The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 05, 2016
Filed:
Dec. 11, 2006
Norbert Juffa, San Jose, CA (US);
Norbert Juffa, San Jose, CA (US);
NVIDIA Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention set forth a technique for optimizing the performance and efficiency of complex, software-based computations, such as lighting computations. Data entering a graphics application programming interface (API) in a conventional arithmetic representation, such as floating-point or fixed-point, is converted to an internal logarithmic representation for greater computational efficiency. Lighting computations are then performed using logarithmic space arithmetic routines that, on average, execute more efficiently than similar routines performed in a native floating-point format. The lighting computation results, represented as logarithmic space numbers, are converted back to floating-point numbers before being transmitted to a graphics processing unit (GPU) for further processing. Because of efficiencies of logarithmic space arithmetic, performance improvements may be realized relative to prior art approaches to performing software-based floating-point operations.