Apparatus and method for efficiently storing ray traversal data

A method comprising:

• constructing a hierarchical tree structure comprising a plurality of hierarchically arranged nodes in a plurality of levels based on primitives of a graphics scene;
• and
• traversing one or more of a plurality of rays through the hierarchical tree structure, wherein the traversal is to intersect the one or more of the plurality of rays with the primitives contained within the nodes, wherein the traversal is tracked by a first data structure containing a number of entries, the number of entries to be equal to a number of the plurality of levels in the hierarchical tree structure, and each entry identifying what is being currently traversed at a particular level of the hierarchical tree structure.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by a machine, are capable of causing the machine to perform:

• constructing a hierarchical tree structure comprising a plurality of hierarchically arranged nodes in a plurality of levels based on primitives of a graphics scene;
• and
• traversing one or more of a plurality of rays through the hierarchical tree structure, wherein the traversal is to intersect the one or more of the plurality of rays with the primitives contained within the nodes, wherein the traversal is tracked by a first data structure containing a number of entries, the number of entries to be equal to a number of the plurality of levels of in the hierarchical tree structure, and each entry identifying what is being currently traversed at a particular level of the hierarchical tree structure.