18589239. APPARATUS AND METHOD USING TRIANGLE PAIRS AND SHARED TRANSFORMATION CIRCUITRY TO IMPROVE RAY TRACING PERFORMANCE simplified abstract (Intel Corporation)
APPARATUS AND METHOD USING TRIANGLE PAIRS AND SHARED TRANSFORMATION CIRCUITRY TO IMPROVE RAY TRACING PERFORMANCE
Organization Name
Inventor(s)
Prasoonkumar Surti of Folsom CA (US)
Karthik Vaidyanathan of San Francisco CA (US)
Carsten Benthin of Voelklingen (DE)
Joshua Barczak of Forest Hills MD (US)
Saikat Mandal of Sacramento CA (US)
APPARATUS AND METHOD USING TRIANGLE PAIRS AND SHARED TRANSFORMATION CIRCUITRY TO IMPROVE RAY TRACING PERFORMANCE - A simplified explanation of the abstract
This abstract first appeared for US patent application 18589239 titled 'APPARATUS AND METHOD USING TRIANGLE PAIRS AND SHARED TRANSFORMATION CIRCUITRY TO IMPROVE RAY TRACING PERFORMANCE
Simplified Explanation: The patent application describes an apparatus and method for merging primitives and coordinating between vertex and ray transformations on a shared transformation unit in a graphics processor.
- **Queue with Entries:** The apparatus includes a queue with multiple entries to store triangles.
- **Ordering Circuitry:** Circuitry is used to order triangles front to back within the queue.
- **Pairing Circuitry:** This circuitry identifies triangles sharing an edge in the queue and merges them to create merged triangle pairs.
- **Shared Transformation Circuitry:** This component alternates between performing vertex transformations on merged triangle pairs and ray transformations on ray direction/origin data.
Key Features and Innovation:
- Utilizes a queue system to store and process triangles efficiently.
- Orders triangles based on their position in space for optimized rendering.
- Merges triangles sharing an edge to reduce processing load.
- Alternates between vertex and ray transformations for different types of data.
Potential Applications:
- 3D graphics rendering in video games.
- Virtual reality simulations.
- Computer-aided design (CAD) software.
- Medical imaging technologies.
- Scientific visualization applications.
Problems Solved:
- Efficiently merging primitives to optimize rendering.
- Coordinating between different types of transformations seamlessly.
- Enhancing the performance of graphics processors.
Benefits:
- Improved rendering speed and efficiency.
- Enhanced visual quality in graphics applications.
- Streamlined processing of complex geometric data.
- Better overall performance of graphics processors.
Commercial Applications: The technology can be applied in various industries such as gaming, virtual reality, design, medical imaging, and scientific research to enhance graphics rendering capabilities and overall performance.
Questions about the Technology: 1. How does the shared transformation unit improve the efficiency of vertex and ray transformations? 2. What are the potential limitations of merging triangles in the queue for rendering purposes?
Original Abstract Submitted
An apparatus and method for merging primitives and coordinating between vertex and ray transformations on a shared transformation unit. For example, one embodiment of a graphics processor comprises: a queue comprising a plurality of entries; ordering circuitry/logic to order triangles front to back within the queue; pairing circuitry/logic to identify triangles in the queue sharing an edge and to merge the triangles sharing an edge to produce merged triangle pairs; and shared transformation circuitry to alternate between performing vertex transformations on vertices of the merged triangle pairs and to performing ray transformations on ray direction/origin data.
