Patents by Inventor James J. Ding

James J. Ding 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: 11430174
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to specifying memory consistency constraints. In some embodiments, an instruction may specify, for a memory operation, a type of memory consistency and a scope at which to enforce the type of consistency. For example, these fields may specify whether to sequence memory accesses relative to the operation at one or more of multiple different cache levels based on the type of memory consistency and the scope.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Terence M. Potter, Richard W. Schreyer, James J. Ding, Alexander K. Kan, Michael Imbrogno
  • Publication number: 20210134045
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to specifying memory consistency constraints. In some embodiments, an instruction may specify, for a memory operation, a type of memory consistency and a scope at which to enforce the type of consistency. For example, these fields may specify whether to sequence memory accesses relative to the operation at one or more of multiple different cache levels based on the type of memory consistency and the scope.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 15, 2021
    Publication date: May 6, 2021
    Inventors: Terence M. Potter, Richard W. Schreyer, James J. Ding, Alexander K. Kan, Michael Imbrogno
  • Patent number: 10930047
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to synchronizing access to pixel resources. Examples of pixel resources include color attachments, a stencil buffer, and a depth buffer. In some embodiments, hardware registers are used to track status of assigned pixel resources and pixel wait and pixel release instruction are used to synchronize access to the pixel resources. In some embodiments, other accesses to the pixel resources may occur out of program order. Relative to tracking and ordering pass groups, this weak ordering and explicit synchronization may improve performance and reduce power consumption. Disclosed techniques may also facilitate coordination between fragment rendering threads and auxiliary mid-render compute tasks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Terence M. Potter, Richard W. Schreyer, James J. Ding, Alexander K. Kan, Michael Imbrogno
  • Publication number: 20200167986
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to synchronizing access to pixel resources. Examples of pixel resources include color attachments, a stencil buffer, and a depth buffer. In some embodiments, hardware registers are used to track status of assigned pixel resources and pixel wait and pixel release instruction are used to synchronize access to the pixel resources. In some embodiments, other accesses to the pixel resources may occur out of program order. Relative to tracking and ordering pass groups, this weak ordering and explicit synchronization may improve performance and reduce power consumption. Disclosed techniques may also facilitate coordination between fragment rendering threads and auxiliary mid-render compute tasks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2019
    Publication date: May 28, 2020
    Inventors: Terence M. Potter, Richard W. Schreyer, James J. Ding, Alexander K. Kan, Michael Imbrogno
  • Patent number: 10504270
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to synchronizing access to pixel resources. Examples of pixel resources include color attachments, a stencil buffer, and a depth buffer. In some embodiments, hardware registers are used to track status of assigned pixel resources and pixel wait and pixel release instruction are used to synchronize access to the pixel resources. In some embodiments, other accesses to the pixel resources may occur out of program order. Relative to tracking and ordering pass groups, this weak ordering and explicit synchronization may improve performance and reduce power consumption. Disclosed techniques may also facilitate coordination between fragment rendering threads and auxiliary mid-render compute tasks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Terence M. Potter, Richard W. Schreyer, James J. Ding, Alexander K. Kan, Michael Imbrogno
  • Publication number: 20180182154
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to synchronizing access to pixel resources. Examples of pixel resources include color attachments, a stencil buffer, and a depth buffer. In some embodiments, hardware registers are used to track status of assigned pixel resources and pixel wait and pixel release instruction are used to synchronize access to the pixel resources. In some embodiments, other accesses to the pixel resources may occur out of program order. Relative to tracking and ordering pass groups, this weak ordering and explicit synchronization may improve performance and reduce power consumption. Disclosed techniques may also facilitate coordination between fragment rendering threads and auxiliary mid-render compute tasks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Publication date: June 28, 2018
    Inventors: Terence M. Potter, Richard W. Schreyer, James J. Ding, Alexander K. Kan, Michael Imbrogno