Apple inc. (20250095274). Pruning Ray Tracing Traversal Operations based on Local Ray Parameter Value

Pruning Ray Tracing Traversal Operations based on Local Ray Parameter Value

Organization Name

apple inc.

Inventor(s)

Ali Rabbani Rankouhi of Bushey GB

Luca O. Iuliano of Milton Keynes GB

David J. Bermingham of Cambridge GB

Christopher A. Burns of Austin TX US

Pruning Ray Tracing Traversal Operations based on Local Ray Parameter Value

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 20250095274 titled 'Pruning Ray Tracing Traversal Operations based on Local Ray Parameter Value

Original Abstract Submitted

techniques are disclosed relating to graphics processors that support ray tracing. in disclosed embodiments, ray intersect circuitry is configured to access a traversal stack used for traversal of multiple levels of a bounding volume hierarchy (bvh) acceleration data structure (ads) according to a depth-first search to retrieve: coordinates of a first bounding region for a child node and a local ray parameter value that indicates a point along a ray at which an intersection with a second bounding region for the child node's parent node was detected. the accelerator circuitry may compare the local ray parameter value with an end ray parameter value to determine whether to traverse to the child node as part of traversal of the bvh.