Adaptive load balancing in software emulation of GPU hardware

In an emulator of a graphics processing unit (GPU) configured to operate on a network, a method of rasterizing a virtual image, wherein the virtual image comprises one or more graphic primitives, comprising:

• a) dividing the virtual image to be rasterized into a plurality of tiles, wherein each of the tiles include a predetermined number of image pixels, wherein each of the image pixels is either an ignorable pixel or a pixel that needs to be rendered;
• b) determining how many of the image pixels in each of the tiles are pixels that need to be rendered;
• c) assigning each of the plurality of tiles to one of a plurality of rasterization threads, wherein each rasterization thread is assigned a quantity of tiles such that a total number of pixels that need to be rendered by each rasterization thread is approximately the same, wherein tiles with only ignorable pixels are not assigned to a rasterization thread, wherein each of the tiles that have at least one pixel that needs to be rendered is randomly assigned to the one of the plurality of rasterization threads;
• d) rasterizing each of the plurality of tiles with the rasterization threads, wherein pixels that need to be rendered are rendered and are delivered to a frame buffer;
• e) generating a frame of the virtual image from the pixels in the frame buffer;
• and
• f) delivering the frame to a client device platform over a network.

An emulator configured to operate on a network, comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory coupled to the processor;
• one or more instructions embodied in memory for execution by the processor, the instructions being configured implement a method for rasterizing a virtual image, wherein the virtual image comprises one or more graphic primitives, the method comprising:
• a) dividing the virtual image to be rasterized into a plurality of tiles, wherein each of the tiles include a predetermined number of image pixels, wherein each of the image pixels is either an ignorable pixel or a pixel that needs to be rendered;
• b) determining how many of the image pixels in each of the tiles are pixels that need to be rendered;
• c) assigning each of the plurality of tiles to one of a plurality of rasterization threads, wherein each rasterization thread is assigned a quantity of tiles such that a total number of pixels that need to be rendered by each rasterization thread is approximately the same, wherein tiles with only ignorable pixels are not assigned to a rasterization thread, wherein each of the tiles that have at least one pixel that needs to be rendered is randomly assigned to the one of the plurality of rasterization threads;
• d) rasterizing each of the plurality of tiles with the rasterization threads, wherein pixels that need to be rendered are rendered and are delivered to a frame buffer;
• e) generating a frame of the virtual image from the pixels in the frame buffer;
• and
• f) delivering the frame to a client device platform over a network.