Technique for testing ray for intersection with oriented bounding boxes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12315069-B2
Application number	US-202218090689-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 29, 2022
Priority date	Dec 29, 2022
Publication date	May 27, 2025
Grant date	May 27, 2025

Abstract

A technique for performing ray tracing operations is provided. The technique includes determining error bounds for a rotation operation for a ray; selecting a technique for determining whether the ray intersects a bounding box based on the error bounds; and determining whether the ray hits the bounding box based on the selected technique.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of performing bounding volume hierarchy (“BVH”) traversal for ray tracing operations, the method comprising:
determining error bounds for a rotation operation for a ray;
in response to the error bounds being above a threshold, selecting a technique for determining whether the ray intersects a bounding box based on the error bounds, wherein the technique comprises determining whether a cone defined by the error bounds overlaps with the bounding box;
determining whether the ray hits the bounding box based on the selected technique; and
continuing BVH traversal based on whether the ray hits the bounding box, to obtain a ray tracing result for the ray.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the error bounds includes accumulating error bounds for sub-operations of the rotation operation for the ray.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining second error bounds for a rotation operation for a second ray; and
selecting a second technique for determining whether the second ray intersects a second bounding box in response to the second error bounds being less than the threshold.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second technique comprises determining whether the second ray intersects a grown bounding box having extents that are grown with extents specified by a bounding volume hierarchy.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the grown bounding box is grown based on the second error bounds.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein determining whether the second ray hits the bounding box comprises determining whether the second ray hits the grown bounding box.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cone has a vertex at an origin of the ray.

8. A system for performing bounding volume hierarchy (“BVH”) traversal for ray tracing operations, the system comprising:
a processor; and
a memory storing data for the processor,
wherein the processor is configured to:
determine error bounds for a rotation operation for a ray;
in response to the error bounds being above a threshold, select a technique for determining whether the ray intersects a bounding box based on the error bounds, wherein the technique comprises determining whether a cone defined by the error bounds overlaps with the bounding box;
determine whether the ray hits the bounding box based on the selected technique; and
continue BVH traversal based on whether the ray hits the bounding box, to obtain a ray tracing result for the ray.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein determining the error bounds includes accumulating error bounds for sub-operations of the rotation operation for the ray.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine second error bounds for a rotation operation for a second ray; and
select a second technique for determining whether the second ray intersects a second bounding box in response to the second error bounds being less than the threshold.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the second technique comprises determining whether the second ray intersects a grown bounding box having extents that are grown with extents specified by a bounding volume hierarchy.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the grown bounding box is grown based on the second error bounds.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein determining whether the second ray hits the bounding box comprises determining whether the second ray hits the grown bounding box.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the cone has a vertex at an origin of the ray.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations for bounding volume hierarchy (“BVH”) traversal for ray tracing operations, the operations comprising:
determining error bounds for a rotation operation for a ray;
in response to the error bounds being above a threshold, selecting a technique for determining whether the ray intersects a bounding box based on the error bounds, wherein the technique comprises determining whether a cone defined by the error bounds overlaps with the bounding box;
determining whether the ray hits the bounding box based on the selected technique; and
continue BVH traversal based on whether the ray hits the bounding box, to obtain a ray tracing result for the ray.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein determining the error bounds includes accumulating error bounds for sub-operations of the rotation operation for the ray.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining second error bounds for a rotation operation for a second ray; and
selecting a second technique for determining whether the second ray intersects a second bounding box in response to the second error bounds being less than the threshold.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the second technique comprises determining whether the second ray intersects a grown bounding box having extents that are grown with extents specified by a bounding volume hierarchy.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the grown bounding box is grown based on the second error bounds.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein determining whether the second ray hits the bounding box comprises determining whether the second ray hits the grown bounding box.

Assignees

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc

Inventors

• Keely Sean
• Skinner Daniel James

Classifications

• G06T2210/12

  Bounding box · CPC title

• G06T15/06 Primary

  Ray-tracing · CPC title