Primitive program compilation for flat attributes with provoking vertex independence

• US 8,171,461 B1
• Filed: 02/24/2006
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: Kilgard, Mark J., Everitt, Cass W., Dodd, Christopher T., Glanville, Robert Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Thuy
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUI, HANH THI MINH
• Application Number:
  US11/361,769
• Time in Patent Office: 2,258 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/136
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/4441 Reducing the execution time required by the program code

Abstract

Systems and methods for compiling high-level primitive programs are used to generate primitive program micro-code for execution by a primitive processor. A compiler is configured to produce micro-code for a specific target primitive processor based on the target primitive processor'"'"'s capabilities. The compiler supports features of the high-level primitive program by providing conversions for different applications programming interface conventions, determining output primitive types, initializing attribute arrays based on primitive input profile modifiers, and determining vertex set lengths from specified primitive input types.

Claims

1. A method of processing a primitive program that is independent of a target application programming interface (API), comprising:

obtaining the target API, wherein the target API comprises one API in a plurality of available APIs, the primitive program is compilable into a plurality of compiled versions, and each compiled version is compatible with a different API in the plurality of available APIs;

determining a convention defined by the target API, wherein the convention conforms to a rule or a behavior specified by the target API; and

compiling the primitive program that is independent of the target API to produce primitive program micro-code that conforms to the convention, wherein execution of the primitive program micro-code produces an ordered stream of output primitives, and wherein the primitive program micro-code is configured to generate zero or more output primitives in the ordered stream of output primitives for each input primitive.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the target API uses conventions established by Microsoft'"'"'s DirectX.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the target API uses conventions established by OpenGL.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the convention is a provoking vertex convention used to specify a constant attribute for an output primitive.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the constant attribute is a flat shaded attribute that is not interpolated.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the constant attribute is associated with each vertex of an output primitive.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the flat shaded attribute is associated with a first vertex of an output primitive when the target API is Microsoft'"'"'s DirectX.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the flat shaded attribute is associated with the last vertex of an output primitive when the target API is OpenGL.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the primitive program is configured to compute a value that is a function of each input primitive'"'"'s area.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the primitive program is configured to compute a facet normal vector for each input primitive.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to process a primitive program that is independent of a target application programming interface (API), by performing the steps of:

obtaining the target API, wherein the target API comprises one API in a plurality of available APIs, the primitive program is compilable into a plurality of compiled versions, and each compiled version is compatible with a different API in the plurality of available APIs;

determining a convention defined by the target API, wherein the convention conforms to a rule or a behavior specified by the target API; and

compiling the primitive program that is independent of the target API to produce primitive program micro-code that conforms to the convention, wherein execution of the primitive program micro-code produces an ordered stream of output primitives and wherein the primitive program micro-code is configured to generate zero or more output primitives in the ordered stream of output primitives for each input primitive.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the target API uses conventions established by Microsoft'"'"'s DirectX.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the target API uses conventions established by OpenGL.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the convention is a provoking vertex convention used to specify a constant attribute for an output primitive.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the constant attribute is a flat shaded attribute that is not interpolated.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the constant attribute is associated with each vertex of an output primitive.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the flat shaded attribute is associated with a first vertex of an output primitive when the target API is Microsoft'"'"'s DirectX.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the flat shaded attribute is associated with the last vertex of an output primitive when the target API is OpenGL.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the primitive program is configured to compute a value that is a function of each input primitive'"'"'s area.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the primitive program is configured to compute a facet normal vector for each input primitive.