Switchable image source in a hybrid graphics systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11410264-B2
Application number	US-201916586855-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2019
Priority date	Sep 27, 2019
Publication date	Aug 9, 2022
Grant date	Aug 9, 2022

Abstract

Examples described herein relate to a graphics processing system that includes one or more integrated graphics systems and one or more discrete graphics systems. In some examples, an operating system (OS) or other software supports switching between image display data being provided from either an integrated graphics system or a discrete graphics system by configuring a multiplexer at runtime to output image data to a display. In some examples, a multiplexer is not used and interface supported messages are used to transfer image data from an integrated graphics system to a discrete graphics system and the discrete graphics system generates and outputs image data to a display. In some examples, interface supported messages are used to transfer image data from a discrete graphics system to an integrated graphics system and the integrated graphics system uses an overlay process to generate a composite image for output to a display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A graphics processing apparatus comprising:
a discrete graphics engine to generate image data for an application;
an integrated graphics engine to generate image data for a second application; and
a multiplexer (MUX) to receive image data from the discrete graphics engine or the integrated graphics engine and to output image data to a display, wherein when the discrete graphics engine is to generate image data:
at runtime, an output from the MUX is set for an output from the discrete graphics engine,
the integrated graphics engine is to copy image data generated for the second application directly to memory used by the discrete graphics engine, and
the discrete graphics engine is to form and output a composite image using the copied image data and image data generated by the discrete graphics engine, wherein the output from the MUX is set for an output from the discrete graphics engine comprises:
cause self refresh of an image on the display;
after at least one self refresh of the image on the display, cause a first instance of a window manager to operate on the discrete graphics engine;
disable self refresh of an image on the display; and
following disablement of self refresh of the image on the display, disable a second instance of the window manager from operation on the integrated graphics engine.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the integrated graphics engine is to copy image data generated for the second application to memory used by the discrete graphics engine comprises copy a shared cross-adapter surface using an interface to local memory used by the discrete graphics engine.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein when the discrete graphics engine does not generate image data, the graphics processing apparatus is to perform a sequence comprising:
cause self refresh of a second image on the display,
cause a third instance of the window manager to operate on the integrated graphics engine,
disable self refresh of the second image on the display and cause the MUX to output image data from the integrated graphics engine,
disable the first instance of the window manager from operation on the discrete graphics engine based on operation of the window manager on the integrated graphics engine, and
reduce power use of the discrete graphics engine.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a display communicatively coupled to the MUX.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the application comprises a dListed application and the second application comprises a non-dListed application.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the image data comprises floating point 16 (FP16) format image data.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a central processing unit (CPU) communicatively coupled to the integrated graphics engine and the discrete graphics engine and one or more of:
a network interface communicatively coupled to the CPU,
a display communicatively coupled to the CPU, or
a battery communicatively coupled to the CPU.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first instance of the window manager is to perform one or more of: using drawings to off-screen surfaces to render a desktop image, provide visual effects on the desktop image, including glass window frames, 3-D window transition animations, window flips, and high resolution support.

9. A graphics processing apparatus comprising:
a discrete graphics engine to generate image data for an application and comprising a discrete display engine;
an integrated graphics engine to generate image data for a second application and comprising an integrated display engine, wherein
the integrated graphics engine is communicatively coupled to the discrete graphics engine using an interface,
the integrated graphics engine is to copy image data generated for the second application directly to a memory of the discrete graphics engine using one or more interface supported messages, wherein the one or more interface supported messages are consistent at least with Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) Vendor Defined Messages (VDMs),
the discrete graphics engine is to generate a composite image using the image data from the discrete graphics engine and the image data from the integrated graphics engine,
the discrete display engine is to transfer the composite image to the integrated display engine using one or more interface supported messages, and
the integrated display engine is to provide display data to a display based on the composite image.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the integrated graphics engine is to change output from the integrated display engine to output from the discrete display engine.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the transferred composite image comprises native display format image data and wherein the native display format image data comprises one or more of 8-bit Standard Dynamic Range (SDR), 10-bit High Dynamic Range (HDR10) or 12-bit High Dynamic Range (HDR12).

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the discrete graphics engine is to generate a composite image using a window manager.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, that if executed by a computing platform, cause the computing platform to:
generate image data for an application using a discrete graphics engine and
generate image data for a second application using an integrated graphics engine, wherein when the discrete graphics engine is to generate image data:
at runtime, an output from a multiplexer (MUX) is set to provide an output from the discrete graphics engine,
the integrated graphics engine is to copy image data generated for the second application directly to memory used by the discrete graphics engine, and
the discrete graphics engine is to form and output a composite image using the copied image data and image data generated by the discrete graphics engine, wherein the output from the MUX is set for an output from the discrete graphics engine comprises:
cause self refresh of an image on a display;
after at least one self refresh of the image on the display, cause a first instance of a window manager to operate on the discrete graphics engine;
disable self refresh of an image on the display; and
following disablement of self refresh of the image on the display, disable a second instance of the window manager from operation on the integrated graphics engine.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the application comprises a dListed application and the second application comprises a non-dListed application.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the first instance of the window manager is to perform one or more of: using drawings to off-screen surfaces to render a desktop image, provide visual effects on the desktop image, including glass window frames, 3-D window transition animations, window flips, and high resolution support.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 , comprising instructions stored thereon, that if executed by a computing platform, cause the computing platform to:
when the discrete graphics engine does not generate image data,
cause self refresh of a second image on the display,
cause a third instance of the window manager to operate on the integrated graphics engine,
disable self refresh of the second image on the display and cause the MUX to output image data from the integrated graphics engine,
disable the first instance of the window manager from operation on the discrete graphics engine based on operation of the window manager on the integrated grap

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Akiyama James E
• Howard John
• Ramadoss Murali
• Smith Gary K
• Witter Todd M
• Ramanathan Satish
• Li Zhengmin

Classifications

• G06T1/20 Primary

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

• G09G2360/08

  Power processing, i.e. workload management for processors involved in display operations, such as CPUs or GPUs · CPC title

• G09G5/363

  Graphics controllers · CPC title

• G09G2360/06

  Use of more than one graphics processor to process data before displaying to one or more screens · CPC title

• G09G5/14

  Display of multiple viewports · CPC title