Methods and apparatus for speculative execution of fragments in a graphics pipeline

• Main Authors: Tannenbaum, David, Narasiman, Veynu, Varadarajan, Keshavan
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 30.08.2022
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL; PHYSICS

A method of executing an early-Z draw call in a graphics processing pipeline may include detecting a late-Z draw call in the pipeline, determining a compatibility of a depth comparison function of the early-Z draw call with a depth comparison function of the late-Z draw call, and speculatively executing a fragment of the early-Z draw call with a shader. The method may further include determining that the fragment of the early-Z draw call passes the depth comparison function of the early-Z draw call, and updating a depth buffer with a depth value for the fragment of the early-Z draw call. The method may further include determining that the fragment of the early-Z draw call provides a correct result, and forwarding the speculative shader result for the fragment to a next stage of the pipeline.