Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

International Business Machines Corporation

J Andrew Goossen

Hock San Lee

Ikko Fushiki

Michael Dean Stokes

Gary Keith Starkweather

Ivan Nevraev

John Raymond Justice

Gilman Kuey Wong

Jeffrey Andrews

Nicholas Robert Baker

Eric Christoffersen

Cole Brooking

Kyle R Johns

David Junzi Wu

Vadim Gorokhovsky

Habib Zargarpour

Andrew C Godfrey

Jason Strayer

Avi Bar-Zeev

John Allen Tardif

Mark Stefan Grossman

Jason Matthew Gould

Harjit Singh

Michael Abrash

Cecil J Juanarena

Eric Oliver Mejdrich

Joseph H Matthews, Iii

Russell Dean Hoover

Romualdo T Impas

Felix G T I Andrew

Zsolt Mathe

Jeffrey B Kay

Casey Leon Meekhof

David Anthony Sobeski

Donald B Curtis

Feng Yue

Ketan K Dalal

Ian Michael Ellison-Taylor

Ori Gershony

David Floyd Aronson

Michael A Schmidt

Michael E Pietraszak

John David Colleran

Tracy Sharpe

Sandra S Woodward

David Ruzyski

Andrew Dadi

Parham Mohadjer

Suzan Andrew

John C Bowler

Matthew Russell Kimball

Michael Cory Maston

Robert Charles Aldinger

Joseph H Matthews Iii

Randal N Linden

David S Wu

Tracy C Sharpe

To optimize the compilation of shaders for execution within an application, a computer system discovers the context in which the shaders are executed. The application is compiled and executed on a target platform. Snapshots of the application during execution are captured. A snapshot includes data and commands passed between the central processing unit and the graphics processing unit of the target platform to generate a single frame of graphics data. The shaders used in these snapshots are identified. These shaders are compiled with a number of different permutations of available compiler options, resulting in sets of differently compiled shaders. The snapshot is re-executed with the sets of differently compiled shaders, and performance is measured. The set of compiler options that results in compiled shaders providing better performance can be used as the set of compilation parameters for the set of shaders for this application.

Optimizing compilation of shaders

Embodiments of the present invention split game processing and rendering between a client and a game server. A rendered video game image is received from a game server and combined with a rendered image generated by the game client to form a single video game image that is presented to a user. Control input is received by a client device and then communicated to a game server, potentially with some preprocessing, and is also consumed locally on the client, at least in part. An embodiment of the present invention processes and renders some or all of a character's interactions with game objects on the client device associated with the character. A character is associated with a client device when control input associated with the character is received from a user of the client device.

Client side processing of character interactions in a remote gaming environment

A system that includes a head mounted display device and a processing unit connected to the head mounted display device is used to fuse virtual content into real content. In one embodiment, the processing unit is in communication with a hub computing device. The processing unit and hub may collaboratively determine a map of the mixed reality environment. Further, state data may be extrapolated to predict a field of view for a user in the future at a time when the mixed reality is to be displayed to the user. This extrapolation can remove latency from the system.

Low-latency fusing of virtual and real content

Embodiments of the present invention provide client-side scene movement using imagery generated by a game server. Embodiments of the present invention predictively render additional imagery surrounding the present field of view. The predictive scene imagery may be on all sides of the current field of view. Embodiments of the present invention determine the amount of predictive scene imagery generated according to a likelihood of use. In addition to client-adjusted rotation, embodiments of the present invention may predictively translate the field of view. Translation is moving the point of view forward, backward or side-to-side. Predictive translation imagery may be communicated to the game server for use in local translation functions.

Client side processing of player movement in a remote gaming environment

Content is rendered for display using a plurality of rendering contexts. Rendering is performed, at least in part, using a graphics processing unit (GPU). The plurality of rendering contexts can comprise a lower priority rendering context and a higher priority rendering context. One or more components can be associated with each of the lower priority rendering context and the higher priority rendering context. Different restrictions can be imposed on each rendering context. Restrictions can include a restriction on block size, prioritization of requests for each context, and a restriction on the number of requests in a GPU queue at a time.

Managing multiple GPU-based rendering contexts

A method and system are disclosed for automatic instrumentation that modifies a video game's shaders at run-time to collect detailed statistics about texture fetches such as MIP usage. The tracking may be transparent to the game application and therefore not require modifications to the application. In an embodiment, the method may be implemented in a software development kit used to record and provide texture usage data and optionally generate a report.

Automatic real-time shader modification for texture fetch instrumentation

A system and method provides a high level of system functionality in a multimedia console through the use of system applications, while reducing any corresponding lack of control that multimedia applications will have while running on the console. A predetermined amount of hardware resources of the multimedia console is reserved. The system application is executed substantially using the predetermined amount of reserved hardware resources and the multimedia application is executed substantially within the remaining unreserved hardware resources.

Reserving a fixed amount of hardware resources of a multimedia console for system application and controlling the unreserved resources by the multimedia application

The performance of a video game is analyzed using non-intrusive capture and storage of game data. A non-linear capture format is used for capturing run-time game data. The run-time game data includes run-time parameters associated with execution of an application code as well as run-time parameters associated with hardware of a game platform upon which the application code is being executed. The captured data is stored in a storage medium using a non-contiguous storage format.

Analyzing video game performance using non-intrusive capture and storage of run-time game data

A method and computer-executable instructions for performing a method of providing and selecting two or more objects on a display. The method utilizes a computer system having a graphical user interface including the display and a user interface selection device. The method displays a first of the two or more objects on the display, displays a second of the two or more objects on the display such that the second object overlaps and underlays the first object, blends the first and second object such that the portion of the second object which overlaps the first object is at least partially visible to a user, receives a user selection signal indicative of the user interface selection pointing device pointing to the overlapping portion of the first and second object, and processes the user selection as indicative of a selection of the underlying portion of the second object.

Method and structure for implementing layered object windows

User interfaces for facilitating performance analysis for processing include a first window and a second window. The first window identifies events that have been captured during processing of a set of commands by a processing unit, such as during the drawing of a video frame by a graphics processing unit. The second window includes information regarding the processing of the set of commands at different chronological points during processing, such as showing how the frame appears at different chronological points while being drawn.

User interface for facilitating performance analysis for processing

Facilitating performance analysis for processing includes capturing a state of a processing unit and capturing a plurality of commands submitted to the processing unit for processing. Both the captured state and the captured plurality of commands are also saved. The saved state and commands can be used for analysis, such as by processing only a subset of the commands or processing a modified set of the commands.

Facilitating performance analysis for processing

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Issaquah, WA, United States of America

J Andrew Goossen