Controlling display performance using display system hints

A non-transitory machine readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a request to display one or more frames of data on a display device of a display system, the request including a first hint that specifies a complexity of image data of the one or more frames of data, the complexity of image data representing a number of surfaces, a number of geometric objects, or a number of shader programs;
• cyclically, with a real time processor, scanning entries in the time-stamp queue, including scanning the display event to read the second hint from the display event;
• generating a display event as a time-stamp queue entry based on the request, the first hint being inserted into the display event, the display event including a second hint derived from the first hint;
• and
• signaling a performance controller associated with the one or more graphics processors to adjust one or more performance related parameters including a clock frequency and voltage of the one or more graphics processors based on a complexity metric associated with the second hint provided by the real time processor.

An electronic device comprising:

• a display device having a variable refresh rate;
• one or more graphics processors to generate one or more frames of data for display on the display device;
• a display engine to present the one or more frames of data to the display device for display;
• display logic to receive a request to display the one or more frames of data and generate a display event as a time-stamp queue entry for the display engine based on the request, wherein the request includes a first hint that specifies a complexity of image data of the one or more frames of data, the complexity of image data representing a number of surfaces, a number of geometric objects, or a number of shader programs, the first hint is inserted into the display event, and the display event includes a second hint derived from the first hint;
• a real time processor to cyclically scan entries in the time-stamp queue, including scanning the display event to read the second hint from the display event;
• and
• a performance controller to adjust one or more performance related parameters including a clock frequency and voltage for the one or more graphics processors based on a complexity metric associated with the second hint provided by the real time processor.