Patents by Inventor Tobias Berghoff

Tobias Berghoff 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).

  • Publication number: 20210350606
    Abstract: Graphics processing systems and methods are disclosed which may minimize invocations to a pixel shader in order to improve efficiency in a rendering pipeline. In implementations of the present disclosure, a plurality of samples within a pixel may be covered by a primitive. The plurality of samples may include one or more color samples and a plurality of depth samples. The nature of the samples which were covered by the primitive may be taken into account before invoking a pixel shader to perform shading computations on the pixel. In implementations of the present disclosure, if at least one sample is covered by a primitive, but none of the samples are color samples, an invocation to a pixel shader may be avoided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2019
    Publication date: November 11, 2021
    Inventor: Tobias Berghoff
  • Patent number: 11170461
    Abstract: A method for graphics processing. The method including rendering graphics for an application using a plurality of graphics processing units (GPUs). The method including using the plurality of GPUs in collaboration to render an image frame including a plurality of pieces of geometry. The method including during a pre-pass phase of rendering, generating information at the GPUs regarding the plurality of pieces of geometry and their relation to a plurality of screen regions. The method including assigning the plurality of screen regions to the plurality of GPUs based on the information for purposes of rendering the plurality of pieces of geometry in a subsequent phase of rendering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Mark E. Cerny, Tobias Berghoff, David Simpson
  • Publication number: 20210272348
    Abstract: A graphics processing unit (GPU) is configured to receive metadata specifying an active sample configuration for a particular region of a display device among a plurality of regions of the display device and receive pixel data for one or more pixels in the particular region. The pixel data specifies the same number of color samples for each pixel. For each pixel in the particular region, the GPU invokes a pixel shader only for color samples specified to be active samples by the configuration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2020
    Publication date: September 2, 2021
    Inventor: Tobias Berghoff
  • Publication number: 20210241515
    Abstract: A method for graphics processing. The method including rendering graphics for an application using graphics processing units (GPUs). The method including dividing responsibility for processing a plurality of pieces of geometry of an image frame during an analysis pre-pass phase of rendering between the plurality of GPUs, wherein each of the plurality of pieces of geometry is assigned to a corresponding GPU. The method including determining in the analysis pre-pass phase overlap of each the plurality of pieces of geometry with each of a plurality of screen regions. The method including generating information at the plurality of GPUs regarding the plurality of pieces of geometry and their relations to the plurality of screen regions based on the overlap of each the plurality of pieces of geometry with each of the plurality of screen regions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Publication date: August 5, 2021
    Inventors: Mark E. Cerny, Tobias Berghoff, David Simpson
  • Publication number: 20210241411
    Abstract: A method for graphics processing including rendering graphics for an application using a plurality of graphics processing units (GPUs). The method including dividing responsibility for rendering geometry of the graphics between the GPUs based on screen regions, each GPU having a corresponding division of the responsibility which is known to the GPUs. The method including determining a Z-value for a piece of geometry during a pre-pass phase of rendering at a first GPU for an image, wherein the piece of geometry overlaps a first screen region for which the first GPU has a division of responsibility. The method including comparing the Z-value against a Z-buffer value for the piece of geometry. The method including generating information including a result of the comparing the Z-value against the Z-buffer value for use by the GPU when rendering the piece of geometry during a full render phase of rendering.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Publication date: August 5, 2021
    Inventors: Mark E. Cerny, Florian Strauss, Tobias Berghoff
  • Publication number: 20210241415
    Abstract: A method for graphics processing. The method including rendering graphics for an application using a plurality of graphics processing units (GPUs). The method including using the plurality of GPUs in collaboration to render an image frame including a plurality of pieces of geometry. The method including during a pre-pass phase of rendering, generating information at the GPUs regarding the plurality of pieces of geometry and their relation to a plurality of screen regions. The method including assigning the plurality of screen regions to the plurality of GPUs based on the information for purposes of rendering the plurality of pieces of geometry in a subsequent phase of rendering.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Publication date: August 5, 2021
    Inventors: Mark E. Cerny, Tobias Berghoff, David Simpson
  • Publication number: 20210241414
    Abstract: A method including rendering graphics for an application using graphics processing units (GPUs). Responsibility for rendering of geometry is divided between GPUs based on screen regions, each GPU having a corresponding division of the responsibility which is known. A plurality of pieces of geometry of an image frame is assigned to the GPUs for geometry testing. A first GPU state configuring one or more shaders to perform the geometry testing is set. Geometry testing is performed at GPUs on the plurality of pieces of geometry to generate information regarding each piece of geometry and its relation to each of the plurality of screen regions. A second GPU state configuring the one or more shaders to perform rendering is set. The information generated for each of the plurality of pieces of geometry is used when rendering the plurality of pieces of geometry at the GPUs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Publication date: August 5, 2021
    Inventors: Mark E. Cerny, Florian Strauss, Tobias Berghoff
  • Publication number: 20210241412
    Abstract: A method for graphics processing. The method including rendering graphics for an application using a plurality of graphics processing units (GPUs). The method including dividing responsibility for the rendering of geometry of the graphics between the plurality of GPUs based on a plurality of screen regions that are interleaved, each GPU having a corresponding division of the responsibility which is known to the plurality of GPUs. The method including assigning a GPU a piece of geometry of an image frame generated by an application for geometry pretesting. The method including performing geometry pretesting at the GPU to generate information regarding the piece of geometry and its relation to each of the plurality of screen regions. The method including using the information at each of the plurality of GPUs when rendering the image frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Publication date: August 5, 2021
    Inventors: Mark E. Cerny, Florian Strauss, Tobias Berghoff
  • Publication number: 20210241410
    Abstract: A method for graphics processing. The method including rendering graphics for an application using a plurality of graphics processing units (GPUs). The method including dividing responsibility for the rendering geometry of the graphics between the plurality of GPUs based on a plurality of screen regions, each GPU having a corresponding division of the responsibility which is known to the plurality of GPUs. The method including generating information regarding a piece of geometry with respect to a first screen region for which a first GPU has a first division of responsibility, while rendering the piece of geometry at a second GPU for an image. The method including rendering the piece of geometry at the first GPU using the information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Publication date: August 5, 2021
    Inventors: Mark E. Cerny, Florian Strauss, Tobias Berghoff
  • Publication number: 20210241413
    Abstract: A method including rendering graphics for an application using graphics processing units (GPUs). Responsibility for rendering of geometry is divided between GPUs based on screen regions, each GPU having a corresponding division of the responsibility which is known. First pieces of geometry are rendered at the GPUs during a rendering phase of a previous image frame. Statistics are generated for the rendering of the previous image frame. Second pieces of geometry of a current image frame are assigned based on the statistics to the GPUs for geometry testing. Geometry testing at a current image frame on the second pieces of geometry is performed to generate information regarding each piece of geometry and its relation to each screen region, the geometry testing performed at each of the GPUs based on the assigning. The information generated for the second pieces of geometry is used when rendering the geometry at the GPUs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Publication date: August 5, 2021
    Inventors: Mark E. Cerny, Florian Strauss, Tobias Berghoff
  • Patent number: 11080814
    Abstract: A method including rendering graphics for an application using graphics processing units (GPUs). Responsibility for rendering of geometry is divided between GPUs based on screen regions, each GPU having a corresponding division of the responsibility which is known. First pieces of geometry are rendered at the GPUs during a rendering phase of a previous image frame. Statistics are generated for the rendering of the previous image frame. Second pieces of geometry of a current image frame are assigned based on the statistics to the GPUs for geometry testing. Geometry testing at a current image frame on the second pieces of geometry is performed to generate information regarding each piece of geometry and its relation to each screen region, the geometry testing performed at each of the GPUs based on the assigning. The information generated for the second pieces of geometry is used when rendering the geometry at the GPUs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Mark E. Cerny, Florian Strauss, Tobias Berghoff
  • Publication number: 20210104088
    Abstract: Graphics processing systems and methods are disclosed which may minimize invocations to a pixel shader in order to improve efficiency in a rendering pipeline. In implementations of the present disclosure, a plurality of samples within a pixel may be covered by a primitive. The plurality of samples may include one or more color samples and a plurality of depth samples. The nature of the samples which were covered by the primitive may be taken into account before invoking a pixel shader to perform shading computations on the pixel. In implementations of the present disclosure, if at least one sample is covered by a primitive, but none of the samples are color samples, an invocation to a pixel shader may be avoided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2019
    Publication date: April 8, 2021
    Inventor: Tobias Berghoff
  • Patent number: 10614549
    Abstract: A graphics processing unit (GPU) is configured to receive metadata specifying an active sample configuration for a particular region of a display device among a plurality of regions of the display device and receive pixel data for one or more pixels in the particular region. The pixel data specifies the same number of color samples for each pixel. For each pixel in the particular region, the GPU invokes a pixel shader only for color samples specified to be active samples by the configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignees: SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT EUROPE LIMITED, SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LLC
    Inventor: Tobias Berghoff
  • Patent number: 10510183
    Abstract: Graphics processing includes setting up a plurality of objects in a scene in virtual space, each object being defined by a set of vertices. A unique object identifier is assigned to each object and written to an ID buffer. Draw calls are issued to draw the objects associated with the object identifiers. Parameter values of the vertices are manipulated to output vertex parameter values. Primitives are set up from the vertices, each primitive being defined by one or more of the vertices. Each primitive belongs to one or more of the objects. Each primitive is rasterized at a plurality of pixels. Processing the pixels includes spatial or temporal anti-aliasing that utilizes the one or more object identifiers of the plurality of object identifiers. The pixels are processed for each rasterized primitive to generate an output frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignees: SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LLC, SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT EUROPE LIMITED
    Inventor: Tobias Berghoff
  • Patent number: 10438396
    Abstract: Graphics processing systems and methods are disclosed which may minimize invocations to a pixel shader in order to improve efficiency in a rendering pipeline. In implementations of the present disclosure, a plurality of samples within a pixel may be covered by a primitive. The plurality of samples may include one or more color samples and a plurality of depth samples. The nature of the samples which were covered by the primitive may be taken into account before invoking a pixel shader to perform shading computations on the pixel. In implementations of the present disclosure, if at least one sample is covered by a primitive, but none of the samples are color samples, an invocation to a pixel shader may be avoided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignees: SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LLC, SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT EUROPE LIMITED
    Inventor: Tobias Berghoff
  • Publication number: 20180374195
    Abstract: A graphics processing unit (GPU) is configured to receive metadata specifying an active sample configuration for a particular region of a display device among a plurality of regions of the display device and receive pixel data for one or more pixels in the particular region. The pixel data specifies the same number of color samples for each pixel. For each pixel in the particular region, the GPU invokes a pixel shader only for color samples specified to be active samples by the configuration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Publication date: December 27, 2018
    Applicants: SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LLC
    Inventor: Tobias Berghoff
  • Patent number: 10068311
    Abstract: A graphics processing unit (GPU) is configured to receive metadata specifying an active sample configuration for a particular region of a display device among a plurality of regions of the display device and receive pixel data for one or more pixels in the particular region. The pixel data specifies the same number of color samples for each pixel. For each pixel in the particular region, the GPU invokes a pixel shader only for color samples specified to be active samples by the configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignees: Sony Interacive Entertainment LLC, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited
    Inventor: Tobias Berghoff
  • Publication number: 20180130251
    Abstract: Graphics processing includes setting up a plurality of objects in a scene in virtual space, each object being defined by a set of vertices. A unique object identifier is assigned to each object and written to an ID buffer. Draw calls are issued to draw the objects associated with the object identifiers. Parameter values of the vertices are manipulated to output vertex parameter values. Primitives are set up from the vertices, each primitive being defined by one or more of the vertices. Each primitive belongs to one or more of the objects. Each primitive is rasterized at a plurality of pixels. Processing the pixels includes spatial or temporal anti-aliasing that utilizes the one or more object identifiers of the plurality of object identifiers. The pixels are processed for each rasterized primitive to generate an output frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Publication date: May 10, 2018
    Inventor: Tobias Berghoff
  • Publication number: 20180101977
    Abstract: Graphics processing systems and methods are disclosed which may minimize invocations to a pixel shader in order to improve efficiency in a rendering pipeline. In implementations of the present disclosure, a plurality of samples within a pixel may be covered by a primitive. The plurality of samples may include one or more color samples and a plurality of depth samples. The nature of the samples which were covered by the primitive may be taken into account before invoking a pixel shader to perform shading computations on the pixel. In implementations of the present disclosure, if at least one sample is covered by a primitive, but none of the samples are color samples, an invocation to a pixel shader may be avoided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2017
    Publication date: April 12, 2018
    Inventor: Tobias Berghoff
  • Patent number: 9865074
    Abstract: Graphics processing systems and methods are disclosed which may minimize invocations to a pixel shader in order to improve efficiency in a rendering pipeline. In implementations of the present disclosure, a plurality of samples within a pixel may be covered by a primitive. The plurality of samples may include one or more color samples and a plurality of depth samples. The nature of the samples which were covered by the primitive may be taken into account before invoking a pixel shader to perform shading computations on the pixel. In implementations of the present disclosure, if at least one sample is covered by a primitive, but none of the samples are color samples, an invocation to a pixel shader may be avoided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignees: Sony Interactive Entertainment America LLC, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited
    Inventor: Tobias Berghoff