Patents by Inventor Markus Tavenrath

Markus Tavenrath has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9773342
    Abstract: The disclosure provides a method of determining reflected irradiance for a surface point on a surface whose reflectance properties are represented by a measured BSDF. Additionally, the disclosure provides a renderer and a computer program product. In one embodiment, the method includes: (1) determining u, v and w coordinates in the measured BSDF for the surface point based on an incoming and an outgoing ray direction, (2) selecting a triangle for barycentric interpolation based on values of the v and the w coordinates at the surface point and (3) performing the barycentric interpolation for evaluating the measured BSDF for the surface point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: Nvidia Corporation
    Inventors: Andreas Suessenbach, Markus Tavenrath
  • Patent number: 9489763
    Abstract: One embodiment sets forth a method for processing draw calls that includes setting up a plurality of shader input buffers in memory, receiving shader input data related to a graphics scene from a software application, storing the shader input data in the plurality of shader input buffers, computing a pointer to each shader input buffer included in the plurality of shader input buffers, and passing the pointers to the plurality of shader input buffers to the software application. By implementing the disclosed techniques, a shader program advantageously can access the shader input data associated with a graphics scene and stored in various shader input buffers without having to go through the central processing unit to have the shader input buffers binded to the shader program.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventors: Christoph Kubisch, Markus Tavenrath
  • Patent number: 9342857
    Abstract: One embodiment sets forth a method for modifying draw calls using a draw-call shader program included in a processing subsystem configured to process draw calls. The draw call shader receives a draw call from a software application, evaluates graphics state information included in the draw call, generates modified graphics state information, and generates a modified draw call that includes the modified graphics state information. Subsequently, the draw-call shader causes the modified draw call to be executed within a graphics processing pipeline. By performing the computations associated with generating the modified draw call on-the-fly within the processing subsystem, the draw-call shader decreases the amount of system memory required to render graphics while increasing the overall processing efficiency of the graphics processing pipeline.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventors: Christoph Kubisch, Markus Tavenrath
  • Publication number: 20150213641
    Abstract: The disclosure provides a method of determining reflected irradiance for a surface point on a surface whose reflectance properties are represented by a measured BSDF. Additionally, the disclosure provides a renderer and a computer program product. In one embodiment, the method includes: (1) determining u, v and w coordinates in the measured BSDF for the surface point based on an incoming and an outgoing ray direction, (2) selecting a triangle for barycentric interpolation based on values of the v and the w coordinates at the surface point and (3) performing the barycentric interpolation for evaluating the measured BSDF for the surface point.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2014
    Publication date: July 30, 2015
    Applicant: Nvidia Corporation
    Inventors: Andreas Suessenbach, Markus Tavenrath
  • Publication number: 20140292771
    Abstract: One embodiment sets forth a method for modifying draw calls using a draw-call shader program included in a processing subsystem configured to process draw calls. The draw call shader receives a draw call from a software application, evaluates graphics state information included in the draw call, generates modified graphics state information, and generates a modified draw call that includes the modified graphics state information. Subsequently, the draw-call shader causes the modified draw call to be executed within a graphics processing pipeline. By performing the computations associated with generating the modified draw call on-the-fly within the processing subsystem, the draw-call shader decreases the amount of system memory required to render graphics while increasing the overall processing efficiency of the graphics processing pipeline.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2013
    Publication date: October 2, 2014
    Applicant: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventors: Christoph KUBISCH, Markus TAVENRATH
  • Publication number: 20140168242
    Abstract: One embodiment sets forth a method for processing draw calls that includes setting up a plurality of shader input buffers in memory, receiving shader input data related to a graphics scene from a software application, storing the shader input data in the plurality of shader input buffers, computing a pointer to each shader input buffer included in the plurality of shader input buffers, and passing the pointers to the plurality of shader input buffers to the software application. By implementing the disclosed techniques, a shader program advantageously can access the shader input data associated with a graphics scene and stored in various shader input buffers without having to go through the central processing unit to have the shader input buffers binded to the shader program.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2012
    Publication date: June 19, 2014
    Applicant: NVIDIA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christoph KUBISCH, Markus TAVENRATH
  • Patent number: 8379022
    Abstract: A fragment shader and method of operation are provided for a hybrid ray tracing system. The method includes determining whether a fragment is to be rasterized or raytraced. If a determination is made that the fragment is to be rasterized, a predetermined value for the fragment is stored into a rasterization target, the predetermined value indicating that the fragment is to be excluded from raytracing operations. If a determination is made that the fragment is to be raytraced, a primitive identifier of the fragment is stored into a rasterization target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventor: Markus Tavenrath
  • Publication number: 20100079457
    Abstract: A fragment shader and method of operation are provided for a hybrid ray tracing system. The method includes determining whether a fragment is to be rasterized or raytraced. If a determination is made that the fragment is to be rasterized, a predetermined value for the fragment is stored into a rasterization target, the predetermined value indicating that the fragment is to be excluded from raytracing operations. If a determination is made that the fragment is to be raytraced, a primitive identifier of the fragment is stored into a rasterization target.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2008
    Publication date: April 1, 2010
    Applicant: Nvidia Corporation
    Inventor: Markus TAVENRATH