Systems and methods for performing memory management operations to provide displays of complex virtual environments

A method for performing memory management operations in a virtual reality (VR) system, the VR system being adapted to provide displays of a complex virtual environment based on VR file(s), the VR file(s) including data defining dynamic tessellation elements and non-dynamic tessellation elements, the method comprising:

• buffering, in memory of the VR system, vertex data for rendered dynamic tessellation elements;
• determining, for a dynamic tessellation element to be rendered, whether the dynamic tessellation element was rendered in a previous frame at a tessellation level that is the same as a tessellation level for the element in a frame to be rendered;
• and
• when it is determined that the dynamic tessellation element was rendered in a previous frame at the same tessellation level, using the buffered vertex data for the previous rendering of the dynamic tessellation element to facilitate the display of the frame to be rendered.

A computer program product for providing interactive displays of a complex virtual environment, the computer program product comprising a computer readable medium embodying a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions that are executable by a system to perform a method for performing memory management operations, the method comprising:

• allocating video memory in graphics hardware of the VR system and allocating accelerated graphics port (AGP) memory as part of system memory of the VR system;
• estimating, for a dynamic tessellation element to be rendered, memory space requirements for storing rendering data for the dynamic tessellation element, the rendering data comprising vertex data defining one or more triangles representing the dynamic tessellation element;
• determining whether there is sufficient memory space available in at least one of the video memory and the AGP memory for storing the rendering data based on the estimated memory space requirements;
• and
• using the available memory space in at least one of the video memory and the AGP memory for dynamically tesselating the element when it is determined that there is sufficient memory space for the rendering data.

A system for performing memory management operations, the system comprising:

• means for buffering, in memory of a virtual reality (VR) system, vertex data for rendered dynamic tessellation elements;
• means for determining, for a dynamic tessellation element to be rendered, whether the dynamic tessellation element was rendered in a previous frame at a tessellation level that is the same as a tessellation level for the element in a frame to be rendered;
• and
• means for using the buffered vertex data for the previous rendering of the dynamic tessellation element to facilitate the display of the frame to be rendered when it is determined that the dynamic tessellation element was rendered in a previous frame at the same tessellation level.