Patent ID: 7911474
Filing Date: 2011-03-22
Classification: G06F,G06T

Abstract:
1. In a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmed processor for managing volume rendering memory, the storage medium comprising instructions for: volume rendering from a data set representing a three-dimensional volume; storing the data set as bricks, at least some of the bricks stored in a graphics processor unit (GPU) memory; and managing, as a function of the volume rendering, the storage of the bricks with a brick cache manager; wherein managing comprises assigning a priority number for each stored brick; and updating the priority as a function of the volume rendering during the volume rendering, which of the bricks staying in storage in the GPU memory being a function of a comparison of priority numbers of a brick to be loaded and a stored brick, for the stored brick with a same or lower priority number than the brick to be loaded, the determination whether to keep the stored brick in storage being a function of relative sizes of the brick to be loaded and the stored brick, the sizes being an amount of memory space for the bricks.