US 11,379,941 B2Granted

Primitive shader

AssigneesAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc., ATI Technologies ULC

InventorsTodd Martin, Mangesh P. Nijasure, Randy W. Ramsey, Michael Mantor, Laurent Lefebvre

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Abstract

Improvements in the graphics processing pipeline are disclosed. More specifically, a new primitive shader stage performs tasks of the vertex shader stage or a domain shader stage if tessellation is enabled, a geometry shader if enabled, and a fixed function primitive assembler. The primitive shader stage is compiled by a driver from user-provided vertex or domain shader code, geometry shader code, and from code that performs functions of the primitive assembler. Moving tasks of the fixed function primitive assembler to a primitive shader that executes in programmable hardware provides many benefits, such as removal of a fixed function crossbar, removal of dedicated parameter and position buffers that are unusable in general compute mode, and other benefits.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A method for performing three-dimensional graphics rendering, the method comprising:

performing per-vertex operations on a set of vertices at a primitive shader stage of a graphics processing pipeline, with a primitive shader program executing in parallel processing units;
performing culling operations on a set of primitives associated with the set of vertices, to generate a set of culled primitives, the culling operations being performed with the primitive shader at the primitive shader stage;
identifying one or more screen subdivisions for the set of culled primitives, with the primitive shader at the primitive shader stage;
and
transmitting the set of culled primitives to a set of screen-space pipelines based on the identified screen subdivisions of the set of culled primitives, the transmitting performed with the primitive shader and via a general purpose local data store memory, wherein transmitting the set of culled primitives to the set of screen-space pipelines is performed via the general purpose local data store memory and not via a fixed function crossbar or via a dedicated position buffer and parameter buffer,
wherein the primitive shader stage comprises a programmable stage of the graphics processing pipeline prior to a screen-space pipeline of the graphics processing pipeline.

3 more elements

An accelerated processing device (APD), comprising:

a graphics processing pipeline;
a general purpose local data store memory, and
a plurality of parallel processing units,
wherein the graphics processing pipeline includes a programmable primitive shader stage configured to execute a primitive shader program on the plurality of parallel processing units, the primitive shader stage being prior to a screen-space pipeline of the graphics processing pipeline, the primitive shader program configured to:
perform per-vertex operations on a set of vertices;
perform culling operations on a set of primitives associated with the set of vertices, to generate a set of culled primitives;
identifying one or more screen subdivisions for the set of culled primitives, with the primitive shader;
and
transmitting the set of culled primitives to a set of screen-space pipelines of the graphics processing pipeline, via the local data store memory, based on the identified screen subdivisions of the set of culled primitives, wherein transmitting the set of culled primitives to the set of screen-space pipelines is performed via the general purpose local data store memory and not via a fixed function crossbar or via a dedicated position buffer and parameter buffer.

6 more elements

A computing device, comprising:

a central processing unit, and
an accelerated processing device (APD), the APD comprising:
a graphics processing pipeline;
a general purpose local data store memory, and
a plurality of parallel processing units,
wherein the graphics processing pipeline includes a programmable primitive shader stage configured to execute a primitive shader program on the plurality of parallel processing units, the primitive shader stage being prior to a screen-space pipeline of the graphics processing pipeline, the primitive shader program configured to:
perform per-vertex operations on a set of vertices received from the central processing unit;
perform culling operations on a set of primitives associated with the set of vertices, to generate a set of culled primitives;
identifying one or more screen subdivisions for the set of culled primitives, with the primitive shader;
and
transmitting the set of culled primitives to a set of screen-space pipelines of the graphics processing pipeline, via the local data store memory, based on the identified screen subdivisions of the set of culled primitives, wherein transmitting the set of culled primitives to the set of screen-space pipelines is performed via the general purpose local data store memory and not via a fixed function crossbar or via a dedicated position buffer and parameter buffer.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/415,823Filed 25 Jan 2017 · us provisional application
Priority: 22 Sep 2016
Published: US 2018/0082399 A122 Mar 2018
Granted: 5 Jul 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

G06T 1/20
General purpose image data processing: processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
G06T 15/005
Three-dimensional [3D] image rendering: general purpose rendering architectures
G06T 15/40
Geometric effects: hidden part removal
G06T 2200/04
Indexing scheme for image data processing or generation, in general: involving 3D image data