Abstract: Apparatus and method for a biased BVH traversal path. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: ray tracing traversal hardware logic to traverse a ray through nodes of a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH); and stack management hardware logic to push and pop entries on a traversal stack, each entry corresponding to a node of the BVH, wherein the ray tracing traversal hardware logic is to determine an order in which to push entries to the traversal stack based on both a first intersection value corresponding to a closest intersection point between the ray and a BVH node and a farthest intersection value between the ray and the BVH node. In addition, the ray traversal hardware logic may determine the order in which to push the entries to the traversal stack further based on a probability density value corresponding to a probability of a ray hitting geometry inside of the BVH.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for prefetching node data. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: ray tracing acceleration hardware to manage active ray tracing stack allocations within a traversal stack; and stack management hardware logic to issue a prefetch operation comprising an indication of bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) node data to be prefetched and an indication of a cache level, wherein responsive to performing the prefetch operation, the BVH node data is to be prefetched to the indicated cache level.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for efficient graphics processing including ray tracing. For example, one embodiment of a graphics processor comprises: execution hardware logic to execute graphics commands and render images; an interface to couple functional units of the execution hardware logic to a tiled resource; and a tiled resource manager to manage access by the functional units to the tiled resource, a functional unit of the execution hardware logic to generate a request with a hash identifier (ID) to request access to a portion of the tiled resource, wherein the tiled resource manager is to determine whether a portion of the tiled resource identified by the hash ID exists, and if not, to allocate a new portion of the tiled resource and associate the new portion with the hash ID.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for lossy displaced mesh compression. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: displacement mapping circuitry/logic to generate an original displacement-mapped mesh by performing a displacement mapping of a plurality of vertices of a base subdivision mesh; and mesh compression circuitry/logic to compress the original displacement-mapped mesh, the mesh compression circuitry/logic comprising a quantizer to quantize the displacement mapping of the plurality of vertices in view of a base mesh to generate a displacement array.

Abstract: One embodiment provides a graphics processor including a processing resource including a register file, memory, a cache memory, and load/store/cache circuitry to process load, store, and prefetch messages from the processing resource. The circuitry includes support for an immediate address offset that will be used to adjust the address supplied for a memory access to be requested by the circuitry. Including support for the immediate address offset removes the need to execute additional instructions to adjust the address to be accessed prior to execution of the memory access instruction.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for camera-aware BVH re-braiding. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: ray tracing acceleration hardware to be used to determine ray traversal results when traversing a ray through a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH); and BVH processing hardware logic to modify the BVH to reduce spatial overlap between one or more BVH subtrees based on a detected camera position to produce a modified BVH.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for box-box testing. For example, one embodiment of a processor comprises: a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) generator to construct a BVH comprising a plurality of hierarchically arranged BVH nodes; traversal circuitry to traverse query boxes through the BVH, the traversal circuitry to read a BVH node from a top of a BVH node stack and to read a query box from a local storage or memory, the traversal circuitry further comprising: box-box testing circuitry and/or logic to compare maximum and minimum X, Y, and Z coordinates of the BVH node and the query box and to generate an overlap indication if overlap is detected for each of the X, Y, and Z dimensions; distance determination circuitry and/or logic to generate a distance value representing an extent of overlap between the BVH node and the query box; and sorting circuitry and/or logic to sort the BVH node within a set of one or more additional BVH nodes based on the distance value.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for extended cache control operations for scratch space usage. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: a cache subsystem comprising at least a first level (L1) cache; a graphics processor core block to execute a workload using a temporary scratch memory space containing cacheable data, resulting in partially dirty cache lines in the cache subsystem containing data which is no longer needed, the graphics processor core block to execute a cache control instruction including fields to identify one or more of the partially dirty cache lines associated with the workload, the cache control instruction executed to reduce one or more instances of unnecessary memory read and memory write operations.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for throttling ray tracing operations based on a cache hit rate. For example, one embodiment of a processor comprises: a cache subsystem comprising one or more caches; circuitry to track a plurality of hits and misses in the cache subsystem for data accesses associated with ray tracing operations; and thread management logic to dynamically control a working set size for the ray tracing operations based on the plurality of hits and misses.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for efficient storage of BVH nodes in blocks. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) construction circuitry to construct a BVH based on primitives of a graphics scene; and block allocation hardware logic coupled to or integral to the BVH construction circuitry, the block allocation hardware logic to allocate a plurality of nodes of the BVH into a plurality of blocks for storage in a cache or memory subsystem, the block allocation hardware logic to maximize a number of blocks which include a leading parent node and one or more corresponding child nodes of the plurality of nodes.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for a BVH with oriented bounds using quantized shared orientations. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: traversal hardware logic to traverse rays through a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH); and BVH construction circuitry to generate a BVH with one or more oriented bounding boxes (OBBs), the BVH construction circuitry to project geometry of one or more child nodes along one or more orientation directions to determine corresponding upper and lower bound values; the traversal hardware logic comprising OBB processing logic to: project a ray along the one or more orientation directions; responsively determine ray-plane intersection distances to one or more near and far bounding planes corresponding to the orientation directions; and determine a hit or miss based on the ray-plane intersection distances to the near and far bounding planes.

Abstract: A graphics processing apparatus comprising bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) construction circuitry to perform a spatial analysis and temporal analysis related to a plurality of input primitives and responsively generate a BVH comprising spatial, temporal, and spatial-temporal components that are hierarchically arranged, wherein the spatial components include a plurality of spatial nodes with children, the spatial nodes bounding the children using spatial bounds, and the temporal components comprise temporal nodes with children, the temporal nodes bounding their children using temporal bounds and the spatial-temporal components comprise spatial-temporal nodes with children, the spatial-temporal nodes bounding their children using spatial and temporal bounds; and ray traversal/intersection circuitry to traverse a ray or a set of rays through the BVH in accordance with the spatial and temporal components.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for using multiple bounds to bound BVH child nodes. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: traversal hardware logic to traverse rays through a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH); and BVH construction circuitry to evaluate nodes of an N-wide BVH, the BVH construction circuitry to generate a union of multiple bounding boxes for one or more child nodes of the BVH to produce one or more corresponding union-bounded child nodes, wherein a node of the BVH stores N bounding boxes and each corresponding child node of the BVH is bounded by 0 to N of the bounding boxes; the traversal hardware logic to traverse a ray through the N-wide BVH and to determine a hit with respect to each union-bounded child node if any of the bounding boxes associated with the union-bounded child node are hit by the ray.

Abstract: A graphics processing apparatus comprising bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) construction circuitry to perform a spatial analysis and temporal analysis related to a plurality of input primitives and responsively generate a BVH comprising spatial, temporal, and spatial-temporal components that are hierarchically arranged, wherein the spatial components include a plurality of spatial nodes with children, the spatial nodes bounding the children using spatial bounds, and the temporal components comprise temporal nodes with children, the temporal nodes bounding their children using temporal bounds and the spatial-temporal components comprise spatial-temporal nodes with children, the spatial-temporal nodes bounding their children using spatial and temporal bounds; and ray traversal/intersection circuitry to traverse a ray or a set of rays through the BVH in accordance with the spatial and temporal components.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for lossy displaced mesh compression. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: displacement mapping circuitry/logic to generate an original displacement-mapped mesh by performing a displacement mapping of a plurality of vertices of a base subdivision mesh; and mesh compression circuitry/logic to compress the original displacement-mapped mesh, the mesh compression circuitry/logic comprising a quantizer to quantize the displacement mapping of the plurality of vertices in view of a base mesh to generate a displacement array.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for manageable fragmented acceleration structures. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: acceleration structure construction logic to build an acceleration structure (AS) including a multi-level linkage hierarchy with different types of AS fragments, the different types of AS fragments including a first type of AS fragments with leaves, a second type of AS fragments including AS linkages, and a third type of AS fragment including both leaves and AS linkages, wherein to construct an AS fragment, the acceleration structure construction logic is to: evaluate a plurality of primitive references, determine whether each primitive reference indicates a primitive or an AS fragment, and if the primitive reference indicates an AS fragment, then encode a pointer or offset directly or indirectly into a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) of the AS fragment; and traversal hardware logic to traverse a ray through the AS.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for grouping rays based on quantized ray directions. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: An apparatus comprising: a ray generator to generate a plurality of rays; ray direction evaluation circuitry/logic to generate approximate ray direction data for each of the plurality of rays; ray sorting circuitry/logic to sort the rays into a plurality of ray queues based, at least in part, on the approximate ray direction data.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for programmable ray tracing with hardware acceleration on a graphics processor. For example, one embodiment of a graphics processor comprises shader execution circuitry to execute a plurality of programmable ray tracing shaders. The shader execution circuitry includes a plurality of single instruction multiple data (SIMD) execution units. Sorting circuitry regroups data associated with one or more of the programmable ray tracing shaders to increase occupancy for SIMD operations performed by the SIMD execution units; and fixed-function intersection circuitry coupled to the shader execution circuitry detects intersections between rays and bounding volume hierarchies (BVHs) and/or objects contained therein and to provide results indicating the intersections to the sorting circuitry.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for efficient graphics processing including ray tracing. For example, one embodiment of a graphics processor comprises: execution hardware logic to execute graphics commands and render images; an interface to couple functional units of the execution hardware logic to a tiled resource; and a tiled resource manager to manage access by the functional units to the tiled resource, a functional unit of the execution hardware logic to generate a request with a hash identifier (ID) to request access to a portion of the tiled resource, wherein the tiled resource manager is to determine whether a portion of the tiled resource identified by the hash ID exists, and if not, to allocate a new portion of the tiled resource and associate the new portion with the hash ID.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for merging primitives and coordinating between vertex and ray transformations on a shared transformation unit. For example, one embodiment of a graphics processor comprises: a queue comprising a plurality of entries; ordering circuitry/logic to order triangles front to back within the queue; pairing circuitry/logic to identify triangles in the queue sharing an edge and to merge the triangles sharing an edge to produce merged triangle pairs; and shared transformation circuitry to alternate between performing vertex transformations on vertices of the merged triangle pairs and to performing ray transformations on ray direction/origin data.