Abstract: A system and method is presented that leverages independent innovation in entertainment content and graphics hardware. In this system and method, the current image generation run-time application is replaced with a new framework defining the connectivity, features, and behavior necessary to implement a graphics system. All this takes place in the context of a software platform utilizing a late-integration mechanism that dynamically integrates the various real-time components in a run-time application. Ultimately displacing hardware as the central focus of development efforts, this software platform functionally is the graphics application, at least as viewed by the simulation host computer, database developers, and those responsible for visual system procurement and maintenance. An innovative software architecture, the Graphical Application Platform (GAP) is presented.

Abstract: A method for supporting development of content independent of a run time platform is provided. A method includes storing processing blocks and storing an application graph that expresses the identity of the stored processing blocks and data connectivity therebetween. The application graph can be traversed by a graphical application platform at run time to execute appropriate blocks. A game development and run time system includes a graphical application platform that enables a game application to run on any of multiple hardware platforms. The graphical application platform has an application real time kernel, a plurality of standard features implemented as executable blocks of logic, and connections between blocks that implement data flow between the blocks. Capabilities of the game application and any of the hardware platforms can be implemented modularly by adding additional corresponding blocks and connections.

Abstract: A texture loading pipeline loads textures for use in rendering an object. A source texture has one or more levels of detail. Each level of detail (LOD) contains texture tiles for a particular area of a global coordinate space at a particular resolution. There are no mandatory relationships between the areas represented by, or the resolutions of, different levels of detail. An instance of the texture loading pipeline exists for each LOD in the source texture. The texture tiles of a LOD are stored in a texture storage, which can be local or remote from the texture loading pipeline. An asynchronous request queue (ARQ) retrieves texture tiles in a region of interest from the texture storage and stores the tiles in a tile cache. Toroidal roaming is used to page textures in the region of interest from the tile cache to a texture cache. The toroidal roaming performs the best possible update of the texture cache given a limited update time.

Abstract: A system and method is presented that leverages independent innovation in entertainment content and graphics hardware. In this system and method, the current image generation run-time application is replaced with a new framework defining the connectivity, features, and behavior necessary to implement a graphics system. All this takes place in the context of a software platform utilizing a late-integration mechanism that dynamically integrates the various real-time components in a run-time application. Ultimately displacing hardware as the central focus of development efforts, this software platform functionally is the graphics application, at least as viewed by the simulation host computer, database developers, and those responsible for visual system procurement and maintenance. An innovative software architecture, the Graphical Application Platform (GAP) is presented.