Abstract: Accesses to a mipmap by a shader in a graphics pipeline are monitored. The mipmap is stored in a memory or cache associated with the shader and the mipmap represents a texture at a hierarchy of levels of detail. A footprint in the mipmap of the texture is marked based on the monitored accesses. The footprint indicates, on a per-tile, per-level-of-detail (LOD) basis, tiles of the mipmap that are expected to be accessed in subsequent shader operations. In some cases, the footprint is defined by a plurality of footprint indicators that indicate whether the tiles of the mipmap are expected to be accessed in subsequent shader operations. In that case, the plurality of footprint indicators are set to a first value to indicate that the tile was not access during the first frame or a second value to indicate that the tile was accessed during the first frame.

Abstract: Techniques for removing or identifying overlapping fragments in a fragment stream after z-culling are disclosed. The techniques include maintaining a first-in-first-out buffer that stores post-z-cull fragments. Each time a new fragment is received at the buffer, the screen position of the fragment is checked against all other fragments in the buffer. If the screen position of the fragment matches the screen position of a fragment in the buffer, then the fragment in the buffer is removed or marked as overlapping. If the screen position of the fragment does not match the screen position of any fragment in the buffer, then no modification is performed to fragments already in the buffer. In either case, he fragment is added to the buffer. The contents of the buffer are transmitted to the pixel shader for pixel shading at a later time.

Abstract: Accesses to a mipmap by a shader in a graphics pipeline are monitored. The mipmap is stored in a memory or cache associated with the shader and the mipmap represents a texture at a hierarchy of levels of detail. A footprint in the mipmap of the texture is marked based on the monitored accesses. The footprint indicates, on a per-tile, per-level-of-detail (LOD) basis, tiles of the mipmap that are expected to be accessed in subsequent shader operations. In some cases, the footprint is defined by a plurality of footprint indicators that indicate whether the tiles of the mipmap are expected to be accessed in subsequent shader operations. In that case, the plurality of footprint indicators are set to a first value to indicate that the tile was not access during the first frame or a second value to indicate that the tile was accessed during the first frame.

Abstract: A receiver receives a request to schedule a meeting from a user and in response, prompts the user to provide meeting information including time information and attendee information for scheduling the meeting. A meeting scheduler identifies potential dates and potential times based on the meeting information. The meeting scheduler further detects locations of the attendees based on the potential dates and identifies potential meeting locations based on attendees' location. The meeting scheduler also computes date scores for the potential dates, time scores for the potential times, and location scores for the meeting locations to select a date, a time, and a meeting location based on scores to determine a meeting schedule. The meeting scheduler further selects a conferencing mechanism for the meeting and provides the meeting schedule comprising the selected date, time, and meeting location, and the selected conferencing mechanism as a meeting invite option to the user.

Abstract: A system and method of managing supply chains across separate organizations. The organizations that supply items to an organization and the organizations that use items supplied by that organization are defined in a consumer/producer hierarchy of three or more layers. Organizations at the first layer supply items to one or more organizations at the second layer while organizations at the second layer supply items to one or more organizations at the third layer, wherein each item may include a product or a service. A supply chain database is created and each organization is given access only to supply chain information within that organization's supply chain.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure include organic polymeric particles, paper coating compositions, coated paper, and methods of forming coated paper with the paper coating compositions. The embodiments of the organic polymeric particle include an organic hydrophilic polymer with a unit for hydrogen bonding, and a hollow porous structure that comprises an organic polymer that at least partially surrounds the organic hydrophilic polymer, where the hollow porous structure has a pore surface area greater than 1 percent of a total theoretical exterior surface area of the hollow porous structure and the organic hydrophilic polymer and the hollow porous structure give the organic polymeric particle a void volume fraction of 40 percent to 85 percent.

Abstract: Accordingly, there are disclosed herein active cables and methods that enable direct connection between different generations of network interface ports or ports supporting different standards. One illustrative embodiment is an active 1:N breakout cable that includes a unary end connector connected by electrical conductors to each of multiple split end connectors. The unary end connector is adapted to fit into a network interface port of a primary host device to provide output PAM4 electrical signals that convey a multi-lane outbound data stream to the primary host device and to accept input PAM4 electrical signals that convey multi-lane inbound data stream from the primary host device.

Abstract: An integrated circuit may have two signal paths: an open-loop modulator (which may comprise a digital-input Class-D amplifier) and a closed-loop modulator (which may comprise an analog-input Class-D amplifier). A control subsystem may be capable of selecting either of the open-loop modulator or the closed-loop modulator as a selected path based on one or more characteristics (e.g., signal magnitude) of an input audio signal. For example, for higher-magnitude signals, the closed-loop modulator may be selected while the open-loop modulator may be selected for lower-magnitude signals. In some instances, when the open-loop modulator is selected as the selected path, the closed-loop modulator may power off, which may reduce power consumption. In addition, one or more techniques may be applied to reduce or eliminate user-perceptible audio artifacts caused by switching between the open-loop modulator and the closed-loop modulator, and vice versa.

Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods for implementing raster order view enforcement techniques are disclosed. A processor includes a plurality of compute units coupled to one or more memories. A plurality of waves are launched in parallel for execution on the plurality of compute units, where each wave comprises a plurality of threads. A dependency chain is generated for each wave of the plurality of waves. The compute units wait for all older waves to complete dependency chain generation prior to executing any threads with dependencies. Responsive to all older waves completing dependency chain generation, a given thread with a dependency is executed only if all other threads upon which the given thread is dependent have become inactive. When executed, the plurality of waves generate a plurality of pixels to be driven to a display.

Abstract: Accesses to a mipmap by a shader in a graphics pipeline are monitored. The mipmap is stored in a memory or cache associated with the shader and the mipmap represents a texture at a hierarchy of levels of detail. A footprint in the mipmap of the texture is marked based on the monitored accesses. The footprint indicates, on a per-tile, per-level-of-detail (LOD) basis, tiles of the mipmap that are expected to be accessed in subsequent shader operations. In some cases, the footprint is defined by a plurality of footprint indicators that indicate whether the tiles of the mipmap are expected to be accessed in subsequent shader operations. In that case, the plurality of footprint indicators are set to a first value to indicate that the tile was not access during the first frame or a second value to indicate that the tile was accessed during the first frame.

Abstract: A multi-layer card comprising a polymeric inlay layer having a first surface and a second surface, further comprising a first multi-layer film which is disposed on the first surface of the polymeric inlay layer, and further comprising a first polymeric overlay layer which is disposed on said first multi-layer film, such that the layer order is polymeric inlay layer, first multi-layer film and first polymeric overlay layer, wherein said first multi-layer film comprises: (i) a polyester base layer (B) comprising a crystallisable polyester (PB), and further comprising titanium dioxide in an amount of from about 1 to about 30 wt % by total weight of the base layer; (ii) a first heat-sealable copolyester layer (A1) disposed on a first surface of said polyester base layer; and (iii) optionally a second heat-sealable copolyester layer (A2) disposed on a second surface of said polyester base layer, wherein the copolyester (CPA) of each of the first and optional second heat-sealable copolyester layers is independently

Abstract: An operation combiner receives a series of commands with read addresses, a modification operation, and write addresses. In some cases, the commands have serial dependencies that limit the rate at which they can be processed. The operation combiner compares the addresses for compatibility, transforms the operations to break serial dependencies, and combines multiple source commands into a smaller number of aggregate commands that can be executed much faster than the source commands. Some embodiments of the operation combiner receive a first command including one or more first read addresses and a first write address. The operation combiner compares the first read addresses and the first write address to one or more second read addresses and a second write address of a second command stored in a buffer. The operation combiner selectively combines the first and second commands to form an aggregate command based on the comparison.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a coating composition which is a stable aqueous dispersion of polymer particles and a phenyl glycidyl ether adduct of maltodextrin. The composition of the present invention is useful for improving open time in coatings formulations.

Abstract: A knob has a plurality of settings that configure a graphics pipeline. A first setting is associated with a first state of the graphics pipeline. The first setting is associated with the first state based on a measure of performance of the graphics pipeline while configured according to the first setting. The graphics pipeline is configured according to the first setting in response to the first state of the graphics pipeline matching a current state of the graphics pipeline. The graphics pipeline processes graphics according to the first setting. In some cases, the first setting is associated with the first state of the graphics pipeline by dithering or toggling the knob between the settings once per frame for a predetermined number of frames. The first setting achieves better performance than other ones of the plurality of settings during the predetermined number of frames.

Abstract: A composition comprising: (a) a hydrophilic polyurethane comprising polymerized units of: (i) a water-soluble polyol having hydroxyl functionality from two to four and a weight-average molecular weight from 800 to 16,000; and (ii) an aliphatic polyisocyanate having isocyanate functionality from two to six; wherein polymerized ethylene oxide units comprise at least 85 wt % of said hydrophilic polyurethane; and at least one of: (b) a saccharide having at least 5 hydroxyl groups and Mw from 300 to 4,000; (c) a dispersant polymer having Mw from 700 to 50,000 and from 10 to 55 wt % polymerized residues of C3-C6 carboxylic acid monomer and (d) a surfactant having HLB>11 and 12 to 100 polymerized units of ethylene oxide.

Abstract: Provided is a composition comprising one or more protein and one or more polyalkoxy fatty compound wherein the weight ratio of said protein to said polyalkoxy fatty compound is from 0.

Abstract: Provided is a composition comprising one or more protein and one or more polyalkoxy fatty compound and wherein said polyalkoxy fatty compound has structure (I) wherein R1 is a fatty group; R2 is H or a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbyl group; n is 0 to 5; X1 is O, S, or NH; X2 is O, S, or NH; and R3 is a polymeric group comprising polymerized units of (II) and (III)

Abstract: A technique for compressing an original image is disclosed. According to the technique, an original image is obtained and a delta-encoded image is generated based on the original image. Next, a segregated image is generated based on the delta-encoded image and then the segregated image is compressed to produce a compressed image. The segregated image is generated because the segregated image may be compressed more efficiently than the original image and the delta image.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a compound which is a di- and/or a tristyrylphenol monoglycidyl ether adduct of the compound of Formula I: where m is from 1 to 60. The compound of the present invention is useful as an open time additive in coatings formulations.

Abstract: Described herein are techniques for improving the effectiveness of depth culling. In a first technique, a binner is used to sort primitives into depth bins. Each depth bin covers a range of depths. The binner transmits the depth bins to the screen space pipeline for processing in near-to-far order. Processing the near bins first results in the depth buffer being updated, allowing fragments for the primitives in the farther bins to be culled more aggressively than if the depth binning did not occur. In a second technique, a buffer is used to initiate two-pass processing through the screen space pipeline. In the first pass, primitives are sent down to update the depth block and are then culled. The fragments are processed normally in the second pass, with the benefit of the updated depth values.