Patent ID: 8395619
Filing Date: 2013-03-12
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A method for transferring pre-computed z-values between graphics processing units (GPUs), the method comprising: partitioning a display surface into a set of tiles, wherein each tile includes a plurality of pixels; generating a full-screen quad having x and y coordinates corresponding to a boundary of the display surface; configuring a first GPU to render an image frame by writing a minimum z-value into a z-buffer for each pixel associated with the display surface; configuring the first GPU to generate a coarse z-texture based on the full-screen quad and the minimum z-values written to the z-buffer; configuring the first GPU to write the coarse z-texture to a system memory, wherein the coarse z-texture corresponds to the image frame; configuring a second GPU to generate a coarse z-buffer based on the minimum z-values included in the coarse z-texture from the system memory; and configuring the second GPU to render the image frame with full shading based on the coarse z-buffer.