Ray Traversal With Virtual Grids
OwnerAlvin D. Zimmermaninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Circuitry for identifying a closest intersected bounding volume in a target grid in a 3-dimensional scene includes circuitry that generates grid coordinates of candidate x-, y-, and z-planes in the target grid that belong to bounding volumes and which are closest to the ray. Comparator circuitry determines the closest plane among the candidate x-, y-, and z-planes to the ray. Circuitry generates an identifier of the bounding volume using the grid coordinates of the closest plane. The allocation of resources for some components comprising the circuitry is based on the number of planes that define the target grid, and for other components of the circuitry is based on the number of bounding volumes being considered.
Claims19
A circuit to process traversal of a ray through a target grid in a scene, the circuit comprising:
- first circuit means for determining an x-plane of a first bounding volume, from among a plurality of bounding volumes, that is closest to the ray;
- second circuit means, operating in parallel with the first circuit means, for determining a y-plane of a second bounding volume, from among the plurality of bounding volumes, that is closest to the ray;
- third circuit means, operating in parallel with the first and second circuit means, for determining a z-plane of a third bounding volume, from among the plurality of bounding volumes, that is closest to the ray;
- and
- a selector connected to outputs of the first, second, and third circuit means to select a closest plane from among the x-plane determined by the first circuit means, the y-plane determined by the second circuit means, and the z-plane determined by the third circuit means and to output a bounding volume associated with the selected plane.
A method for processing traversal of a ray through a target grid in a scene, the method comprising:
- determining an x-plane of a first bounding volume, from among a plurality of bounding volumes, that is closest to the ray;
- determining a y-plane of a second bounding volume, from among the plurality of bounding volumes, that is closest to the ray concurrently while determining an x-plane of the first bounding volume;
- determining a z-plane of a third bounding volume, from among the plurality of bounding volumes, that is closest to the ray concurrently while determining an x-plane of the first bounding volume and determining a y-plane of the second bounding volume;
- selecting a closest plane from among the determined x-plane, the determined y-plane, and the determined z-plane;
- and
- outputting a bounding volume associated with the selected plane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.