Automatic Real-Time Shader Modification for Texture Fetch Instrumentation
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsJason Matthew Gould, Michael Edward Pietraszak, Zsolt Mathe, J. Andrew Goossen, Casey Leon Meekhof
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system are disclosed for automatic instrumentation that modifies a video game's shaders at run-time to collect detailed statistics about texture fetches such as MIP usage. The tracking may be transparent to the game application and therefore not require modifications to the application. In an embodiment, the method may be implemented in a software development kit used to record and provide texture usage data and optionally generate a report.
Claims20
A method for tracking utilization of shared assets in a system for rendering graphics using the shared assets, wherein the shared assets are loaded into a computer memory and processed by a rendering subsystem, the method comprising:
- during execution of the rendering subsystem, determining that an instruction set for processing one of the shared assets by the rendering subsystem has been requested;
- and
- instrumenting the instruction set such that a unique identifier and usage data for said one of the shared assets is tracked by the system.
A method for tracking and reporting utilization of shared assets in a system for rendering graphics using the shared assets, wherein the shared assets are loaded into a computer memory and processed by a rendering subsystem, the method comprising:
- receiving indication that a requesting process has requested that one of the shared assets be processed by the rendering subsystem;
- receiving and storing information comprising an identifier and usage data for said one of the shared assets, wherein a record associated said one of the shared assets is updated and a timestamp corresponding to a system time is stored when a matching asset is identified, and otherwise determining a unique identifier for said one of the shared assets and creating a new record including said usage data;
- and
- generating a summary of the information for each shared asset as a function of time.
A computing system configured to track and report utilization of image data in a system for rendering graphics using the image data, wherein the image data are loaded into a computer memory and processed by a graphics processing unit, the computing device comprising at least one processor, a user interface device, and at least one memory communicatively coupled to said at least one processor, the at least one memory having stored therein computer-executable instructions that, when executed by said at least one processor, cause the system to:
- during execution of the graphics processing unit, instrument instruction sets such that a unique identifier and usage data for one of the image data is tracked by the system;
- and
- generate a summary of the usage of each used shared asset as a function of time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.