Fast variable validation for state management of a graphics pipeline

• US 20080005731A1
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Published: 01/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Markovic, Relja, Glassenberg, Samuel, Srinivasan, Ramanujan
• Granted Patent: US 8,954,947 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4491 Optimising based on receiver type
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/005 General purpose rendering architectures

Abstract

In a state management system of an effects system implemented in a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), techniques and technologies are provided for setting a value to particular variables at application run-time without validating the variables. For example, a compiled effects file comprising a number of variables can be loaded at application load time, and a generic, variable interface pointer for a particular variable of the effects file can be retrieved. A specialized variable interface pointer can then be generated which is associated with the particular variable by specifying a desired type of access that will be performed on the particular variable. At application run-time, the specialized variable interface can be used to set a value to each of the particular variables without validating the particular variables at application run-time.

Claims

1. In a state management system, a method comprising:

loading a compiled effects file comprising a number of variables at application load time;

retrieving a generic variable interface pointer for a particular variable of the effects file;

generating a specialized variable interface pointer associated with the particular variable, at load time, by specifying a desired type of access that will be performed on the particular variable; and

using a specialized variable interface to set a value to each of the particular variables at application run-time without validating the particular variables at application run-time.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein using a specialized variable interface to set a value to each of the particular generic variables at application run-time without validating the particular generic variables at application run-time, further comprises:

setting a value to each of the particular variables having a set time format at application run-time by fast copying the particular variables to memory without validating the particular variables at run-time.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein using a specialized variable interface to set a value to each of the particular generic variables at application run-time without validating the particular generic variables at application run-time, further comprises:

automatically performing an operation on other variables having a different format than the set time format to convert the other variables to the set time format; and

setting a value to each of the converted variables at application run-time without validating the variables at application run-time.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the operation comprises a run-time conversion.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the run-time conversion comprises one of:

conversion from integer value-to-floating point value,

conversion from floating point value-to-integer value,

transposing a matrix,

packing and unpacking array data, and

performing additional checks on object variables.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the specialized variable interface pointer comprises a method which specifies the set time format the application expects for any variable to be used in conjunction with the method.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the set time format specifies the format the application uses to get and set values to the particular variables.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the specialized variable interface pointer comprises a method which specifies a variable type the application expects for any variable to be used in conjunction with the method such that a compiler knows that the method expects the specified variable type.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the variable comprises an effect variable.

10. An application programming interface (API) for instructing a graphics processing unit to:

load a compiled effects file comprising a number of variables at application load time;

retrieve a generic variable interface pointer for a particular variable of the effects file;

generate a specialized variable interface pointer associated with the particular variable, at load time, by specifying a desired type of access that will be performed on the particular variable; and

use a specialized variable interface to set a value to each of the particular variables at application run-time without validating the particular variables at application run-time.

11. An API according to claim 10 for instructing a graphics processing unit to:

set a value to each of the particular variables having a set time format at application run-time by fast copying the particular variables to memory without validating the particular variables at run-time.

12. An API according to claim 10 for instructing a graphics processing unit to:

perform an operation on other variables having a different format than the set time format to convert the other variables to the set time format; and

set a value to each of the converted variables at application run-time without validating the variables at application run-time.

13. An API according to claim 12, wherein the operation comprises a run-time conversion.

14. An API according to claim 13, wherein the run-time conversion comprises one of:

conversion from integer value-to-floating point value,

conversion from floating point value-to-integer value,

transposing a matrix,

packing and unpacking array data, and

performing additional checks on object variables.

15. An API according to claim 10, wherein the specialized variable interface pointer comprises a method which specifies the set time format the application expects for any variable to be used in conjunction with the method.

16. An API according to claim 15, wherein the set time format specifies the format the application uses to get and set values to the particular variables.

17. An API according to claim 16, wherein the specialized variable interface pointer comprises a method which specifies a variable type the application expects for any variable to be used in conjunction with the method such that a compiler knows that the method expects the specified variable type.

18. An API according to claim 10, wherein the variable comprises an effect variable.