CENTRALISED INTERACTIVE GRAPHICAL APPLICATION SERVER
First Claim
1. A method of generating a compressed video data signal using at least one graphics processor module, comprising the steps of:
- a) intercepting graphics instructions outputted by graphics generating software;
b) analyzing the graphics instructions to determine which of the graphics instructions are useful for generation of compression assistance data;
c) generating a second set of instructions responsive to the results of the analysis;
d) processing the graphic instructions or at least a portion of the second set of instructions or a combination thereof, in the graphics processor module to generate graphics data comprising one or more image elements;
e) processing at least a portion of the second set of instructions to generate compression assistance data; and
,f) processing at least a portion of the graphics data using at least a portion of the compression assistance data to generate the compressed video data signal.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A centralised game server in a bank (50) of game servers runs a game program for use by a user at a remote terminal (52, 56, 58). In the game server, the game program sends a first set of graphics instructions to a first graphics processing unit (76) which is intercepted by an instruction interception module (74). The first set of instructions, including vertex data, transformation data and texture data are passed to the first graphics processing unit (76) whilst a specially manipulated version of the instructions is generated and passed to a second graphics processing unit (78). The first graphics processing unit (76) renders the image data as the game intended whilst the second graphics processing unit (78) is used to render specially adapted graphics data from which to extract compression assistance data used for compression, e.g. motion vectors. In alternative embodiments, a first set of instructions include a program for a programmable pipeline module, such as a vertex shader or a pixel shader, and the second set of instructions include a modified program for the programmable pipeline module.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A method of generating a compressed video data signal using at least one graphics processor module, comprising the steps of:
-
a) intercepting graphics instructions outputted by graphics generating software; b) analyzing the graphics instructions to determine which of the graphics instructions are useful for generation of compression assistance data; c) generating a second set of instructions responsive to the results of the analysis; d) processing the graphic instructions or at least a portion of the second set of instructions or a combination thereof, in the graphics processor module to generate graphics data comprising one or more image elements; e) processing at least a portion of the second set of instructions to generate compression assistance data; and
,f) processing at least a portion of the graphics data using at least a portion of the compression assistance data to generate the compressed video data signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method of generating a compressed video data signal using at least one graphics processor module, comprising the steps of:
-
a) intercepting graphics instructions outputted by graphics generating software; b) providing a second set of instructions; c) processing the graphic instructions or at least a portion of the second set of instructions or a combination thereof, in the graphics processor module to generate graphics data comprising one or more image elements; d) processing at least a portion of the second set of instructions to analyze the graphics instructions and thereby produce compression assistance data; and
,e) processing at least a portion of the graphics data using at least a portion of the compression assistance data to generate the compressed video data signal. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
-
Specification