Abstract: Shader resources may be specified for input to a shader using a hierarchical data structure which may be referred to as a descriptor set. The descriptor set may be bound to a bind point of the shader and may contain slots with pointers to memory containing shader resources. The shader may reference a particular slot of the descriptor set using an offset, and may change shader resources by referencing a different slot of the descriptor set or by binding or rebinding a new descriptor set. A graphics pipeline may be specified by creating a pipeline object which specifies a shader and a rendering context object, and linking the pipeline object. Part or all of the pipeline may be validated, cross-validated, or optimized during linking.

Abstract: Methods are provided for creating objects in a way that permits an API client to explicitly participate in memory management for an object created using the API. Methods for managing data object memory include requesting memory requirements for an object using an API and expressly allocating a memory location for the object based on the memory requirements. Methods are also provided for cloning objects such that a state of the object remains unchanged from the original object to the cloned object or can be explicitly specified.

Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatuses of processing data of a VR system are disclosed that comprise receiving tracking information which includes at least one of user position information and eye gaze point information. One or more processors may be used to predict, based on the user tracking information, a user viewpoint of a next frame of a sequence of frames of video data to be displayed. Using the prediction, a portion of the next frame of video data to be displayed is rendered at an estimated location in the next frame. A corresponding matching portion in a previously encoded frame is determined based on the estimated location of the portion in the next frame and the portion of the next frame of video data is encoded.

Abstract: In a processing system including a plurality of graphics processing units (GPUs), the GPUs transfer compressed graphics streams composed of blocks of graphics data to one another. Some blocks of a compressed graphics stream, or parts thereof, may contain both compressed graphics data and meaningless data (referred to as data structure padding, or padding) that is used to align the graphics data, and some blocks may contain only padding. Before transferring a compressed graphics resource from one GPU to another GPU, the sending GPU compacts the compressed graphics resource by filtering out padding from the compressed graphics stream prepared for the transfer.

Abstract: Shader resources may be specified for input to a shader using a hierarchical data structure which may be referred to as a descriptor set. The descriptor set may be bound to a bind point of the shader and may contain slots with pointers to memory containing shader resources. The shader may reference a particular slot of the descriptor set using an offset, and may change shader resources by referencing a different slot of the descriptor set or by binding or rebinding a new descriptor set. A graphics pipeline may be specified by creating a pipeline object which specifies a shader and a rendering context object, and linking the pipeline object. Part or all of the pipeline may be validated, cross-validated, or optimized during linking.

Abstract: A processing system selectively renders pixels or blocks of pixels of an image and leaves some pixels or blocks of pixels unrendered to conserve resources. The processing system generates a motion vector field to identify regions of an image having moving areas. The processing system uses a rendering processor to identify as regions of interest those units having little to no motion, based on the motion vector field, and a large amount of edge activity, and to minimize the probability of unrendered pixels, or “holes”, in these regions. To avoid noticeable patterns, the rendering processor applies a probability map to determine the possible locations of holes, assigning to each unit a probability indicating the percentage of pixels within the unit that will be holes, and assigning a lower probability to units identified as regions of interest.

Abstract: Various virtual reality computing systems and methods are disclosed. In one aspect, a method of delivering video frame data to multiple VR displays is provided. The method includes generating content for multiple VR displays and sensing for competing needs for resources with real time requirements of the multiple VR displays. If competing needs for resources with real time requirements are sensed, a selected refresh offset for refreshes of the multiple VR displays is determined to avoid conflict between the competing needs for resources of the multiple VR displays. The selected refresh offset is imposed and the content is delivered to the multiple VR displays.

Abstract: Shader resources may be specified for input to a shader using a hierarchical data structure which may be referred to as a descriptor set. The descriptor set may be bound to a bind point of the shader and may contain slots with pointers to memory containing shader resources. The shader may reference a particular slot of the descriptor set using an offset, and may change shader resources by referencing a different slot of the descriptor set or by binding or rebinding a new descriptor set. A graphics pipeline may be specified by creating a pipeline object which specifies a shader and a rendering context object, and linking the pipeline object. Part or all of the pipeline may be validated, cross-validated, or optimized during linking.

Abstract: In a processing system including a plurality of graphics processing units (GPUs), the GPUs transfer compressed graphics streams composed of blocks of graphics data to one another. Some blocks of a compressed graphics stream, or parts thereof, may contain both compressed graphics data and meaningless data (referred to as data structure padding, or padding) that is used to align the graphics data, and some blocks may contain only padding. Before transferring a compressed graphics resource from one GPU to another GPU, the sending GPU compacts the compressed graphics resource by filtering out padding from the compressed graphics stream prepared for the transfer.

Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods for implementing fine-grain power management for virtual reality (VR) systems are disclosed. A VR compositor monitors workload tasks while rendering and displaying content of a VR application. The VR compositor determines the priorities of different tasks of a given VR frame and cause power states to be assigned to processing units to match the priorities of the tasks being performed. For example, if a first task within a first frame period is assigned a high priority, a processing unit executing the task operates at a relatively high power performance state when performing the first task. If a second task within the first frame period is assigned a low priority, the processing unit operates at a relatively low power performance state when performing the second task. By implementing fine-grain power management in a VR environment, the likelihood of the processing unit suffering a thermal event or impaired performance is reduced.

Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatuses of processing data of a VR system are disclosed that comprise receiving tracking information which includes at least one of user position information and eye gaze point information. One or more processors may be used to predict, based on the user tracking information, a user viewpoint of a next frame of a sequence of frames of video data to be displayed. Using the prediction, a portion of the next frame of video data to be displayed is rendered at an estimated location in the next frame. A corresponding matching portion in a previously encoded frame is determined based on the estimated location of the portion in the next frame and the portion of the next frame of video data is encoded.

Abstract: Methods are provided for creating objects in a way that permits an API client to explicitly participate in memory management for an object created using the API. Methods for managing data object memory include requesting memory requirements for an object using an API and expressly allocating a memory location for the object based on the memory requirements. Methods are also provided for cloning objects such that a state of the object remains unchanged from the original object to the cloned object or can be explicitly specified.

Abstract: Methods are provided for creating objects in a way that permits an API client to explicitly participate in memory management for an object created using the API. Methods for managing data object memory include requesting memory requirements for an object using an API and expressly allocating a memory location for the object based on the memory requirements. Methods are also provided for cloning objects such that a state of the object remains unchanged from the original object to the cloned object or can be explicitly specified.

Abstract: Shader resources may be specified for input to a shader using a hierarchical data structure which may be referred to as a descriptor set. The descriptor set may be bound to a bind point of the shader and may contain slots with pointers to memory containing shader resources. The shader may reference a particular slot of the descriptor set using an offset, and may change shader resources by referencing a different slot of the descriptor set or by binding or rebinding a new descriptor set. A graphics pipeline may be specified by creating a pipeline object which specifies a shader and a rendering context object, and linking the pipeline object. Part or all of the pipeline may be validated, cross-validated, or optimized during linking.

Abstract: Methods are provided for creating objects in a way that permits an API client to explicitly participate in memory management for an object created using the API. Methods for managing data object memory include requesting memory requirements for an object using an API and expressly allocating a memory location for the object based on the memory requirements. Methods are also provided for cloning objects such that a state of the object remains unchanged from the original object to the cloned object or can be explicitly specified.

Abstract: Provided is a method and system for preloading a cache on a graphical processing unit. The method includes receiving a command message, the command message including data related to a portion of memory. The method also includes interpreting the command message, identifying policy information of the cache, identifying a location and size of the portion of memory, and creating a fetch message including data related to contents of the portion, wherein the fetch message causes the cache to preload data of the portion of memory.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for mapping a physical memory having different memory regions. A plurality of virtual non-uniform memory access (NUMA) nodes may be defined in system memory to represent memory segments of various performance characteristics. Memory segments of a high-bandwidth memory (HBM) system memory may be allocated to a first memory region of the physical memory having memory segments represented by a first one of the NUMA nodes. The physical memory may include a second memory region having memory segments represented by a second one of the NUMA nodes. Memory segments of system memory may be allocated to the second memory region. The physical memory may further include a third memory region having memory segments represented by a third one of the NUMA nodes. Memory segments of an interleaved uniform memory access (UMA) graphics memory may be allocated to the third memory region.

Abstract: Provided is a method and system for preloading a cache on a graphical processing unit. The method includes receiving a command message, the command message including data related to a portion of memory. The method also includes interpreting the command message, identifying policy information of the cache, identifying a location and size of the portion of memory, and creating a fetch message including data related to contents of the portion, wherein the fetch message causes the cache to preload data of the portion of memory.