Graphics processing method and system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10497085-B2
Application number	US-201715698010-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 7, 2017
Priority date	Jan 4, 2017
Publication date	Dec 3, 2019
Grant date	Dec 3, 2019

Abstract

A graphics processing method and a graphics processing system are provided. A graphics processing method including: estimating a depth complexity of a tile generated by dividing a frame; visibility calculations are selectively performed with respect to at least one primitive included in the tile based on the estimated depth complexity of the tile; and performing rendering on the tile. A graphics processing apparatus includes one or more processors which determine a depth complexity of primitives input to a current tile and whether translucent primitives exist. The graphics processing apparatus may operate adaptively in a Tile Based Rendering (TBR) mode or a Tile Based Deferred Rendering (TBDR) mode according to the determination of depth complexity and a presence of translucent primitives.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A graphics processing method comprising:
dividing a frame into a plurality of tiles;
estimating a depth complexity of an entire tile of the plurality of tiles to determine an overlap between objects in the frame;
selectively conducting visibility calculations with respect to at least one primitive included in the tile based on the estimated depth complexity of the tile; and
performing rendering on the tile,
wherein said selectively conducting visibility calculations with respect to the at least one primitive included in the tile comprises:
comparing the estimated depth complexity with a preset threshold value;
prior to performing the rendering on the tile, omitting visibility calculations with respect to the at least one primitive included in the tile if the estimated depth complexity is smaller than the preset threshold value; and
conducting visibility calculations with respect to the at least one primitive included in the tile if the estimated depth complexity is greater than the preset threshold value, and

if the visibility calculations have been conducted, the rendering is performed based on a visibility of the at least one primitive.

2. The graphics processing method of claim 1 , wherein the estimating of the depth complexity of the tile comprises:
calculating an amount of overlap between the tile and the at least one primitive included in the tile; and
estimating the depth complexity of the tile based on the amount of overlap.

3. The graphics processing method of claim 2 , wherein the calculating of the amount of overlap between the tile and the at least one primitive included in the tile comprises:
dividing the tile into a plurality of sub-tiles; and
determining the amount of overlap based on a number of times that each sub-tile and the at least one primitive included in each sub-tile overlap each other.

4. The graphics processing method of claim 3 , wherein the determining of the amount of overlap based on the number of times that each sub-tile and the at least one primitive included in each sub-tile overlap each other comprises calculating an average or a sum of the number of times that each sub-tile of the plurality of sub-tiles and the at least one primitive included in each sub-tile overlap each other.

5. The graphics processing method of claim 2 , wherein the calculating of the amount of overlap between the tile and the at least one primitive included in the tile comprises:
calculating a relative area where the tile and the at least one primitive overlap each other; and
determining the amount of overlap based on the relative area.

6. The graphics processing method of claim 5 , wherein calculating the relative area where the tile and the at least one primitive overlap each other comprises:
generating a substantially rectangular bounding box that surrounds the at least one primitive; and
calculating an overlapping area between the tile and the substantially rectangular bounding box.

7. The graphics processing method of claim 1 , wherein the frame is a current frame, and the estimating of the depth complexity of the tile comprises using a depth complexity computed for a corresponding tile from a previous frame as the depth complexity of the tile in the current frame.

8. The graphics processing method of claim 7 , further comprising calculating and storing a depth complexity of the tile, if there is no similarity between the current frame and the previous frame, after performing rendering on the tile.

9. The graphics processing method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether a primitive having translucent properties, from among the at least one primitive included in the tile, is to be processed before an occurrence of a preset point in time;
when the primitive from among the at least one primitive included in the tile, having the translucent properties is processed before the occurrence of the preset point in time, performing rendering on the tile without estimating a depth complexity of the tile or without conducting visibility calculations with respect to the at least one primitive included in the tile.

10. The graphics processing method of claim 9 , further comprising when the primitive having translucent properties is processed after the occurrence of the preset point in time, estimating a depth complexity of the tile up to a point of processing the primitive having translucent properties, and
selectively conducting visibility calculations with respect to the at least one primitive included in the tile.

11. A graphics processing method comprising:
dividing a frame into a plurality of tiles;
estimating a depth complexity of a tile of the plurality of tiles to determine an overlap between objects in the frame;
selectively conducting visibility calculations with respect to at least one primitive included in the tile based on the estimated depth complexity of the tile; and
performing rendering on the tile,
wherein said estimating of the depth complexity of the tile comprises calculating an amount of overlap between the tile and the at least one primitive included in the tile, and estimating the depth complexity of the tile based on the amount of overlap,
wherein said calculating of the amount of overlap between the tile and the at least one primitive included in the tile comprises calculating a relative area where the tile and the at least one primitive overlap each other, and determining the amount of overlap based on the relative area,
wherein calculating the relative area where the tile and the at least one primitive overlap each other comprises generating a substantially rectangular bounding box that surrounds the at least one primitive and calculating an overlapping area between the tile and the substantially rectangular bounding box, and
wherein calculating the relative area where the tile and the at least one primitive overlap each other comprises calculating an overlapping area between the tile and the at least one primitive, by dividing the overlapping area between the tile and the substantially rectangular bounding box by two.

12. A graphics processing system comprising:
a binning circuit configured to estimate a depth complexity of an entire tile generated by a current frame being divided;
a visibility testing circuit configured to selectively conduct visibility calculations with respect to at least one primitive included in the tile based on the estimated depth complexity of the tile; and
a rendering circuit configured to perform rendering on the tile,
wherein the visibility testing circuit selectively conducts the visibility calculations with respect to the at least one primitive included in the tile by;
comparing the estimated depth complexity with a preset threshold value;
prior to performing the rendering on the tile, omitting visibility calculations with respect to the at least one primitive included in the tile if the estimated depth complexity is smaller than the preset threshold value; and
conducting visibility calculations with respect to the at least one primitive included in the tile if the estimated depth complexity is greater than the preset threshold value, and

if the visibility calculations have been conducted, the rendering circuit performs the rendering on the tile based on a visibility of the at least one primitive.

13. The graphics processing system of claim 12 , wherein the binning circuit is configured to calculate an amount of overlap between the tile and the at least one primitive included in the tile, and estimate a depth complexity of the tile based on the amount of overlap.

14. The graphics processing syste

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Won-Jong
• Woo Sang-Oak

Classifications

• G06T15/40

  Hidden part removal · CPC title

• G06T15/005 Primary

  General purpose rendering architectures · CPC title

• G06T11/40

  Filling planar surfaces by adding surface attributes, e.g. adding colours or textures · CPC title

• G06T1/20 Primary

  Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining · CPC title

• G06T15/04

  Texture mapping · CPC title