CENTRALISED INTERACTIVE GRAPHICAL APPLICATION SERVER

• US 20110157197A1
• Filed: 02/22/2011
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T5 Labs Ltd.
• Original Assignee: T5 Labs Ltd.
• Inventors: Duckett, Dedrick, Clemie, Graham
• Granted Patent: US 8,081,192 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/522
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/327 using wireless networks, e.g. Wi-Fi® or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/332 using wireless networks, e.g. cellular phone networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/203 Image generating hardware
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/538 for performing operations on behalf of the game client, e.g. rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/20 Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/60 Memory management
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/00 3D [Three Dimensional] image rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/08 Bandwidth reduction
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 9/00 Image coding bandwidth or redundancy reduction for static pictures H04N1/41; coding or decoding of static colour picture signals H04N1/64; methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/20 using video object coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/40 using video transcoding, i.e. partial or full decoding of a coded input stream followed by re-encoding of the decoded output stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/42 characterised by implementation details or hardware specially adapted for video compression or decompression, e.g. dedicated software implementation H04N19/635 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/463 by compressing encoding parameters before transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/51 Motion estimation or motion compensation

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.

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.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the graphics instructions comprise object rendering instructions for at least one object and wherein the step of analyzing comprises extracting geometric information from the object.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the graphics instructions comprise object rendering instructions for at least one object and wherein the step of analyzing comprises extracting textures information of the object.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the second set of instructions is generated to be responsive to a system constraint.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the system constraint is selected from a compressed video data signal bandwidth constraint and a system latency constraint.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the system constraint is a compression quality constraint of the graphics data.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the second set of instructions is configured to control the amount of detail of the image elements.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the generation of the compressed video data signal is facilitated by an encoder, and wherein at least a portion of the second set of instructions is configured to be responsive to one or more constraints issued by the encoder.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the generation of the compressed video data signal is facilitated by an encoder, and wherein handshake signalling is provided between the encoder and at least one other step.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of generating the second set of instructions further comprises the step of generating instructions for processing the graphics instructions or the second set of instructions, from a first point in time, and graphics instructions or a second set of instructions, of a second point in time than the first point in time to facilitate generation of the compression assistance data.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising generating, as part of the second set of instructions, instructions for storing data processed from the graphics instructions or the second set of instructions, corresponding to a first point in time, for processing with data processed from the graphics instructions or the second set of instructions, corresponding to a second point in time in order to generate the compression assistance data.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the method further comprises the step of storing of at least a part of the graphics instructions or at least a part of the second set of instructions, corresponding to a first point of time, for processing with at least part of the graphics instructions or at least a part of the second set of instructions, corresponding to a second point in time in order to generate the compression assistance data.

13. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising creating unique signatures for one or more elements of the graphics instructions to facilitate subsequent recognition of the elements.

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.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the graphics instructions comprise object rendering instructions for at least one object and the step of analyzing the graphics instructions involves extracting geometric information from the object.

16. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein at least a portion of the second set of instructions is responsive to a system constraint selected from a compressed video data signal bandwidth constraint and a system latency constraint.

17. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the generation of compressed video data signal is facilitated by an encoder, and wherein handshake signalling is provided between the encoder and at least one other step.

18. A method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the second set of instructions comprises instructions for storing data processed from the graphics instructions or the second set of instructions, corresponding to a first point in time, for processing with data processed from the graphics instructions or the second set of instructions, corresponding to a second point in time in order to generate the compression assistance data.