Multi-Space Rendering with Configurable Transformation Parameters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019102865-A1
Application number	US-201816130265-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 13, 2018
Priority date	Sep 29, 2017
Publication date	Apr 4, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed relating to rendering graphics objects. In some embodiments, a graphics unit is configured to transform graphics objects from a virtual space into a second space according to different transformation parameters for different portions of the second space. This may result in sampling different portions of the virtual space at different sample rates, which may reduce the number of samples required in various stages of the rendering process. In the disclosed techniques, transformation may occur prior to rasterization and shading, which may further reduce computation and power consumption in a graphics unit, improve image quality as displayed to a user, and/or reduce bandwidth usage or latency of video content on a network. In some embodiments, a transformed image may be viewed through a distortion-compensating lens or resampled prior to display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus, comprising:
graphics circuitry configured to:
receive primitive data, including coordinates of primitives in a virtual space;
receive transformation parameters associated with one or more coordinate transformations;
store the received transformation parameters;
prior to rasterization of the primitives, transform coordinates of primitives in the virtual space into coordinates of primitives in a second space based on the stored transformation parameters, including using different transformation parameters for different portions of the second space;
rasterize the primitives based on the primitive coordinates in the second space to generate fragment data, wherein use of the different transformation parameters during the transformation causes different portions of the virtual space to be sampled at different sample rates; and
process at least a portion of the fragment data to determine pixel attributes.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
register circuitry programmable by a graphics program to specify the different transformation parameters for the different portions of the second space.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
resampling circuitry configured to resample, using different resampling rates for the different portions of the second space, the fragment data for display in a display space.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more lenses configured to remove distortion introduced by transformation of the coordinates of primitives in the virtual space to the coordinates of primitives in the second space.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the different transformation parameters include one or more scale factors and one or more offsets.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transformation parameters specify inputs to a function that transforms sets of coordinates in the virtual space to respective sets of coordinates in the second space.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
graphics circuitry configured to: receive a gaze direction; and determine one or more transformation parameters based at least in part on the received gaze direction.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
graphics circuitry configured to: cull primitive data in the second space such that the graphics circuitry does not generate fragment data for primitive data located outside a viewable area.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
graphics circuitry configured to: determine a bounding box for one or more primitives in the virtual space; transform coordinates of the bounding box in the virtual space to coordinates of a transformed bounding box in the second space; and determine which of the one or more portions of the second space intersect with the transformed bounding box; wherein at least one of the primitives is processed only for portions of the second space intersected by its transformed bounding box.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
graphics circuitry configured to: transform coordinates of one or more shadow maps in the virtual space to coordinates of one or more shadow maps in the second space, wherein the transformation uses different transformation parameters for different portions of the one or more shadow maps in the second space such that different portions of the one or more shadow maps in the virtual space have a different sample rate.

11 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
graphics circuitry configured to: specify one or more sets of transformation parameters for one or more graphics frames.

12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
graphics circuitry configured to: specify one or more sets of transformation parameters for a single portion of the second space, wherein the different sets correspond to different dimensions.

13 . A method, comprising:
receiving primitive data, including coordinates of primitives in a virtual space; receiving transformation parameters associated with one or more coordinate transformations; storing the received transformation parameters; prior to rasterization of the primitives, transforming coordinates of primitives in the virtual space into coordinates of primitives in a second space based on the stored transformation parameters, using different transformation parameters for different portions of the second space; rasterizing the primitives based on the primitive coordinates in the second space to generate fragment data, wherein use of the different transformation parameters during the transformation causes different portions of the virtual space to be sampled at different sample rates; and processing at least a portion of the fragment data to determine pixel attributes.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
using different resampling rates for the different portions of the second space, resampling the fragment data for display in a display space.

15 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving a gaze direction; and determining one or more transformation parameters based at least in part on the received gaze direction.

16 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
specifying one or more scale factors and one or more offsets for use as the transformation parameters.

17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the transformation parameters specify inputs to a function that transforms sets of coordinates in the virtual space to respective sets of coordinates in the second space.

18 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon design information that specifies a design of at least a portion of a hardware integrated circuit in a format recognized by a semiconductor fabrication system that is configured to use the design information to produce the circuit according to the design, including:
graphics circuitry configured to:
receive primitive data, including coordinates of primitives in a virtual space;
receive transformation parameters associated with one or more coordinate transformations;
store the received transformation parameters;
prior to rasterization of the primitives, transform coordinates of primitives in the virtual space into coordinates of primitives in a second space based on the stored transformation parameters, using different transformation parameters for different portions of the second space;
rasterize the primitives based on the primitive coordinates in the second space to generate fragment data, wherein use of the different transformation parameters during the transformation causes different portions of the virtual space to be sampled at different sample rates; and
process at least a portion of the fragment data to determine pixel attributes.

19 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the different transformation parameters include one or more rotation factors.

20 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the design information specifies that the circuit further comprises:
resampling circuitry configured to resample the fragment data for display in a display space.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Hensley Justin A
• Mann Karl D
• Taylor Ralph C
• Rauwendaal Randall R
• Redshaw Jonathan M

Classifications

• G06F2119/18

  Manufacturability analysis or optimisation for manufacturability · CPC title

• G06T15/40

  Hidden part removal · CPC title

• G06F30/30

  Circuit design · CPC title

• G06T15/60

  Shadow generation · CPC title

• G06F3/013

  Eye tracking input arrangements (G06F3/015 takes precedence) · CPC title