Method and apparatus for enhanced processing of three dimensional (3D) graphics data

• US 10,699,361 B2
• Filed: 11/21/2012
• Issued: 06/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ATI Technologies ULC (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ATI Technologies ULC (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mammou, Khaled
• Primary Examiner(s): Zalalee, Sultana M
• Application Number:
  US13/683,546
• Publication Number:
  US 20140139513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,778 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/20 Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 9/001 Model-based coding, e.g. wire frame

Abstract

A method and apparatus provides for enhanced processing of 3D graphics data such as image-based 3D graphics data. The image-based 3D graphics data may include data defining texture, bump, normals, displacement, etc for underlying objects. In one example, the method and apparatus compresses image-based 3D graphics data as one or more frames contained in one or more videos and decompresses the compressed 3D graphics data using video acceleration hardware provided by a GPU. In another example the method and apparatus may also selectively control caching of image-based 3D graphics data. Before so cached, the image-based 3D graphics data may be compressed as one or more frames contained in one or more videos using video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU to achieve efficient usage of cache space.

Claims

1. A method for processing three dimensional (3D) graphics data, the method comprising:

compressing, using video acceleration hardware of a graphics processing unit (GPU), 3D graphics data as one or more formatted video frames, the 3D graphics data being data able to be processed by a graphics rendering engine of the GPU wherein the 3D graphics data is compressed as video frames that are not dependent on each other for rendering;

storing association information for 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data with corresponding video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data formatted as video frames for forming at least one video file including the 3D objects and the corresponding video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data,

selectively caching of the compressed 3D graphics data on the GPU by updating one or more cache tables with information indicating the association between 3D objects defined by the cached compressed 3D graphics data and one or more video frames comprising the cached compressed 3D graphics data.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

decompressing the compressed 3D graphics data using video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU based on the association information in the video file indicating the association between the 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data and the corresponding video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein decompressing the compressed 3D graphics data comprises decompressing one or more videos having one or more frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the 3D graphics data is compressed as H.264 intra-frames.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the compressed 3D graphics data is decompressed by decompressing one or more video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the 3D graphics data defines at least one of the following:

texture map;

displacement map; and

normal map.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprises determine whether the video acceleration hardware can decompress the compressed 3D graphics data, and decompressing the compressed 3D graphics data using video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU, in response to a determination that the video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU can decompress the compressed 3D graphics data.

8. An apparatus operative to process 3D graphics data, the apparatus comprising:

logic comprising a 3D graphics data processing handler, operatively connected to a graphics processing unit (GPU), operative to;

instruct video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU to decompress 3D graphics data that is compressed as one or more formatted video frames, the 3D graphics data being data able to be processed by a graphics rendering engine of the GPU wherein the 3D graphics data is compressed as video frames that are not dependent on each other for rendering; and

decompress the compressed 3D graphics data that is formatted as video frames using the video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU based on information indicating association between 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data and video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data;

wherein the 3D graphics data processing handler is further operative to instruct video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU to compress the 3D graphics data as one or more frames contained in one or more videos;

wherein the 3D graphics processing handler is further operative to selectively cache the compressed 3D graphics data on the GPU by updating one or more cache tables with information indicating the association between 3D objects defined by the cached compressed 3D graphics data and one or more video frames comprising the cached compressed 3D graphics data.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein 3D graphics data processing handler is further operative to:

associate 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data with video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, the 3D graphics data is compressed as H.264 intra-frames.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the compressed 3D graphics data is decompressed by decompressing one or more video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, where in the 3D graphics data defines at least one of the following:

texture map;

displacement map; and

normal map.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, where in the 3D graphics handler is further operative to determine whether the video acceleration hardware can decompress the compressed 3D graphics data, and decompressing the compressed 3D graphics data using video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU, in response to a determination that the video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU can decompress the compressed 3D graphics data.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising

memory, operatively connected to the 3D graphics processing handler, configured to store the information indicating the association between 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data and the video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data;

and

a GPU, operatively connected to the 3D graphics processing handler, comprising;

video acceleration hardware operative to encode and decode video; and

memory configured to store graphics data.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

instruct video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU to decompress 3D graphics data that is compressed as one or more formatted video frames contained in one or more videos the 3D graphics data being data able to be processed by a graphics rendering engine wherein the 3D graphics data is compressed as video frames that are not dependent on each other for rendering;

decompress the compressed 3D graphics data using the video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU based on information indicating association between 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data in the video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data;

wherein the executable instructions when executed by one or more processors causes one or more processors further to selectively cache the compressed 3D graphics data on the GPU; and

wherein the selective caching comprises updating one or more cache tables with information indicating the association between 3D objects defined by the cached compressed 3D graphics data and one or more video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the executable instructions when executed by one or more processors causes one or more processors further to:

instruct video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU to compress the 3D graphics data as one or more frames contained in one or more videos.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, the 3D graphics data is compressed as H.264 intra-frames.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the executable instructions when executed by one or more processors causes one or more processors further to:

associate 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data with video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein decompressing the compressed 3D graphics data comprises decompressing the videos having the frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the compressed 3D graphics data is decompressed by decompressing one or more video frames comprising the 3D graphics data.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the executable instructions when executed by one or more processors causes one or more processors further to:

determine whether the video acceleration hardware can decompress the compressed 3D graphics data, and decompressing the compressed 3D graphics data using video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU, in response to a determination that the video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU can decompress the compressed 3D graphics data.

22. A method for processing three dimensional (3D) graphics data, the method comprising:

decompressing, by decompressing logic, compressed 3D graphics data that is formatted as video frames wherein the 3D graphics data is compressed as video frames that are not dependent on each other for rendering, using video acceleration hardware provided by a graphics processing unit (GPU) based on information indicating an association between a plurality of 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data in the video frames, the graphics data being data able to be received for rendering by a graphics rendering engine to render one or more images.

23. The method of claim 22 comprising displaying the decompressed 3D graphics data on a display.

24. An apparatus operative to process 3D graphics data, the apparatus comprising:

logic comprising a 3D graphics data processing handler, operatively connected to a graphics processing unit (GPU), operative to;

instruct video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU to compress the 3D graphics data as one or more frames contained in one or more videos wherein the 3D graphics data is compressed as video frames that are not dependent on each other for rendering, thereby forming association between 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data and corresponding video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data for performing subsequent decompression of the compressed 3D graphics data based on the association, graphics data being data able to be processed by a graphics rendering engine of the GPU; and

associate the 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data with the corresponding video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data for forming at least one video file including the 3D objects and the corresponding video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data.

25. A computer graphics system including:

a first processor,

a graphics processing unit (GPU) including video acceleration hardware;

the first processor operable to issue a control command causing the video processing hardware of the GPU to access a memory storing at least one video file including compressed 3D graphics data therein formatted as video frames of the video file, wherein the 3D graphics data is data able to be processed by the GPU to produce one or more 3D graphics objects and wherein the 3D graphics data is compressed as video frames that are not dependent on each other for rendering;

the GPU, upon receiving the control command, being operable to;

access the at least one video;

determine one or more video frames of the video that correspond to the compressed 3D graphics data;

decompress the 3D graphics data in the video frames using the video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU based on information indicating association between 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data and video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data; and

a cache memory storing a cache table, the cache table including the association between the 3D graphics objects and the one or more video frames of the video that correspond to the 3D graphics data.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the control command further informs the GPU of a location within memory where the video file containing the compressed 3D graphics data is stored.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the GPU uses the 3D graphics data to render 3D graphics objects.

28. The system of claim 25, further including a cache memory accessible by the GPU;

wherein the GPU is further instructed to cache decompressed 3D graphics data in the cache memory accessible by the GPU.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the 3D graphics data includes at least one of texture map data, normal map data, and displacement map data.

30. A method for processing three dimensional (3D) graphics data, the method comprising:

compressing, using a processor or video acceleration hardware of a graphics processing unit (GPU), 3D graphics data as one or more formatted video frames, the 3D graphics data being data able to be processed by a graphics rendering engine of the GPU;

associating 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data with corresponding video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data formatted as video frames for forming at least one video file including the 3D objects and the corresponding video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data;

selectively caching of the compressed 3D graphics data on the GPU; and

wherein the selective caching comprises updating one or more cache tables with information indicating the association between 3D objects defined by the cached compressed 3D graphics data and one or more video frames comprising the cached compressed 3D graphics data.

31. An apparatus operative to process 3D graphics data, the apparatus comprising:

logic comprising a 3D graphics data processing handler, operatively connected to a graphics processing unit (GPU), operative to;

instruct video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU to decompress 3D graphics data that is compressed as one or more formatted video frames, the 3D graphics data being data able to be processed by a graphics rendering engine of the GPU;

decompress the compressed 3D graphics data that is formatted as video frames using the video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU based on information indicating association between 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data and video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data;

wherein the 3D graphics data processing handler is further operative to instruct video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU to compress the 3D graphics data as one or more frames contained in one or more videos;

wherein the 3D graphics processing handler is further operative to selectively cache the compressed 3D graphics data on the GPU; and

wherein the selective caching comprises updating one or more cache tables with information indicating the association between 3D objects defined by the cached compressed 3D graphics data and one or more video frames comprising the cached compressed 3D graphics data.

32. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

instruct video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU to decompress 3D graphics data that is compressed as one or more formatted video frames contained in one or more videos the 3D graphics data being data able to be processed by a graphics rendering engine;

decompress the compressed 3D graphics data using the video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU based on information indicating association between 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data in the video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data;

wherein the executable instructions when executed by one or more processors causes one or more processors further to selectively cache the compressed 3D graphics data on the GPU; and

wherein the selective caching comprises updating one or more cache tables with information indicating the association between 3D objects defined by the cached compressed 3D graphics data and one or more video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data.

33. A computer graphics system including:

a first processor;

a graphics processing unit (GPU) including video acceleration hardware;

the first processor operable to issue a control command causing the video processing hardware of the GPU to access a memory storing at least one video file including compressed 3D graphics data therein formatted as video frames of the video file, wherein the 3D graphics data is data able to be processed by the GPU to produce one or more 3D graphics objects;

the GPU, upon receiving the control command, being operable to;

access the at least one video;

determine one or more video frames of the video that correspond to the compressed 3D graphics data;

decompress the 3D graphics data in the video frames using the video acceleration hardware provided by the GPU based on information indicating association between 3D objects defined by the 3D graphics data and video frames comprising the compressed 3D graphics data; and

a cache memory storing a cache table, the cache table including the association between the 3D graphics objects and the one or more video frames of the video that correspond to the 3D graphics data.