US 11,734,871 B2
Ray intersection testing with quantization and interval representations
Christopher A. Burns, Austin, TX (US)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Nov. 24, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/456,483.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/248,143, filed on Sep. 24, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0102071 A1, Mar. 30, 2023
Int. Cl. G06T 15/06 (2011.01)
CPC G06T 15/06 (2013.01) [G06T 2215/12 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a graphics processor configured to determine whether a ray intersects a primitive in a graphics scene, wherein the graphics processor includes:
ray intersection circuitry configured to perform an intersection test, which includes to:
quantize a first representation of the primitive to generate a reduced-precision interval representation of the primitive, wherein the interval representation includes a lower bound and an upper bound that define an interval such that a corresponding value specified by the first representation of the primitive is guaranteed to fall within the lower bound and the upper bound;
quantize a first representation of the ray to generate a reduced-precision interval representation of the ray, wherein the interval representation includes interval values with upper and lower bounds that are guaranteed to cover corresponding values specified by the first representation of the ray; and
determine, using interval arithmetic, an initial intersection result based on coordinates of the interval representation of the primitive and coordinates of the interval representation of the ray, wherein a miss indicated by the initial intersection result is guaranteed not to be a hit for the first representation of the primitive and the first representation of the ray.