# US 2019/0318447 A1 · Graphics anti-aliasing resolve with stencil mask

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- Number: US 2019/0318447 A1
- Document ID: US20190318447A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/393,607
- Filed: 2019-04-24
- Published: 2019-10-17
- Earliest claimed: 2017-04-10
- Assignees: Intel Corporation
- Applicants: Intel Coporation
- Inventors: Hugues Labbe; Tomer Bar-On; Kai Xiao; Ankur N. Shah; John G. Gierach
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190318447A1

## CPC

- G06T 1/20: Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
- G06T 15/80: Shading
- G06T 2200/12: involving antialiasing
- G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL

## Abstract

An embodiment of a graphics apparatus may include a mask buffer to store a mask, a shader communicatively coupled to the mask buffer to apply the mask to a first shader pass, and a resolver communicatively coupled to the mask buffer to apply the mask to a resolve pass. The resolver may be configured to exclude a sample location not covered by the mask in the resolve pass. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.

## Claims

### Claim 1

(canceled)

### Claim 2

A computing system comprising:
a central processing unit;
a graphics processing unit; and
a memory coupled to one or more of the central processing unit or the graphics processing unit, the memory including a set of instructions, which when executed by the one or more of the central processing unit or the graphics processing unit, cause the computing system to:
store a mask; and
apply the mask to a resolve pass to use one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations of a first pixel that are inside the mask and exclude one or more outside anti-aliasing sample locations of the first pixel that are outside the mask.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more of the central processing unit or the graphics processing unit, cause the computing system to:
determine that a second pixel is completely inside the mask; and
apply the mask to the resolve pass to use all anti-aliasing sample locations of the second pixel.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The system of claim 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more of the central processing unit or the graphics processing unit, cause the computing system to:
determine that a third pixel is completely outside the mask; and
apply the mask to the resolve pass to use all anti-aliasing sample locations of the third pixel.

### Claim 5 (depends on 2)

The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more of the central processing unit or the graphics processing unit, cause the computing system to:
execute a first shader pass that is to include an anti-aliasing operation on a plurality of pixels, including the first pixel, to generate one or more inside sample values for the one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations and one or more outside sample values for the outside anti-aliasing sample locations.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The system of claim 5, wherein the anti-aliasing operation is to include a multi-sample anti-aliasing operation.

### Claim 7 (depends on 2)

The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more of the central processing unit or the graphics processing unit, cause the computing system to:
execute a rasterization operation based on values associated with the one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations but not the one or more outside anti-aliasing sample locations.

### Claim 8

A graphics apparatus, comprising:
a mask buffer to store a mask; and
one or more processing cores, implemented at least partly in one or more of configurable logic or fixed-functionality logic hardware, coupled to the mask buffer and to apply the mask to a resolve pass to use one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations of a first pixel that are inside the mask and exclude one or more outside anti-aliasing sample locations of the first pixel that are outside the mask.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more processing cores are to:
determine that a second pixel is completely inside the mask; and
apply the mask to the resolve pass to use all anti-aliasing sample locations of the second pixel.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more processing cores are to:
determine that a third pixel is completely outside the mask; and
apply the mask to the resolve pass to use all anti-aliasing sample locations of the third pixel.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more processing cores are to:
execute a first shader pass that is to include an anti-aliasing operation on a plurality of pixels, including the first pixel, to generate one or more inside sample values for the one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations and one or more outside sample values for the one or more outside anti-aliasing sample locations.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the anti-aliasing operation is to include a multi-sample anti-aliasing operation.

### Claim 13 (depends on 8)

The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more processing cores are to:
execute a rasterization operation based on values associated with the one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations but not the one or more outside anti-aliasing sample locations.

### Claim 14

A method comprising:
storing a mask; and
applying the mask to a resolve pass to use one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations of a first pixel that are inside the mask and exclude one or more outside anti-aliasing sample locations of the first pixel that are outside the mask.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, further comprising:
determining that a second pixel is completely inside the mask; and
applying the mask to the resolve pass to use all anti-aliasing sample locations of the second pixel.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising:
determining that a third pixel is completely outside the mask; and
applying the mask to the resolve pass to use all anti-aliasing sample locations of the third pixel.

### Claim 17 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, further comprising:
executing a first shader pass that is to include an anti-aliasing operation on a plurality of pixels, including the first pixel, to generate one or more inside sample values for the one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations and one or more outside sample values for the outside anti-aliasing sample locations.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17, wherein the anti-aliasing operation is to include a multi-sample anti-aliasing operation.

### Claim 19 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, further comprising:
rasterizing based on values associated with the one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations but not the one or more outside anti-aliasing sample locations.

### Claim 20

At least one computer readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions, which when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
store a mask; and
apply the mask to a resolve pass to use one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations of a first pixel that are inside the mask and exclude one or more outside anti-aliasing sample locations of the first pixel that are outside the mask.

### Claim 21 (depends on 20)

The at least one computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the computing device to
determine that a second pixel is completely inside the mask; and
apply the mask to the resolve pass to use all anti-aliasing sample locations of the second pixel.

### Claim 22 (depends on 21)

The at least one computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the computing device to:
determine that a third pixel is completely outside the mask; and
apply the mask to the resolve pass to use all anti-aliasing sample locations of the third pixel.

### Claim 23 (depends on 20)

The at least one computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the computing device to
execute a first shader pass that is to include an anti-aliasing operation on a plurality of pixels, including the first pixel, to generate one or more inside sample values for the one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations and one or more outside sample values for the outside anti-aliasing sample locations.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

The at least one computer readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the anti-aliasing operation is to include a multi-sample anti-aliasing operation.

### Claim 25 (depends on 20)

The at least one computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the computing device to
rasterize based on values associated with the one or more inside anti-aliasing sample locations but not the one or more outside anti-aliasing sample locations.