Patent · US Expired

Partitioning and load balancing graphical shape data for parallel applications

US6788302B1 · kind B1 · utility

25Cited by
7References
53Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 3, 2000
Grant dateSep 7, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 10, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/5066
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention divides a large graphics file into smaller “frames” of graphics files. The division process is preferably load balanced amongst any number of processors. This allows many processors to be used in parallel to divide the large graphics file and to then process the smaller output frames. Additionally, the load balancing is performed in such a manner that only portions of the graphics file need be loaded by any one processor. This saves memory and computational requirements. Preferably, the graphics file is divided in a three-dimensional manner, such that any one processor will be assigned one three-dimensional block or volume of the graphics file. The three-dimensional partition of the graphics file will become one frame, and the one processor accesses the graphics file to copy its three-dimensional partition into the new output frame.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.