Mip Map Patents (Class 345/587)
  • Patent number: 11688085
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to evaluating the surfaces of a building. The present disclosure relates more particularly to a method of characterizing a surface texture of a building surface. The method includes illuminating a first area of the building surface from a single direction and capturing an image of the first area using a camera while the first area is illuminated. The first image includes a first group of digital pixel values. The method further includes calculating a first set of values that characterize a first surface texture of the first area based on a first group of digital pixel values of the image, and comparing the first set of values to a second set of values that characterize a second surface texture, so as to produce a comparator value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: CERTAINTEED GYPSUM, INC.
    Inventors: Rachel Z. Pytel, Sidath S. Wijesooriya, Simon Mazoyer, Brice Dubost
  • Patent number: 11645807
    Abstract: When performing anisotropic filtering when sampling a texture to provide an output sampled texture value for use when rendering an output in a graphics processing system, a number of positions for which to sample the texture along an anisotropy direction along which samples will be taken in the texture is determined by determining the square root of the coefficient F for an ellipse having the form Ax2+Bxy+Cy2=F corresponding to the projection of the sampling point for which the texture is being sampled onto the surface to which the texture is to be applied, and using the determined square root of the ellipse coefficient F to determine the number of positions for which samples should be taken along the anisotropy direction in the texture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: Arm Limited
    Inventors: Edvard Fielding, Dominic Hugo Symes
  • Patent number: 11557049
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes, by a computing system, accessing a first and second texture associated with an output position, determining a color-blending operation, determining a first color and a first transparency level based on the first texture, determining a second color and a second transparency level based on the second texture, and identifying a color-blending optimization based on the color-blending operation and a comparison of the colors and transparency levels. The method includes determining an output color and an output transparency level by performing the color-blending operation using the colors and transparency levels. The output color is determined by copying the first or second color or the output transparency level is determined by copying the first or second transparency level without additional calculation. The method includes providing the output color and the output transparency level for display at the output position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Larry Seiler
  • Patent number: 11200060
    Abstract: An array processor includes processor element arrays (PEAs) distributed in rows and columns. The PEAs are configured to perform operations on parameter values. A first sequencer received a first direct memory access (DMA) instruction that includes a request to read data from at least one address in memory. A texture address (TA) engine requests the data from the memory based on the at least one address and a texture data (TD) engine provides the data to the PEAs. The PEAs provide first synchronization signals to the TD engine to indicate availability of registers for receiving the data. The TD engine provides second synchronization signals to the first sequencer in response to receiving acknowledgments that the PEAs have consumed the data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC.
    Inventors: Sateesh Lagudu, Arun Vaidyanathan Ananthanarayan, Michael Mantor, Allen H. Rush
  • Patent number: 11138747
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes, by a computing system, determining a sample point within a texture. The sample point corresponds to a specified output position in a display system. The method includes accessing texels in the texture that are used for determining properties of the sample point. Each identified texel includes a color and a transparency level. The method includes determining an interpolation optimization by comparing the colors and transparency levels of the identified texels. The method includes determining, according to the determined interpolation optimization, a pixel color and a pixel transparency level for the sample point using the identified texels. At least one of the pixel color or the pixel transparency level is determined by copying the colors or transparency levels of the texels, respectively, without performing interpolation. The method includes providing the determined pixel color and the determined pixel transparency level for the sample point for display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Larry Seiler
  • Patent number: 11084214
    Abstract: In a method for providing a three-dimensional object, the method includes the steps of providing a representation of the three-dimensional object; determining a polygon mesh of a polyhedral resembling the object, wherein the polyhedral fits within the object; determining a surface difference between an outer surface of the object and an outer surface of the polyhedral; defining a relief layer corresponding to the polygon mesh based on said surface difference; instructing a printing assembly to provide the relief layer; and folding the relief layer in accordance with the polygon mesh to form the polyhedral resembling the three-dimensional object. Thus, using a printing assembly to print two-dimensional layers, a three-dimensional object may be provided or at least approximated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: CANON PRODUCTION PRINTING HOLDING B.V.
    Inventors: Daniel S. Voina, Violeta Iacob, Dan M. Regep
  • Patent number: 10991146
    Abstract: A processor receives a request to access one or more levels of a partially resident texture (PRT) resource. The levels represent a texture at different levels of detail (LOD) and the request includes normalized coordinates indicating a location in the texture. The processor accesses a texture descriptor that includes dimensions of a first level of the levels and one or more offsets between a reference level and one or more second levels that are associated with one or more residency maps that indicate texels that are resident in the PRT resource. The processor translates the normalized coordinates to texel coordinates in the one or more residency maps based on the offset and accesses, in response to the request, the one or more residency maps based on the texel coordinates to determine whether texture data indicated by the normalized coordinates is resident in the PRT resource.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC.
    Inventors: Maxim V. Kazakov, Mark Fowler
  • Patent number: 10776984
    Abstract: Techniques involve rendering computing graphics from decoupled inputs. Content updates (e.g., geometry, textures, lighting, audio, etc.) for 3D objects and/or a 3D scene can provided to a compositor at different rates. The compositor buffers the inputs, interpolates between buffered values, binds data for each of the content updates, and triggers drawing the data to render a frame. If buffered data fails to satisfy some criteria, previous buffered values can be used instead of the buffered data, or a different function can be performed (e.g., extrapolation instead of interpolation). User inputs from one or more I/O components (e.g., a gamepad, keyboard, mouse, etc.) can be fed directly into the compositor, which can generate and use a 3D camera from the inputs to draw frames faster than the content updates occur. As such, the present compositor improves power efficiency, and reduces latency and increases smoothness of the input response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: INSIGHTFULVR, INC
    Inventor: Layla Mah
  • Patent number: 10613017
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure include methods for generating a bitmap from a data plot of light detected from particles in a flow stream. Methods according to certain embodiments include detecting light from particles in a flow stream, generating a data plot of measurements of the detected light, where the data plot includes one or more regions each having a population of particles, calculating a set of vertices that form a boundary for each region in the data plot, identifying a type of algorithmic transformation associated with each vertex in the set of vertices, generating a bitmap of each region of particles such that the bitmap of each region includes a set of vertices that correspond to the vertices of each region in the data plot and identifying an algorithmic transformation for applying to each vertex in the bitmap of each region. Systems and integrated circuit devices (e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: BECTON, DICKINSON AND COMPANY
    Inventors: David A. Roberts, Christopher J. Wolf
  • Patent number: 10552957
    Abstract: Methods and systems for determining quality of an oocyte to reach various reproductive milestones, including fertilizing, developing into a viable embryo (blastocyst), implanting into the uterus, and reaching a clinical pregnancy, through visual assessment (non-invasive) from a single image using artificial intelligence software.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Inventors: Dan Nayot, Rene Michael Bharti, Jim Meriano, Alexandr Krivoi
  • Patent number: 10540802
    Abstract: A processor receives a request to access one or more levels of a partially resident texture (PRT) resource. The levels represent a texture at different levels of detail (LOD) and the request includes normalized coordinates indicating a location in the texture. The processor accesses a texture descriptor that includes dimensions of a first level of the levels and one or more offsets between a reference level and one or more second levels that are associated with one or more residency maps that indicate texels that are resident in the PRT resource. The processor translates the normalized coordinates to texel coordinates in the one or more residency maps based on the offset and accesses, in response to the request, the one or more residency maps based on the texel coordinates to determine whether texture data indicated by the normalized coordinates is resident in the PRT resource.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Maxim V. Kazakov, Mark Fowler
  • Patent number: 10504248
    Abstract: Methods and devices for generating hardware compatible compressed textures may include accessing, at runtime of an application program, graphics hardware incompatible compressed textures in a format incompatible with a graphics processing unit (GPU). The methods and devices may include converting the graphics hardware incompatible compressed textures directly into hardware compatible compressed textures usable by the GPU using a trained machine learning model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Martin Jon Irwin Fuller, Daniel Gilbert Kennett
  • Patent number: 10445903
    Abstract: The invention provides devices and methods that process images. The invention processes a received signal representing information of texture and information of an image, which has the texture removed from at least one region. The image information is encoded to obtain encoded information of the image. An output signal is generated representing the texture information and the encoded image information. In another embodiment, the invention synthesizes texture based on the received texture information, decodes received image information, which is encoded, to obtain a decoded image, and then maps the synthesized texture onto the decoded image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY II, L.P.
    Inventors: Adriana Dumitras, Barin Haskell
  • Patent number: 10437876
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media can acquire shape data representative of one or more polygons. At least one serialization format can be produced based on the shape data. The at least one serialization format can be packaged into a proprietary package that is representative of the one or more polygons. At least a portion of the proprietary package can be utilized for one or more applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Bogdan State, Aude Hofleitner, Andreas Gros
  • Patent number: 10204431
    Abstract: A method for generating label positions for labeling polygons includes receiving a description of a polygon, determining an inscribed circle within the polygon, and determining a single-branch shape that fits completely within the polygon. The method also includes generating an indication of a first candidate label position, based on the inscribed circle, and generating an indication of a second candidate label position, based on the centerline. Still further, the method includes providing the indication of the first candidate label position and the indication of the second candidate label position to a rendering component for positioning a label for the polygon in accordance with at least one of the first candidate label position and the second candidate label position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: GOOGLE LLC
    Inventors: Tingbo Hou, Bent Hagemark
  • Patent number: 9946666
    Abstract: A system, method, and computer program product are provided for coalescing memory access requests. A plurality of memory access requests is received in a thread execution order and a portion of the memory access requests are coalesced into memory order, where memory access requests included in the portion are generated by threads in a thread block. A memory operation is generated that is transmitted to a memory system, where the memory operation represents the coalesced portion of memory access requests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventors: Steven James Heinrich, Ramesh Jandhyala, Bengt-Olaf Schneider
  • Patent number: 9898838
    Abstract: A method of determining a level of detail (LOD) for a texturing includes: acquiring texture coordinate data on pixels included in an upper block; determining a reference quad among quads included in the upper block; determining a similarity between the determined reference quad and the upper block using texture coordinates of the determined reference quad and the upper block; and determining LODs of remaining quads among the quads included in the upper block to be the same as an LOD of the determined reference quad in response to the determining of the similarity including determining that the determined reference quad and the upper block are similar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Heejun Shim, Kwontaek Kwon, Sunmin Kwon, Hoyoung Kim, Seonghun Jeong
  • Patent number: 9881392
    Abstract: A method and corresponding apparatus are configured to generate a mipmap are configured to allocate a mipmap status register of a mipmap level generated with respect to a texture, receive a request for the texture, and calculate a mipmap level with respect to the texture. The method and corresponding apparatus are also configured to determine whether a mipmap of the calculated mipmap level exists using the mipmap status register and outputting a result indicative thereof, and determine whether to generate the mipmap of the mipmap level based on the result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Seunghun Jin, Jeongae Park, Woong Seo, Soojung Ryu, Yeongon Cho
  • Patent number: 9865077
    Abstract: Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for mitigating redundant pixel texture contribution for texturing a geometry. That is, the geometry may represent a multidimensional surface of a scene, such as a city. The geometry may be textured using one or more texture images (e.g., an image comprising color values and/or depth values) depicting the scene from various view directions (e.g., a top-down view, an oblique view, etc.). Because more than one texture image may contribute to texturing a pixel of the geometry (e.g., due to overlapping views of the scene), redundant pixel texture contribution may arise. Accordingly, a redundant textured pixel within a texture image may be knocked out (e.g., in-painted) from the texture image to generate a modified texture image that may be relatively efficient to store and/or stream to a client due to enhanced compression of the modified texture image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Markus Unger, Konrad Karner, Blaise Aguera y Arcas
  • Patent number: 9836812
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a restrictive condition storage unit in which at least one restrictive condition, which is to be applied to an image to be output and acquired from a subject, is stored, an accepting unit that accepts an image that is obtained by shooting the subject and has at least one field, an image changing unit that applies the at least one restrictive condition to the at least one field of the image accepted by the accepting unit, changes the at least one field so that it satisfies the at least one restrictive condition, and acquires at least one new field, and an image output unit that outputs the at least one field acquired by the image changing unit, enabling an image having an overall balance to be output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: I-CUBED RESEARCH CENTER INC.
    Inventor: Tetsujiro Kondo
  • Patent number: 9824423
    Abstract: A data visualization technique rapidly loads images to decrease data transfer time and associated bandwidth cost for animation effects in displays of data, and includes initially loading raster imagery at a coarser zoom level than a current view on the display, and then manipulating the imagery using general-purpose image manipulation algorithms to interpolate data points as a user adjusts the zoom level. In this manner, the data visualization technique intentionally displays a coarser view than that selected, rather than transferring entirely new imagery or datasets, and manipulates the imagery as necessary to avoid loading more data from a remote server to the local client each time the user adjusts the view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: ITERIS, INC.
    Inventors: Eric Dean Kjeldergaard, Leif Pedersen, Robert H. Bergman
  • Patent number: 9710882
    Abstract: A data visualization technique rapidly loads images to decrease data transfer time and associated bandwidth cost for animation effects in displays of data, and includes initially loading raster imagery at a coarser zoom level than a current view on the display, and then manipulating the imagery using general-purpose image manipulation algorithms to interpolate data points as a user adjusts the zoom level. In this manner, the data visualization technique intentionally displays a coarser view than that selected, rather than transferring entirely new imagery or datasets, and manipulates the imagery as necessary to avoid loading more data from a remote server to the local client each time the user adjusts the view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: ITERIS INC.
    Inventors: Eric Dean Kjeldergaard, Leif Pedersen
  • Patent number: 9659401
    Abstract: A graphics virtual texturing system in which textures stored in a storage medium of a host system are divided into respective pages that are then loaded into a local memory of a graphics processing system for use. Each page of a graphics texture has an associated fade factor value that can be set by an application that is to use the texture to control the contribution that the page will be used to make to any texturing result that is generated using the texture page in question. The graphics processing system then controls the contribution of texture data from a texture page to texturing result data to be generated in accordance with the fade factor value associated with the texture page in question. This allows texture paging to be done in a more visually pleasing manner than just a binary “page-is-here”/“page-is-not-here” switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: ARM LIMITED
    Inventors: Jorn Nystad, Andreas Engh-Halstvedt, Edvard Sorgard, Thomas Jeremy Olson, Marius Bjorge
  • Patent number: 9641821
    Abstract: An obtaining unit obtains, for the stereoscopic image signal, depth information indicating a depth value in each position in an image plane. A smoothing unit smoothes the depth information in the image plane. A correction unit corrects the depth information which has been smoothed and expands a range of an area having a depth value of a foreground in a boundary portion between the foreground and a background. An image generation unit generates, using the depth information which has been corrected, a new stereoscopic image from the stereoscopic image signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kentaro Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 9589316
    Abstract: Described herein are technologies that facilitate computationally low-intensity creation of additional frames in a sequence of frames created by real-time three-dimensional (3D) rendering. More particularly, the technologies described herein generate an interposed two-dimensional (2D) screen-space projection (e.g., the resulting rendered image) in between a pair of fully rendered surrounding frames in a sequence of rendered frames. The interposed 2D screen-space projection is generated based upon information derived from the pair of surrounding frames.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Tomasz Maksymczuk, Tomasz Poniecki
  • Patent number: 9547921
    Abstract: Systems and methods for providing smooth level of detail (“LOD”) transition for textures in a graphics applications are disclosed. The texture LOD of a first frame of imagery can be compared to a second texture LOD for a current frame. For areas where the second LOD is higher than the first LOD, an LOD fade from the first LOD to the second LOD can be performed to provide a smooth LOD transition. The LOD fade can be implemented by generating a blend between textures at the first LOD and the second LOD. In one aspect, the blend is generated based on an interpolant value calculated based on the difference between the first LOD and the second LOD. The interpolant value can be incremented in subsequent frames to achieve a desired fade rate for the transition. The fade rate can be variable such that the LOD transition time remains constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: John H. Rohlf
  • Patent number: 9275493
    Abstract: Systems and methods for rendering vector data in conjunction with a three-dimensional model are provided. An initial vector map providing a two dimensional representation of vector data, including one or more vector elements (roads, road names, borders, transit lines, etc.), can be texture mapped so that it appears to be located on a surface of the three-dimensional polygon mesh. The initial vector map can be updated or adjusted to an updated vector map. According to aspects of the present disclosure, a blended vector map can be rendered during a blend period to provide for a transition to the updated vector map. The transition can include fading in of vector elements in the updated vector map and/or fading out of vector elements in the initial vector map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Janne Kontkanen
  • Patent number: 9259641
    Abstract: An entertainment device comprises a detector operable to detect whether a representation of a game feature of one or more games associated with the entertainment device should be obtained from the one or more games in response to a predetermined game event of the one or more games, a processor operable to obtain the representation of the game feature from the one or more games, a storage arrangement operable to store the representation of the game feature obtained from the one or more games, and a renderer operable to render the obtained representation of the game feature stored in the storage arrangement as a game feature within a virtual environment associated with the entertainment device, the rendered game feature within the virtual environment being a trophy object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited
    Inventors: Tomas Owen Gillo, Mitchell Goodwin
  • Patent number: 9224368
    Abstract: Systems and methods for merging three-dimensional models, such as a three-dimensional range sensor-based model and a three-dimensional camera-based model, are provided. According to aspects of the present disclosure, an enhanced volumetric merging technique can be used to merge the three-dimensional models. A plurality of voxels can be constructed for a three-dimensional space. A first distance field can be propagated based on the range sensor-based model in an extended margin between the range sensor-based model and a range sensor viewpoint. A second distance field can be propagated based on the camera-based model for voxels in the extended margin. A cumulative distance field can be determined based at least in part on the first field and the second distance field. The merged three-dimensional model can be constructed from the cumulative distance field using, for instance, a suitable meshing algorithm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Joshua Sam Schpok
  • Patent number: 9099056
    Abstract: In displaying a map on a wireless communications device, a method is provided that resolves labelling of sharp curves. The method entails a determination of whether a curvature of a map element associated with the map feature exceeds a predetermined threshold (e.g. whether a rate of change in slope of a path or the change in angular orientation of each successive character in the label exceeds a threshold that is a function of zoom level. If the curvature exceeds the threshold, the label is rendered on the map in a new map location that avoids the map location where the curvature exceeds the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventor: Gordon Gregory Bowman
  • Patent number: 9021347
    Abstract: An information processing method comprises the steps of: inputting an input information of a multi-dimensional array; calculating an accumulated information value corresponding to a position of each element of the input information; and holding the accumulated information value in a buffer having a size of predetermined bits, wherein in the holding step, when an accumulated information value calculated in the calculating step overflows with respect to the size, a part not more than the predetermined bits of the calculated accumulated information value is held as the accumulated information value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshinori Ito, Kan Torii, Takahisa Yamamoto, Masami Kato
  • Patent number: 9007391
    Abstract: A method for providing a LUT for changing color components of pixels of an image includes generating N two-dimensional slices from a three-dimensional LUT. The N two-dimensional slices are arranged in order from a first two-dimensional slice to an Nth two-dimensional slice. The method includes generating N upsampled slices corresponding to the N two-dimensional slices. The N upsampled slices are arranged in order from a first upsampled slice to an Nth upsampled slice. The method includes forming a first group of slices comprising the N upsampled slices, and forming a second group of slices comprising a second two-dimensional slice of the N two-dimensional slices through the Nth two-dimensional slice and a copy of the Nth two-dimensional slice. The method includes storing the first group of slices and the second group of slices, respectively, in a zero level of a mip map and a first level of the mip map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
    Inventor: James Paul Ritts
  • Patent number: 9007374
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, that enable selection and individual feature highlighting in detailed three-dimensional ground infrastructure models such as, for example, three-dimensional terrain surface models that are composed from a large number of distinct ground assets such as individual roads, land parcels, and water areas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventor: Henrik Buchholz
  • Patent number: 8988447
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided to generate automatically a mip-map chain of texture images from a portion of texture image data such that it may be used in texturing a computer graphic image. A portion of the texture image data is stored temporarily and is filtered to generate at least one lower level of mip-map data from the texture data. This lower level of mip-map texture image data is then stored for use in texturing. Preferably these are stored on a tile-by-tile basis where a tile is a rectangular area of the image being displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies, Limited
    Inventor: Colin McKellar
  • Patent number: 8982120
    Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure relate to rendering three-dimensional (3D) models to increase visual palatability. One or more computing devices may render an image of a 3D model. This rendering may actually occur in one or more stages. At an interim stage, the one or more computing devices determine an error value for a rendering of a partially-loaded version of the image. The error value is compared to a threshold. Based on the comparison, the one or more computing device generates an at least partially blurred rendering based at least in part on the rendering of the partially-loaded version of the image. The one or more computing devices provide the at least partially blurred rendering and subsequently provide for display a completely loaded version of the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Janne Matias Kontkanen, Evan Hardesty Parker, Jonah Jones
  • Patent number: 8963958
    Abstract: Techniques for wrapping a two-dimensional texture conformally onto a surface of a three dimensional virtual object within an arbitrarily-shaped, user-defined region. The techniques provide minimum distortion and allow interactive manipulation of the mapped texture. The techniques feature an energy minimization scheme in which distances between points on the surface of the three-dimensional virtual object serve as set lengths for springs connecting points of a planar mesh. The planar mesh is adjusted to minimize spring energy, and then used to define a patch upon which a two-dimensional texture is superimposed. Points on the surface of the virtual object are then mapped to corresponding points of the texture. A haptic/graphical user interface element that allows a user to interactively and intuitively adjust texture mapped within the arbitrary, user-defined region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: 3D Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Torsten Berger, Elaine Chen, Walter C. Shannon, III, Bob Tipton
  • Patent number: 8907970
    Abstract: A method of generating an e-book document comprises representing some or all of a page of an electronic document as a graphic textures sequence derived from the document page. The sequence comprises successively smaller graphic textures, arranging them to form a first mip-map suitable for use by 3D graphics hardware, and outputting an e-book document comprising the first mip-map representing some or all of the document page. A method of reading an e-book document includes accessing at least a portion of the mip-map comprising the sequence of graphic textures, constructing a surface in a 3D virtual space comprising one or more polygons, applying to the polygon surface a graphic texture derived from the accessed part of the mip-map responsive to scaling of the polygon surface with respect to an e-book reader display, and displaying the textured polygon surface on the display, thereby displaying some or all of the page.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited
    Inventors: Peter John Hodges, Jonathan Richard Milner-Moore, Adriana Maria Eyzaguirre
  • Patent number: 8907969
    Abstract: A method, computer program product, and system are provided for processing a graphics operation. For instance, the method can include partitioning a texture and associated mipmaps into memory tiles, where the memory tiles are associated with a virtual memory system. The method can also include mapping a first subset of the memory tiles to respective address spaces in a physical memory system. Further, the method can include accessing the physical memory system during a rendering process of a graphics scene associated with the first subset of memory tiles. In the instance when the graphics scene requires one or more memory tiles outside of the first subset of memory tiles, the method can also include mapping a second subset of memory tiles to respective address spaces in the physical memory system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventor: Tom Frisinger
  • Patent number: 8860743
    Abstract: Systems and methods for texture processing are presented. In one embodiment a texture method includes creating a sparse texture residency translation map; performing a probe process utilizing the sparse texture residency translation map information to return a finest LOD that contains the texels for a texture lookup operation; and performing the texture lookup operation utilizing the finest LOD. In one exemplary implementation, the finest LOD is utilized as a minimum LOD clamp during the texture lookup operation. A finest LOD number indicates a minimum resident LOD and a sparse texture residency translation map includes one finest LOD number per tile of a sparse texture. The sparse texture residency translation can indicate a minimum resident LOD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2014
    Assignee: Nvidia Corporation
    Inventors: Andrew Tao, Jerome F. Duluk, Jr., Jesse D. Hall, Henry Moreton
  • Patent number: 8830248
    Abstract: A method for rendering an image on computer system including a display includes determining a first displacement map associated with a surface material and a first input parameter, determining a second displacement map associated with the surface material and a second input parameter. determining a three-dimensional displacement data structure in response to the first displacement map, the first input parameter, the second displacement map and the second input parameter in the computer system, receiving a third input parameter, determining a third displacement map associated with the surface material in response to the three-dimensional displacement data structure and the third input parameter in the computer system, rendering an image of an object in the computer system, wherein an appearance of a surface of the object is determined in response to the third displacement map, and displaying the image on the display to a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Imagemovers Digital LLC
    Inventor: Doug Epps
  • Patent number: 8823724
    Abstract: Systems and methods for texture processing are presented. In one embodiment a texture method includes creating a sparse texture residency translation map; performing a probe process utilizing the sparse texture residency translation map information to return a finest LOD that contains the texels for a texture lookup operation; and performing the texture lookup operation utilizing the finest LOD. In one exemplary implementation, the finest LOD is utilized as a minimum LOD clamp during the texture lookup operation. A finest LOD number indicates a minimum resident LOD and a sparse texture residency translation map includes one finest LOD number per tile of a sparse texture. The sparse texture residency translation can indicate a minimum resident LOD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Nvidia Corporation
    Inventors: Jerome F. Duluk, Jr., Andrew Tao, Bryon Nordquist, Henry Moreton
  • Publication number: 20140210840
    Abstract: When encoding an array of texture data elements to be used in a graphics processing system, the array of texture data elements is divided into a plurality of non-rectangular sub-sets of texture data elements, and each non-rectangular sub-set of texture data elements that the texture has been divided into is then encoded to generate an encoded texture data block representing that non-rectangular sub-set of the texture data elements, to thereby provide a set of encoded texture data blocks representing the texture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2013
    Publication date: July 31, 2014
    Applicant: ARM LIMITED
    Inventor: Sean Tristram Ellis
  • Patent number: 8766998
    Abstract: Sampling in the process of trans-raster distortion correction is described. The distortion parameterization is analyzed to determine the maximum inflation and deflation (magnification and minification) over the image. The maximum inflation is then used to determine the optimal resolution (dimensions in pixels) of the linear-projected image such that it is not undersampled by the output image. The maximum deflation, coupled with the optimal resolution determined in the inflation step, is then used to configure the filter used in the resampling process such that aliasing due to undersampling is minimized, while simultaneously controlling the computational burden of the filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Aechelon Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: David L. Morgan, III, Ignacio Sanz-Pastor
  • Patent number: 8736599
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a computer-readable data storage medium comprising a graphic dataset in the form of a tiled mipmap 101, and to a method of extracting from said computer-readable data storage medium to a computer memory a subset of said mipmap 101 in the form of a clipmap 109. The present invention relates also to a computer memory containing such a clipmap 109, as well as to a method of rendering said clipmap 109 in a computer system. At each level of detail of the mipmap but the lowest, a tile block 105 formed by a discrete plurality of tiles 104 is coextensive with a whole single tile 104 at the next lower level of detail of the tiled mipmap 101.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Luciad
    Inventor: Tom Nuydens
  • Patent number: 8724915
    Abstract: Provided is an image encoding/decoding method and apparatus. In the image encoding method, a portion of a texture region included in a current picture is selected as a sample texture for synthesizing the texture region and only the sample texture is encoded in place of the texture region, thereby improving the compression efficiency of encoding with respect to the texture region and thus improving the compression efficiency of encoding with respect to the entire image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jung-hye Min, Woo-jin Han, Jeong-hoon Park, Yu-mi Sohn
  • Patent number: 8687011
    Abstract: Techniques to sample texels efficiently for an image effect may include determining a number of texels (kernel size) needed to compute a weighted average for an image effect on an image. The technique may further include selecting at least one mipmap generated by a graphics processing unit (GPU) according to a function of the determined kernel size. The function may also consider a threshold kernel size. The technique may further sampling texels, with the GPU, from the selected mipmap(s), and calculate the weighted average of the sampled texels to produce the image effect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Minmin Gong, Sergei Shinkevich
  • Patent number: 8633940
    Abstract: A texture compression engine of a graphics device receives an uncompressed texture of a 3D graphic application. The received uncompressed texture is transcoded into an AVC reference picture stream. A plurality of mipmaps is constructed from the received uncompressed texture. The texture compression engine determines a texture compression rate based on available memory capacities. The texture compression engine compresses the received texture and its mipmaps at the determined texture compression rate. The compressed texture and mipmaps are further transcoded into the AVC reference picture stream and stored. The transcoded texture and mipmaps comprise either RGB or YCbCr components for a RGB uncompressed texture. The transcoded texture and mipmaps comprise monochrome or luma components for an ARGB uncompressed texture. A graphics accelerator in the graphics device is operable to acquire the stored texture and mipmaps for a 3D graphics scene. The acquired texture and mipmaps are decompressed by AVC decoding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2014
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventor: Sai Pothana
  • Patent number: 8624911
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method includes identifying a bit-mapped image of a line or polygon shape; mapping the image to a texture map that is slightly large in at least one dimension than the bit-mapped image; overlaying the bit-mapped image and the texture map; computing pixel shading for pixels between an outer edge of the bit-mapped image and the texture map by measuring a distance from particular ones of the pixels to an idealized line near an edge of the bit-mapped image; and displaying the bit-mapped image with pixels at its edge shaded according to the computed pixel shading.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: James B. Miller
  • Publication number: 20130321443
    Abstract: Methods, systems and apparatus are described to render a map with adaptive textures for map features. Embodiments may for a portion of map data, such as a map tile, including a feature of a given feature type specify a level-of-detail texture. A level-of-detail texture may be one of a plurality of level-of-detail textures for a given feature type ordered according to level-of-detail. Embodiments may then provide the specified level-of-detail texture with a mipmap chain to a rendering unit to render the map data. At the lowest level of the mipmap chain may be the specified level-of-detail texture. At the next lowest level of the mipmap chain may be a portion of the level-of-detail texture adjacent to the specified level-of-detail texture in the ordered plurality of level-of-detail textures for the feature type.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Inventors: Aroon Pahwa, Christopher Blumenberg, Marcel Van Os
  • Patent number: 8594930
    Abstract: Systems and methods associated with an open area map are disclosed. For example, one method comprises obtaining an image of a layout. The layout represents a real-world area in which a person moves about. A grid is applied on the image. The grid may include tiles that fill in a ground area of the image. A routable map is generated as a function of the grid. The routable map is configured to provide point-to-point routing within the layout.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Navteq B.V.
    Inventors: Joseph P. Mays, William N. Gale, Peter A. Seegers, Matei N. Stroila