Abstract: Methods and arrangements for planning and scheduling change management requests in computing systems are disclosed. Included are an arrangement for deciding whether or not an RFC should be done, an arrangement for assigning individual tasks to acceptable servers for each RFC to be done, and an arrangement for assigning the start times to said individual tasks for each RFC to be done.

Abstract: Methods, systems, devices, and computer program code (software) products enable acceleration of ray tracing by using acceleration data structures with high arity to enable processing of nodes using streaming SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) instructions with reduced memory requirements.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods, systems and computer program code (software) products for terminating spatial partition hierarchies and other hierarchies by a priori bounding.

Abstract: Electronic contracts or “eContracts” for representing service level agreements are provided. In one illustrative embodiment, the eContract may comprise information pertaining to: (a) descriptions of business transactions in IT terms; (b) financial implications of business transaction service levels; and (c) reporting to be done in business terms. Of course, the eContract may comprise other terms and conditions. In an illustrative aspect of the invention, a system for managing IT resources in terms of business financials comprises an electronic contract authoring system or “ecAuthoring system,” an electronic contract manager module or “ecManager,” and one or more electronic contract agent modules or “ecAgents” that may run on IT elements (e.g., components of the network) that are being managed. Analysts interact with the ecAuthoring system to construct eContracts. An eContract is input to an ecManager that interprets the contract to report on and optimize IT resources based on business financials.

Abstract: Methods, systems and computer program code (software) products executable in a computer processor element include computing, in the processor element, a minimal axis-aligned bounding box of the intersection of a given axis-aligned bounding box and a triangle under linear motion, and/or traversing, in the processor element, a ray tracing acceleration hierarchy for a given set of rays, wherein the traversing includes computing decisions for a representative form of the rays, without requiring a traversing of all rays in turn.

Abstract: Methods, systems and computer program code (software) products executable in a digital processor operable to generate a synthetic image include (1) selecting a rank-1 lattice in accordance with a maximized minimum distance function (max-min-dist lattice) corresponding to points in the synthetic image to be generated, (2) generating a data structure for efficient access of data stored in points of the rank-1 lattice, the data structure including the number n of lattice points, generator vector g, s basis vectors, and indices of the basis vectors, wherein the basis vectors are lattice points, and (3) generating, using the rank-1 lattice, digital output representative of a synthetic image, wherein the generating includes using the layout of rank-1 lattice points to represent textures of arbitrary dimension.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to an arrangement for switching high electric currents by way of a gas discharge at high voltages or for generating gas discharge plasma emitting EUV radiation. It is the object of the invention to find a novel possibility for generating a hollow cathode plasma that permits a longer life of the cathodes of short wavelength-emitting gas discharge radiation sources and pseudospark switches, also in high-power operation. This object is met in that the metal wall between the hollow cathode space and the discharge space has a thickness on the order of the centimeter range so that the openings of the metal wall change into relatively long channels and in that substantially radially extending cooling channels are introduced in the metal wall to reduce the ion erosion of the metal wall of the hollow cathode through efficient cooling.

Abstract: Systems and techniques are described in which rank-1 lattices are used in computerized image processing, in particular in the context of image synthesis. These include systems and techniques for selection of rank-1 lattices, rasterization on rank-1 lattices, anti-aliasing by rank-1 lattices, and adaptive refinement and filtering by rank-1 lattices.

Abstract: Systems and techniques are described for ray tracing and for the efficient construction of acceleration data structures required for fast ray tracing. A computer graphics system generates, for each pixel in an image, a pixel value that is representative of a point in a scene as recorded on an image plane of a simulated camera. The computer graphics system is configured to generate the pixel value for an image using a selected ray-tracing methodology . The selected ray-tracing methodology includes the use of a ray tree that includes at least one ray shot from the pixel into a scene along a selected direction. The ray-tracing methodology further includes calculating the intersections of rays and surfaces in the scene. An axis-aligned bounding box is defined that contains, for a given ray, the point of intersection of the ray and surface nearest the origin of the ray. The bounding box is iteratively refined until a predetermined termination criterion has been met.

Abstract: Methods, systems and computer program code (software) products executable in a digital processor operable to simulate light transport in a scene by ray tracing (wherein the digital processor is operable to maintain an object list representing a list of objects associated with a boundary of the scene) include executing a ray tracing method that traces r rays through n objects by (1) partitioning the object list in a recursive manner to generate partitions and (2) culling away the partitions of objects from rays, without using an explicit auxiliary acceleration data structure.

Abstract: Methods, systems, devices and computer program products operable in a computer graphics system include constructing a hierarchical ray tracing acceleration data structure comprising a tree structure, the nodes of which are generated utilizing a bounding interval hierarchy based on defining an axis-aligned scene bounding box and two parallel planes to partition a set of objects in a scene into left objects and right objects, and matching split planes to object bounding boxes. The two planes are perpendicular to a selected one of x, y, or z-axes. Given a splitting plane, each object in an image is classified either left or right based on a left/right selection criterion, and two splitting plane values of the child nodes are determined by the maximum and minimum coordinate of the left and right objects, respectively.

Abstract: Methods, systems, devices, and computer program code (software) products enable acceleration of ray tracing by using acceleration data structures with high arity to enable processing of nodes using streaming SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) instructions with reduced memory requirements.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for generically controlling one or more resources associated with at least one computing system. In one aspect of the invention, the technique comprises evaluating one or more performance metrics associated with the one or more resources given one or more configurations of the one or more resources. The technique then causes a change in the one or more configurations of the one or more resources based on the performance metric evaluating step. The one or more performance metrics and the one or more configurations are expressed in generic formats.

Abstract: Methods, systems, devices and computer program code (software) products operable within a computer graphics system or other computer system enable quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) light transport simulation by efficient ray tracing.

Abstract: The present invention provides systems, devices, computer-implemented methods and computer program code products (software) operable to evaluate integrals using quasi-Monte Carlo methodologies, and in particular embodiments, adaptive quasi-Monte Carlo integration and adaptive integro-approximation in conjunction with techniques including a scrambled Halton Sequence, stratification by radical inversion, stratified samples from the Halton Sequence, deterministic scrambling, bias elimination by randomization, adaptive and deterministic anti-aliasing, anti-aliasing by rank-1 lattices, and trajectory splitting by dependent sampling and rank-1 lattices.

Abstract: A computer graphics system generates a pixel value for a pixel in an image and displays a human-perceptible image on an LCD, CRT or other display device based on an electrical output generated in response to the pixel value, the pixel being representative of a point in a scene as recorded on an image plane of a simulated camera, the computer graphics system being configured to generate the pixel value for an image using a selected ray-tracing methodology in which simulated rays are shot from respective ones of a plurality of subpixels in the pixel, each subpixel having coordinates in the image plane. The computer graphics system comprises a sample point generator and a function evaluator.

Abstract: A computer graphics system generates a pixel value for a pixel in an image, the pixel being representative of a point in a scene as recorded on an image plane of a simulated camera. The computer graphics system comprises a sample point generator and a function evaluator. The sample point generator is configured to generate a set of sample points representing at least one simulated element of the simulated camera, the sample points representing elements of, illustratively, for sample points on the image plane, during time intervals during which the shutter is open, and on the lens, a Hammersley sequence, and, for use in global illumination, a scrambled Halton sequence. The function evaluator is configured to generate at least one value representing an evaluation of a selected function at sample points generated by the sample point generator, those values corresponding to the pixel value.

Abstract: The invention provides systems and computer-implemented methods for evaluating integrals using quasi-Monte Carlo methodologies, and in particular embodiments, adaptive quasi-Monte Carlo integration and adaptive integro-approximation in conjunction with techniques including a scrambled Halton Sequence, stratification by radical inversion, stratified samples from the Halton Sequence, deterministic scrambling, bias elimination by randomization, adaptive and deterministic anti-aliasing, anti-aliasing by rank-1 lattices, and trajectory splitting by dependent sampling and rank-1 lattices.

Abstract: A computer graphics system generates a pixel value for a pixel in an image, the pixel value being representative of a point in a scene as recorded on an image plane of a simulated camera, the computer graphics system comprising a sample point generator and a function evaluator. The sample point generator is configured to generate a set of sample points, at least one sample point being generated using at least one dependent sample comprising at least one element of a low-discrepancy sequence offset by at least one element of another low-discrepancy sequence. The function evaluator is configured to generate at least one value representing an evaluation of a selection function at one of the sample points, the value generated by the function evaluator corresponding to the pixel value.

Abstract: Computer graphics apparatus, methods, systems and program products (the term “programs” can include a product consisting of computer-readable program instructions encoded on a computer readable medium) are operable to generate pixel values for pixels in an image, and store or display a human-perceptible image based on the pixel values, using a selected ray-tracing methodology in which simulated rays are shot from the pixel into a scene, the simulated rays representing paths of simulated photons, the pixel value being representative of a point in a scene as recorded on an image plane of a simulated camera. The computer graphics system comprises a subdomain generator, a subdomain photon evaluator, an area value generator and a radiance value generator. An associated computer system generates, based on the pixel values, a display-controlling electrical output operable to control a display element and enable the display element to display an image.