Data processing apparatus and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12482185-B2
Application number	US-202318317279-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 15, 2023
Priority date	May 18, 2022
Publication date	Nov 25, 2025
Grant date	Nov 25, 2025

Abstract

A data processing apparatus includes: an input unit configured to receive data corresponding to at least part of a mesh, where the at least part of the mesh includes a plurality of vertices, where each vertex corresponds to a location within a virtual space, and a plurality of polygons, where each polygon includes a perimeter comprising three or more lines, where each of the three or more lines intersects two of the plurality of vertices; a generating unit configured to, in a first phase, generate, based on the received data, two or more seed points, where each seed point corresponds to a location within the virtual space, and in a second phase, where the second phase is different from the first phase, generate two or more meshlets, where each meshlet includes a subset of the at least part of the mesh, where each meshlet is generated in dependence upon the location of a respective one of the generated seed points; and an output unit configured to output data corresponding to one or more of the generated meshlets.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A system, comprising:
one or more processors; and one or more tangible, non-transitory media operably connectable to the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving data corresponding to at least part of a mesh, wherein the at least part of the mesh comprises:
a plurality of vertices, wherein each vertex corresponds to a location within a virtual space, and
a plurality of polygons, wherein each polygon comprises a perimeter comprising three or more lines, wherein each of the three or more lines connects two of the plurality of vertices;

in a first phase, generating two or more seed points, including processing the received data with a generating model that is trained to generate seed points, wherein each seed point corresponds to a location within the virtual space, and
in a second phase, wherein the second phase is different from the first phase, generating two or more meshlets, wherein each meshlet:
comprises a subset of the at least part of the mesh, and
is generated in dependence upon the location of a respective one of the generated seed points; and

outputting data corresponding to one or more of the generated meshlets.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise, in the first phase, generating each seed point in dependence upon an indication of a number of vertices and/or polygons that the meshlet generated in dependence upon the location of the seed point will comprise.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the indication comprises one or more of:
i. information corresponding to a number of vertices and/or polygons located within a threshold distance from a given location within the virtual space; and ii. information corresponding to a number of vertices and/or polygons which are visible from a virtual camera positioned at a given location and/or orientation within the virtual space.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise, in the second phase:
associating a given vertex or polygon with a given seed point in dependence upon a distance between the given vertex or polygon and the given seed point, and generating each meshlet in dependence upon the vertices and/or polygons associated with a respective one of the seed points.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise, in the second phase:
iteratively associating vertices and/or polygons with each seed point, wherein, for a given iteration, one or more vertices and/or polygons are associated with each seed point, and generating each meshlet in dependence upon the vertices and/or polygons associated with a respective one of the seed points.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the operations comprise, in the second phase, for the given iteration, associating a given vertex or polygon with a given seed point in dependence upon one or more of:
i. a number of vertices and/or polygons currently associated with the given seed point; and ii. a number of vertices and/or polygons that would be associated with the given seed point if the given vertex or polygon were to be associated with the given seed point.

7 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the operations comprise, in the second phase, for the given iteration, associating a given vertex or polygon with a given seed point in dependence upon information corresponding to whether the given vertex or polygon is visible from a location and/or orientation of the virtual camera from which one or more vertices or polygons currently associated with the given seed point are visible.

8 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the operations comprise, in the second phase, for the given iteration, associating a given vertex or polygon with a given seed point in dependence upon whether a number of vertices and/or polygons currently associated with the given seed point is less than a limiting threshold indicating a maximum number of vertices and/or polygons to be associated with the given seed point.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the generating model is trained using a distance between each of one or more previously generated seed points and a centre point of a respective one of one or more previously generated meshlets, wherein each centre point corresponds to a location within the virtual space, wherein each centre point corresponds to a centroid of a respective one of the previously generated meshlets.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the generating model is trained using information corresponding to a number of vertices and/or polygons within each of one or more previously generated meshlets which are visible from a virtual camera positioned at a given location and/or orientation within the virtual space.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the generating model is trained using information corresponding to a data compression ratio of each of one or more previously generated meshlets.

12 . A data processing method, comprising:
receiving data corresponding to at least part of a mesh, wherein the at least part of the mesh comprises:
a plurality of vertices, wherein each vertex corresponds to a location within a virtual space, and
a plurality of polygons, wherein each polygon comprises a perimeter comprising three or more lines, wherein each of the three or more lines connects two of the plurality of vertices;
in a first phase, generating two or more seed points, including processing the received data with a generating model that is trained to generate seed points, wherein each seed point corresponds to a location within the virtual space, and in a second phase, wherein the second phase is different from the first phase, generating two or more meshlets, wherein each meshlet:
comprises a subset of the at least part of the mesh, and
is generated in dependence upon the location of a respective one of the generated seed points; and
outputting data corresponding to one or more of the generated meshlets.

13 . The data processing method to of claim 12 , comprising generating each seed point in dependence upon an indication of a number of vertices that the meshlet generated in dependence upon the location of the seed point will comprise.

14 . The data processing method of claim 13 , wherein the indication comprises one or more of:
i. information corresponding to a number of vertices and/or polygons located within a threshold distance from a given location within the virtual space; and ii. information corresponding to a number of vertices and/or polygons which are visible from a virtual camera positioned at a given location and/or orientation within the virtual space.

15 . The data processing method of claim 12 , comprising:
associating a given vertex or polygon with a given seed point in dependence upon a distance between the given vertex or polygon and the given seed point, and generating each meshlet in dependence upon the vertices and/or polygons associated with a respective one of the seed points.

16 . The data processing method of claim 12 , comprising:
iteratively associating vertices and/or polygons with each seed point, wherein, for a given iteration, one or more vertices and/or polygons are associated with each seed point, and generating each meshlet in dependence upon the vertices and/or polygons associated with a respective one of the seed points.

17 . The data processing method of claim 16 , comprising, for the given iteration, associating a given vertex or polygon with a given seed point in dependence upon one or more of:
i. a

Assignees

• Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc

Inventors

• Kocdemir Sahin Serdar
• Goldman Daniel
• Dann Anthony William

Classifications

• G06T2210/56

  Particle system, point based geometry or rendering · CPC title

• G06T15/40

  Hidden part removal · CPC title

• G06T9/001

  Model-based coding, e.g. wire frame · CPC title

• G06T17/20 Primary

  Finite element generation, e.g. wire-frame surface description, {tesselation} · CPC title

• G06T17/205 Primary

  Re-meshing · CPC title