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.

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 stable and short latency sorting.

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 efficiently reconstructing a BVH. For example, one embodiment of a method comprises: constructing an object bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) for each object in a scene, each object BVH including a root node and one or more child nodes based on primitives included in each object; constructing a top-level BVH using the root nodes of the individual object BVHs; performing an analysis of the top-level BVH to determine whether the top-level BVH comprises a sufficiently efficient arrangement of nodes within its hierarchy; and reconstructing at least a portion of the top-level BVH if a more efficient arrangement of nodes exists, wherein reconstructing comprises rebuilding the portion of the top-level BVH until one or more stopping criteria have been met, the stopping criteria defined to prevent an entire rebuilding of the top-level BVH.

Abstract: Cluster of acceleration engines to accelerate intersections.

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: 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: 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.

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 stable and short latency sorting.

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 preventing re-traversal of a prior path on a restart. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: a ray generator to generate a plurality of rays in a graphics scene; a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) generator to construct a BVH comprising a plurality of hierarchically arranged nodes, wherein the BVH comprises a specified number of child nodes at a current BVH level beneath a parent node in the hierarchy; circuitry to traverse one or more of the rays through the BVH to form a current traversal path and intersect the one or more rays with primitives contained within the nodes, wherein the circuitry is to process entries from the top of a first data structure comprising entries each associated with a child node at the current BVH level, the entries being ordered from top to bottom based on a sorted distance of each respective child node.

Abstract: A processing apparatus is described. The apparatus includes a plurality of processing cores, including a first processing core and a second processing core a first field programmable gate array (FPGA) coupled to the first processing core to accelerate execution of graphics workloads processed at the first processing core and a second FPGA coupled to the second processing core to accelerate execution of workloads processed at the second processing core.

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: 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 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.