Adaptive shading in a graphics processing pipeline
US10991152B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 20, 2017 |
| Grant date | Apr 27, 2021 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 20, 2037 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T2210/52
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention includes a parallel processing unit (PPU) that performs pixel shading at variable granularities. For effects that vary at a low frequency across a pixel block, a coarse shading unit performs the associated shading operations on a subset of the pixels in the pixel block. By contrast, for effects that vary at a high frequency across the pixel block, fine shading units perform the associated shading operations on each pixel in the pixel block. Because the PPU implements coarse shading units and fine shading units, the PPU may tune the shading rate per-effect based on the frequency of variation across each pixel group. By contrast, conventional PPUs typically compute all effects per-pixel, performing redundant shading operations for low frequency effects. Consequently, to produce similar image quality, the PPU consumes less power and increases the rendering frame rate compared to a conventional PPU.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.