Use of inner coverage information by a conservative rasterization pipeline to enable EarlyZ for conservative rasterization
US11151683B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 26, 2019 |
| Grant date | Oct 19, 2021 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 26, 2039 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T17/10
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Embodiments described herein are generally directed to conservative rasterization pipeline configurations that allow EarlyZ to be enabled for conservative rasterization. An embodiment of a method includes receiving, by a conservative rasterizer, a primitive; creating, by the conservative rasterizer, a pixel location stream based on the primitive and inner coverage data for each pixel within the pixel location stream indicative of whether the corresponding pixel is fully covered or partially covered by the primitive; for each block of pixels of the pixel location stream, launching, by the conservative rasterizer, a thread of a pixel shader, including causing EarlyZ to be performed or not for fully covered pixels and partially covered pixels, respectively; and generating, by the pixel shader, a stream of pixel updates by conditionally processing the pixel location stream to incorporate pixel shading characteristics, including for partially covered pixels computing a depth value and causing LateZ to be performed.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.