information indicative of an image to be displayed. The system is arranged to apply a different depth test for each view of the scene such that only pixels of the view that spatially correspond to the depth buffer portion associated with the view are rendered to the image buffer. The image rendered into the image buffer comprises image portions respectively spatially corresponding to the different depth buffer portions and the different views of the scene. | 10-16-2014 |
| 20140320494 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, COMPUTER READABLE NON-TRANSITORY RECORDING MEDIUM AND IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM - Provided is an image processing apparatus the calculation cost of which is low. The image processing apparatus is provided with a control means that sets a plurality of planes that form a layer in at least one direction in three dimensional space, sets one plane among the planes as a reference plane, and forms an image on the basis of the relationship between the positions of a visual axis and the reference plane. | 10-30-2014 |
| 20140333620 | GRAPHIC PROCESSING UNIT, GRAPHIC PROCESSING SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME AND RENDERING METHOD USING THE SAME - A graphic processing unit, a graphic processing system comprising the same, and a rendering method using the same. The graphic processing unit includes a geometry processing unit configured to receive a vertex and to output a primitive and information about texture patches corresponding to the primitive using the vertex, and a rendering processing unit configured to convert the output primitive into a fragment and to perform fragment shading on the converted fragment, wherein the texture patch indexed by the texture patch information is pre-loaded to the rendering processing unit before the fragment shading is performed. | 11-13-2014 |
| 20140354641 | METHODS OF AND APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING DEPTH DATA - A tile-based graphics processing system | 12-04-2014 |
| 20150015578 | CREATING AND VIEWING THREE DIMENSIONAL VIRTUAL SLIDES - Systems and methods for creating and viewing three dimensional digital slides are provided. One or more microscope slides are positioned in an image acquisition device that scans the specimens on the slides and makes two dimensional images at a medium or high resolution. These two dimensional digital slide images are provided to an image viewing workstation where they are viewed by an operator who pans and zooms the two dimensional image and selects an area of interest for scanning at multiple depth levels (Z-planes). The image acquisition device receives a set of parameters for the multiple depth level scan, including a location and a depth. The image acquisition device then scans the specimen at the location in a series of Z-plane images, where each Z-plane image corresponds to a depth level portion of the specimen within the depth parameter. | 01-15-2015 |
| 20150022519 | PIXEL SERIALIZATION TO IMPROVE CONSERVATIVE DEPTH ESTIMATION - One embodiment includes determining a first z-range for a first portion of a coarse raster tile, where the first portion includes a plurality of pixels having a first set of pixel locations, retrieving from a memory a corresponding z-range related to a second set of pixel locations associated with the coarse raster tile, where the first set of pixel locations comprises a subset of the second set of pixel locations, and comparing the first z-range to the corresponding z-range to determine whether the plurality of pixels is occluded. If the plurality of pixels determined to be occluded, then the plurality of pixels is culled. If the plurality of pixels is determined to not be occluded, then the plurality of pixels is transmitted to a fine raster unit for further processing. The coarse raster tile comprises a plurality of portions, including the first portion, and those portions are processed serially. | 01-22-2015 |
| 20150097831 | EARLY DEPTH TESTING IN GRAPHICS PROCESSING - An apparatus and method for processing graphics primitives for display is disclosed. The apparatus comprises in sequence: rasterization circuitry, depth testing circuitry and rendering circuitry. The depth testing circuitry determines if a selected graphics fragment would be obscured when displayed by comparing a depth comparison function and a depth value associated with the selected graphics fragment with a stored depth value. The depth testing circuitry is configured to suppress rendering operations with respect to the selected graphics fragment if the depth testing indicates that the selected graphics fragment would be obscured. The depth testing circuitry is configured to store an update indication in dependence on a received depth comparison function, wherein the update indication shows a possible change direction due to the updating for a stored depth value which depends on that received depth comparison function. The depth testing circuitry is configured to perform the depth testing with respect to the selected graphics fragment using the possible change direction shown by the update indication to modify the depth comparison function to allow for the updating of the stored depth value by the rendering operations. | 04-09-2015 |
| 20150109293 | SELECTIVELY MERGING PARTIALLY-COVERED TILES TO PERFORM HIERARCHICAL Z-CULLING - This disclosure describes techniques for performing hierarchical z-culling in a graphics processing system. In some examples, the techniques for performing hierarchical z-culling may involve selectively merging partially-covered source tiles for a tile location into a fully-covered merged source tile based on whether conservative farthest z-values for the partially-covered source tiles are nearer than a culling z-value for the tile location, and using a conservative farthest z-value associated with the fully-covered merged source tile to update the culling z-value for the tile location. In further examples, the techniques for performing hierarchical z-culling may use a cache unit that is not associated with an underlying memory to store conservative farthest z-values and coverage masks for merged source tiles. The capacity of the cache unit may be smaller than the size of cache needed to store merged source tile data for all of the tile locations in a render target. | 04-23-2015 |
| 20150123968 | OCCLUSION RENDER MECHANISM FOR POINT CLOUDS - A method, apparatus, system, article of manufacture, and computer readable storage medium provide the ability to render point cloud data. After obtaining point cloud data, polygons are fit to the point cloud data. A texture atlas is created for each of the polygons. A lookup table is generated from the texture atlases and maps each pixel to a corresponding texture location. When a scene is loaded for rendering/processing, the polygons and texture atlas are loaded and projected into an off-screen buffer that defines a depth map of the scene with approximations of a depth per pixel in screen space. The off-screen buffer is used as a lookup table to determine texture data to be rendered for the scene. | 05-07-2015 |
| 20150130802 | FORWARD PIXEL KILLING - A graphics processing apparatus and method of graphics processing is disclosed. Obscuration identification circuitry is configured to receive graphics fragments from rasterization circuitry and to identify an obscuration condition if a received graphics fragment, in combination with at least one previously received graphics fragment, will obscure at least one further previously received graphics fragment. Process killing circuitry is configured to prevent further processing occurring in the graphics processing apparatus with respect to the at least one further previously received graphics fragment if the obscuration identification circuitry identifies the obscuration condition. | 05-14-2015 |
| 20150310660 | COMPUTER GRAPHICS WITH ENHANCED DEPTH EFFECT - Systems and methods for processing three-dimensional graphics depicting a sequence of motion with an enhanced illusion of depth are described. The graphics may include three-dimensional content mapped to a two dimensional viewing window with an additional reference image rendered onto the viewing window. The reference image may be defined at one or more portions of the viewing window and rendered as occluding the content or being occluded by the content depending on the depth of the content at each portion of the viewing window. | 10-29-2015 |
| 20150363969 | Setting A Display List Pointer for Primitives in a Tile-Based Graphics Processing System - A tiling unit assigning primitives to tiles in a graphics processing system which has a rendering space subdivided into a plurality of tiles. A primitive is assigned to a tile by including a primitive ID of the primitive in a display list for the tile. If a primitive, or a mesh of primitives entirely covers a tile such that all of the previous primitives in the tile are obscured (i.e. hidden) then a start pointer of the display list can be moved to thereby skip the obscured primitives. In this way, a hidden surface removal (HSR) module will not fetch the primitives which would ultimately be hidden by the primitive or the mesh which entirely covers the region. This method therefore reduces the number of primitives which are fetched by the HSR module. | 12-17-2015 |
| 20150365647 | Automultiscopic Display with Viewpoint Tracking and Scalability for Multiple Views - In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for efficiently rendering and displaying multiple images on an electronic device having an automultiscopic display may generally include detecting, with the electronic device, a position of at least one eye relative to the automultiscopic display. The automultiscopic display may include an array of multipixels, with each multipixel including a plurality of sub-multipixels. In addition, the method may include rendering a viewpoint-specific image for each detected eye position and selectively coloring at least one sub-multipixel within one or more of the multipixels such that colors associated with the rendered viewpoint-specific image are only displayed within a multipixel display zone defined for each of the one or more multipixels with respect to each detected eye position. | 12-17-2015 |
| 20150371433 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR ESTABLISHING THE FRONTIER BETWEEN OBJECTS OF A SCENE IN A DEPTH MAP - A method and device for establishing a frontier between a first object and at least a second object of a scene in the space of a depth map, at least a part of the first object and at least a part of the at least a second object being visible from the point of view associated with the depth map through a set ( | 12-24-2015 |
| 20150379764 | ELIMINATION OF MINIMAL USE THREADS VIA QUAD MERGING - Fragment merging is performed on a draw call basis. One application is for quad merging. Primitives of the same draw call have many common attributes, such as a graphics state, which facilitates merging of quad fragments. Partially covered quad fragments of the same draw call are considered for possible merging and at least one merge test performed. The merge test may include error tests such as a level of detail error test, interpolated depth, and an interpolation error test. | 12-31-2015 |
| 20160005208 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING EARLY DEPTH PROCESSING AND POST DEPTH PROCESSING - A depth processing apparatus includes a depth buffer, an early depth processing circuit, a post depth processing circuit, and a depth processing controller. The depth buffer stores depth information of a plurality of pixels of a screen space. The early depth processing circuit performs early depth processing based on at least a portion of the depth information before a pixel shading stage. The post depth processing circuit performs post depth processing based on at least a portion of the depth information after the pixel shading stage. The depth processing controller manages a plurality of dependency indication values corresponding to a plurality of sub-regions in the screen space, respectively, and configured to control a first pixel for undergoing at least one of the early depth processing and the post depth processing by referring a first dependency indication value of a first sub-region in which the first pixel is located. | 01-07-2016 |
| 20160005214 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF REDUCING TRANSMISSION BANDWIDTH REQUIRED FOR VISIBILITY-EVENT STREAMING OF INTERACTIVE AND NON-INTERACTIVE CONTENT - In an exemplary embodiment, a computer-implemented method determines a set of mesh polygons or fragments of the mesh polygons visible from a navigation cell. The method includes determining a composite view frustum containing predetermined view frusta and determining mesh polygons contained in the composite view frustum. The method includes determining at least one supporting polygon between the navigation cell and the contained mesh polygons. The method further includes constructing at least one wedge from the at least one supporting polygon, the at least one wedge extending away from the navigation cell beyond at least the contained mesh polygons. The method includes determining one or more intersections of the at least one wedge with the contained mesh polygons. The method also includes determining the set of the contained mesh polygons or fragments of the contained mesh polygons visible from the navigation cell using the determined one or more intersections. | 01-07-2016 |
| 20160005215 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REPRESENTING CORDINATE VALUES OF BOUNDING BOX OF OBJECT - Provided are a method and apparatus for representing coordinate values of a bounding box of an object. The apparatus and corresponding method receive a minimum value and a maximum value of coordinate values of a bounding box as floating point values. A difference value is determined between the minimum and maximum values, and the difference value is converted to an exponent and a mantissa. | 01-07-2016 |
| 20160005216 | METHOD, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM FOR DEPTH WARPING BASED OCCLUSION CULLING - A method for performing occlusion queries is disclosed. The method includes steps of: (a) a graphics processing unit (GPU) using a first depth buffer of a first frame to thereby predict a second depth buffer of a second frame; and (b) the GPU performing occlusion queries for the second frame by using the predicted second depth buffer, wherein the first frame is a frame predating the second frame. In accordance with the present invention, a configuration for classifying the objects into the occluders and the occludees is not required and the occlusion queries for the predicted second frame are acquired in advance at the last of the first frame or the first of the second frame. | 01-07-2016 |
| 20160086299 | Position-Only Shading Pipeline - In position-only shading, two geometry pipes exist, a trimmed down version called the Cull Pipe and a full version called the Replay Pipe. Thus, the Cull Pipe executes the position shaders in parallel with the main application, but typically generates the critical results much faster as it fetches and shades only the position attribute of the vertices and avoids the rasterization as well as the rendering of pixels for the frame buffer. Furthermore, the Cull Pipe uses these critical results to compute visibility information for all the triangles whether they are culled or not. On the other hand, the Replay Pipe consumes the visibility information to skip the culled triangles and shades only the visible triangles that are finally passed to the rasterization phase. Together the two pipes can hide the long cull runs of discarded triangles and can complete the work faster in some embodiments. | 03-24-2016 |
| 20160086374 | Constant Buffer Size Multi-Sampled Anti-Aliasing Depth Compression - By packing the depth data in a way that is independent of the number of samples, so that memory bandwidth is the same regardless of the number of samples, higher numbers of samples per pixel may be used without adversely affecting buffer cost. In some embodiments, the number of pixels per clock in a first level depth test may be increased by operating in the pixel domain, whereas previous solutions operated at the sample level. | 03-24-2016 |
| 20160098856 | USING TILING DEPTH INFORMATION IN HIDDEN SURFACE REMOVAL IN A GRAPHICS PROCESSING SYSTEM - A graphics processing system includes a tiling unit for performing tiling calculations and a hidden surface removal (HSR) unit for performing HSR on fragments of the primitives. Primitive depth information is calculated in the tiling unit and forwarded for use by the HSR unit in performing HSR on the fragments. This takes advantage of the tiling unit having access to the primitive data before the HSR unit performs the HSR on the primitive fragments, to determine some depth information which can simplify the HSR performed by the HSR unit. Therefore, the final values of a depth buffer determined in the tiling unit can be used in the HSR unit to determine that a particular fragment will be subsequently hidden by a fragment of a primitive which is yet to be processed in the HSR unit, such that the particular fragment can be culled. | 04-07-2016 |
| 20160125649 | RENDERING APPARATUS AND RENDERING METHOD - Provided are a rendering method and a rendering apparatus, which perform tile-based rendering. The rendering method includes determining a visible fragment based on a depth test with respect to fragments included in a tile, storing an identifier of a primitive corresponding to the visible fragment, and performing selective rendering on a primitives included in the tile based on the identifier of the primitive. The rendering apparatus implements such a rendering method. | 05-05-2016 |
| 20160140756 | 3D MAP DISPLAY SYSTEM - A thee-dimensional (3D) map display system displays a 3D map on which a ground surface and a feature are represented three-dimensionally. The 3D map display system includes (a) a map database for storing map data representing a 3D shape of the ground surface and the feature, (b) a first drawing unit for drawing the ground surface and the feature by executing depth determination by referring to the map database, and (c) a second drawing unit for drawing a target feature, which is a feature in which at least a part thereof is hidden by a ground surface or other features in the drawing by the first drawing unit, by overwriting the target feature on a drawing result by the first drawing unit by using the map data without executing depth determination with respect to the drawing result by the first drawing unit. | 05-19-2016 |
| 20160148415 | DEPTH OF FIELD SYNTHESIS USING RAY TRACING APPROXIMATION - Techniques are disclosed for synthesizing depth of field effects in a digital image using ray tracing approximation. For each target pixel in the image, an aperture-shaped kernel is centered about a reference pixel. A cone of rays is traced through the aperture toward the image scene. The trajectory of the rays and the intersections between the rays and objects in the scene are approximated for a given scene depth, focal depth and aperture shape. The color of the pixel lying at the intersection, which may be offset from the target pixel, is sampled. This sampling process is repeated for several apertures bounding the target pixel, where each aperture is centered about a different reference pixel. The resulting color of the target pixel is acquired by integrating the colors of the pixels at each of the resulting intersections. | 05-26-2016 |
| 20160180575 | RENDERING APPARATUS | 06-23-2016 |
| 20160180579 | Depth Processing Method And Associated Graphic Processing Circuit | 06-23-2016 |
| 20160253838 | SINGLE PASS SURFACE SPLATTING | 09-01-2016 |
| 20190147636 | Smooth Draping Layer for Rendering Vector Data on Complex Three Dimensional Objects | 05-16-2019 |
