Hardware overlay assignment

• US 9,881,592 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2013
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: Ryu, Donghan, Yamoto, Naoya
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hau
• Application Number:
  US14/048,882
• Publication Number:
  US 20150100884A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,575 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/12 Overlay of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of switching between the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/393 Arrangements for updating the contents of the bit-mapped memory
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/397 Arrangements specially adapted for transferring the contents of two or more bit-mapped memories to the screen simultaneously, e.g. for mixing or overlay G09G5/02 takes precedence

Abstract

An aspect of the present invention proposes a novel approach that can reduce the total number of the overlays to be composited during the display of graphical output in a mobile computing device. As a result, the total number of memory bandwidth and the usage of a graphics processing unit by a pre-compositor can be decreased significantly. According to one embodiment, this new approach is implemented with a display panel with embedded memory which supports a partial update, or refresh feature. Which such a feature, the layer compositor (typically either the display controller or GPU) is able to keep track of actively updating regions of a display panel by checking if each layer has new content to be displayed.

Claims

1. A method for generating a plurality of graphical overlays for a display frame, the method comprising:

receiving input data corresponding to a plurality of graphical layers;

generating a composition list comprising the plurality of graphical layers;

determining a plurality of active layers and a plurality of static layers from the plurality of graphical layers;

calculating a union area comprising the plurality of active layers;

determining a set of static layers, the set of static layers comprising static layers from the plurality of static layers without an intersection with the union area;

filtering the set of static layers from the composition list; and

storing data corresponding to the layers comprised in the composition list in a plurality of hardware overlays comprised in a display controller of a computing device,

wherein the set of static layers are stored in a first hardware overlay of the plurality of hardware overlays,

further wherein storing the data corresponding to the layers comprised in the composition list comprises storing the data corresponding to the layers comprised in the composition list in a separate hardware overlay of the plurality of hardware overlays from the first hardware overlay.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising storing data corresponding to the set of static layers in a display memory, the display memory being communicatively coupled to a display panel of the computing device.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

retrieving data in the plurality of hardware overlays;

composing an active display frame comprising the data corresponding to the plurality of active layers in the plurality of hardware overlays;

sending the active display frame to the display memory; and

displaying the active display frame with a static display frame corresponding to the set of static layers in the display panel.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the composing the plurality of graphical layers is performed in a display controller comprised in the computing device.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the composing the plurality of graphical layers is performed in a 3D graphics rendering engine.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of hardware overlays comprises a fixed plurality of hardware accelerated overlays.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the computing device comprises a mobile computing device.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the mobile computing device comprises a mobile computing device from the group of:

a mobile cellular telephone device;

a tablet computer;

a computerized wristwatch;

a mobile audio player; and

a laptop computer.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the input data comprises application data corresponding to an application executing in the computing device.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the set of static layers is displayed in the display panel while bypassing composition in the display controller.

11. A computing system comprising:

a memory device;

a system on a chip (SoC), communicatively coupled to the memory device and comprising;

a processor configured to execute a plurality of applications, and operable to generate a plurality of active graphical layers corresponding to the plurality of applications, and to store the plurality of active graphical layers in the memory device;

a plurality of hardware overlays configured to receive the plurality of active graphical layers from the memory device;

a display controller comprising the plurality of hardware overlays and configured to compose a plurality of display frames based on content in the plurality of hardware overlays; and

a display panel comprising a local memory configured to store a plurality of static graphical layers filtered from a composite list comprising both the plurality of static graphical layers and the plurality of active graphical layers, wherein the plurality of active graphical layers and the plurality of static graphical layers are displayed in the display panel,

wherein the set of static layers are stored in a first hardware overlay of the plurality of hardware overlays and the layers corresponding to the filter composition list are stored in a second hardware overlay of the plurality of hardware overlays.

12. The computing system according to claim 11, wherein the SoC further comprises a video decoder configured to render video output for one or more applications of the plurality of applications, and to store the video output in the plurality of hardware overlays.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the memory device comprises a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the memory device comprises a double data rate (DDR) DRAM device.

15. The system according to claim 11, wherein the SoC further comprises a graphics processing unit (GPU) configured to generate graphical output for the plurality of applications, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of display frames are composed in the GPU.

16. The system according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of active graphical layers and the plurality of static graphical layers correspond to graphical displays at fixed locations in the display panel.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of static graphical layers are comprised from the group comprising:

a navigation bar;

a status bar; and

a virtual keyboard.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of active graphical layers are comprised from the group comprising:

a user interface;

a mobile wallpaper.

19. The system according to claim 11, wherein the computing system comprises a mobile computing system from the group consisting of:

a mobile cellular telephone device;

a tablet computer;

a computerized wristwatch;

a mobile audio player; and

a laptop computer.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions embodied therein, the program instructions comprising:

instructions to receive input data corresponding to a plurality of graphical layers;

instructions to generate a composition list comprising the plurality of graphical layers

instructions to determine a plurality of active layers and a plurality of static layers from the plurality of graphical layers;

instructions to calculate a union area comprising the plurality of active layers;

instructions to determine a set of static layers, the set of static layers comprising static layers from the plurality of static layers without an intersection with the union area;

instructions to filter the set of static layers from the composition list; and

instructions to store data corresponding to the layers comprised in the composition list in a plurality of hardware overlays, the plurality of hardware overlays being comprised in a display controller of a computing device,

wherein the set of static layers are stored in a first hardware overlay of the plurality of hardware overlays,

further wherein the instructions to store the data corresponding to the layers comprised in the composition list comprises instructions to store the data corresponding to the layers comprised in the composition list in a separate hardware overlay of the plurality of hardware overlays from the first hardware overlay.