JPH08335273A - Image generator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] One raster with multiple raster engines.
Provided is a method of distributing a processing load of an image generating apparatus, which allows a processing load to be evenly distributed without the load of the two-dimensional polygon information processing being concentrated on the engine and enables effective use of processing resources. [Arrangement] Based on the vertex coordinate information in the two-dimensional polygon information output from the geometry engine, the area calculation processing unit for the polygon, the polygon cumulative area memory, and the minimum polygon accumulation stored in the polygon area memory. The area is extracted, the polygon information from the geometry engine is transferred to the raster engine corresponding to the area of the value, and the polygon area value from the polygon area calculation processing unit and the minimum value from the polygon cumulative area memory are stored. And a processing load distribution unit that stores a value added to the value of the cumulative polygon area.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image generating device which is generated by a computer based on an image database and is suitable for generating an image suitable for use in, for example, a vehicle driving simulator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A schematic structure and operation of a conventional image generating apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the case of FIG. 3 will be described.

The CPU 11 reads out polygon information necessary for display within one frame unit from the hard disk unit 14 and can process it via the bus 15, the graphics interface 16 and the bus 17, a geometry engine 18ge0, 18ge1, ..., 18
Output to either gen. The geometry engine 18ge0, 18ge1, ..., 18gen conforms to the display device system based on the three-dimensional polygon information defining the image database and the geometrical positional relationship information between the viewpoint position and the display device. Geometric conversion processing is performed on the two-dimensional polygon information. If a part or part of the polygon outside the display area is outside the display area, clipping processing is performed to remove the part outside the display area. The two-dimensional polygon information obtained by these processes is a Z value (depth value) indicating what coordinate position, what color, what brightness, and how far away from the viewpoint the coordinate is. Which consists of a raster
Engines 31re0, 31re1, ..., 31rel
Will be broadcasted to. Raster engine 3
In 1re0, 31re1, ..., 31rel, if the broadcast two-dimensional polygon information is data within the display area to be processed by the user, the two-dimensional polygon information is fetched, and if it cannot be immediately processed, it is temporarily It is stored in the buffer and the process is delayed.

Based on the two-dimensional polygon information, the rasterization processing for determining the color information of the final pixel inside the polygon is performed, and the Z value indicating the distance (depth) from the viewpoint to the pixel is also calculated to calculate the pixel information. Is generated. By the comparison of the Z values, the hidden surface hidden pixels are excluded and the invisible pixels are extracted, and the hidden surface processing is performed to extract only the visible pixel information, which is read by the D / A converter 24. It is stored in the frame memory 23 as a temporary storage device until it is displayed on the display device.

The above raster engines 31re0, 31
The processing load of re1, ..., 31rel is influenced by the size of the polygon to be processed (the number of pixels developed inside the polygon based on the two-dimensional polygon vertex information). When a polygon having a large polygon size is being processed and a large number of polygons to be processed belong to a display area and are concentrated, an overflow of the polygon information buffer occurs in the raster engine. in this case,
The geometry engine needs a management control that suspends the output to the raster engine, holds the polygon information, confirms that the polygon information buffer of the raster engine is empty or can be processed immediately, and then outputs it again. Is. Further, there is a problem in that it is not possible to request the processing of polygon information that is waiting for processing to another raster engine having a processing margin, so that the processing resources cannot be effectively used.

Next, another conventional example will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4, components with the same numbers and symbols as in FIG. 3 have the same functions and will not be described.

The polygon information includes geometry engines 41ge0, 41ge1, ..., 41gen and raster engines 42re0, 42re1 ,.
Geometric conversion processing and rasterization processing are performed in a pair with n, and the information is developed into pixel information inside the polygon. This pixel information is stored in the block memories 44bm0, 44bm1, ..., 44bml in the area where the polygon is displayed via the crossbar switch 43.
Will be transferred to either Here, the hidden surface removal processing is performed and the color information of the final pixel is stored. D / A
The converter 46 reads pixel color information by interleave access, converts it into analog information, and outputs it to a display device.

In the case of FIG. 4 as well, the problem as described in FIG. 3 occurs. That is, it is necessary to control whether or not the two-dimensional polygon information which is the output of the geometry engine can be output to the raster engine which is the partner of the pair, and the two-dimensional state where the processing wait has occurred. Since it is not possible to request the polygon information from another raster engine that has a processing margin, there is a problem that the processing resources cannot be effectively used.

[0010]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION It is possible to distribute the processing load evenly without concentrating the processing load of polygon information on one of a plurality of raster engines and to effectively use the processing resources. An object of the present invention is to provide a method of distributing the processing load of the image generating device.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the processing load distribution system of the present invention manages an image database consisting of three-dimensional polygon information forming a display image and displays it within one frame unit. A CPU for extracting the three-dimensional polygon information necessary for this from the image database,
A plurality of geometry engines that perform geometric conversion processing of three-dimensional polygon information into two-dimensional polygon information of a display device, a plurality of raster engines that convert two-dimensional polygon information into pixel information, and a final display device. Output from the geometry engine in an image generator having a frame memory for storing the pixel information of the pixel and a D / A converter for reading the pixel information from the frame memory and converting the pixel information into a signal to be information to the display device. Based on the vertex coordinate information in the two-dimensional polygon information, the polygon area calculation processing unit that calculates the area of the polygon (the number of pixels processed by the raster engine in the subsequent stage) and the number corresponding to the raster engine A polygon cumulative area memory having an area and storing the value of the cumulative area of the polygon for each raster engine, The minimum polygon cumulative area value stored in the polygon cumulative area memory is extracted, the polygon information from the geometry engine is transferred to the raster engine corresponding to the area of that value, and the polygon area is calculated. A processing load distribution unit having a function of storing again the added value of the area value of the polygon from the processing unit and the minimum polygon cumulative area value from the polygon cumulative area memory in the area.

[0012]

As a result, the polygon information output from the geometry engine is managed by managing the absolute processing load of each raster engine (cumulative polygon area, that is, the cumulative number of pixels processed by the raster engine). Since it can be allocated to the raster engine with the smallest polygon cumulative area at all times, the processing load is evenly distributed without the processing being concentrated on one raster engine, enabling effective use of processing resources. Becomes

[0013]

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of triangular polygons and pixels inside the polygons.

The CPU 11 reads out polygon information required for display in a unit of one frame from the hard disk unit 14, and the information can be processed through the bus 15, the graphics interface 16 and the bus 17, a geometry engine. 18ge0, 18ge1, ...
・, Output to either 18 gen.

Geometry engine 18ge0, 18
In ge1, ..., 18 gen, geometric conversion processing is performed to three-dimensional polygon information, geometrical positional relationship between the position of the viewpoint and the display device, and the like into two-dimensional polygon information that matches the display device system. If the polygon is outside the display area or a part of the polygon is outside the display area, clipping processing is performed to remove the non-display portion. The two-dimensional polygon information obtained by these processes is transferred to the polygon area calculation processing unit 1 in the next stage via the bus 19.

In the polygon area calculation processing section 1, the geometry engines 18ge0, 18ge1, ..., 18
When the two-dimensional polygon information output from gen is received, the following equation (1) is calculated, and the area of the polygon (the number of pixels processed by the raster engine in the subsequent stage) are
get a k.

Area k = (| Yk1-Yk2 | + | Yk2-Yk3 |) * delta X k / 2 (1) Here, as shown in FIG. 2, variables Yk1, Yk2, Yk3.
Is the value in the Y-axis direction of the two-dimensional coordinates of the vertices of the polygon in the two-dimensional polygon information, and delta X is the intersection coordinate of the straight line passing through the vertices Vk1 and Vk3 of the two-dimensional polygon and the straight line of y = Yk2. A value in the X-axis direction and the vertex V of that value
It is the absolute value of the difference between 2 and Xk2. Polygon area are
The a k and the polygon information are transferred to the processing load distribution unit 2 via the bus 1a.

The processing load distribution unit 2 that has received the polygon area area k is the raster engine 21re of the latter stage.
It is connected to a polygon cumulative area memory 3 having the same number of data storage areas as 0, 21re1, ..., 21rel. The polygon cumulative area memory 3 holds the cumulative value of the area (that is, the number of pixels) of the polygon processed by each raster engine. The processing load distribution unit 2
The minimum polygon cumulative area value in the polygon cumulative area memory 3 is read, the raster engine with the smallest processing load at the present time is selected based on this value, and the polygon information is transferred to the raster engine. At the same time, the minimum polygon cumulative area value read from the polygon cumulative area memory 3 and the polygon area value area
The polygon cumulative area memory 3 in which the value of the minimum polygon cumulative area read out is stored as an addition value with k.
Store again in the area. After that, each time it receives 2D polygon information from the geometry engine, it calculates the area of the polygon, selects the raster engine with the minimum processing load, and transfers the 2D polygon information to that raster engine. The number of pixels processed by each raster engine is used as the polygon area value, and the polygon cumulative area value is stored in memory. The operation of always selecting is repeated.

Raster engine 21re0, 21re
, ..., 21rel are rasterization processing for determining the final color of each pixel inside the polygon based on the two-dimensional polygon information received from the processing load distribution unit 2 via the bus 20 as in the past. At the same time, a hidden surface removal process is performed in which pixels that are hidden behind an object and cannot be seen are excluded by comparing the distances from the viewpoint to each pixel, and only visible pixels are extracted and written to the frame memory 23. To do.

The pixel information written in the frame memory 23 is read by the D / A converter 24, converted into a display signal, and output to the display device.

[0021]

Since the amount of processing load can be evenly distributed to a plurality of raster engines, the graphics processing for one frame can be performed in the shortest time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image generating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a triangular polygon and pixels inside thereof that are generated.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional image generating device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional image generating apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 polygon area calculation processing unit 2 processing load distribution unit 3 polygon cumulative area memory 11 CPU (Central Processing)
Unit) 12 Main memory 13 Hard disk controller 14 Hard disk unit 15, 17, 19, 1a, 20, 22 Bus 16 Graphics interface 18ge0, 18ge1, ..., 18gen Geometry engine 21re0, 21re1, ... .., 21rel raster engine, 23 frame memory, 24 D / A (Digital to Analog)
converter

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A CPU manages an image database consisting of three-dimensional coordinates concerning the vertices of polygons forming a display image and polygon information such as color and attributes of polygon surfaces, and polygon information necessary for displaying in one frame units. A plurality of geometry engines for performing geometric conversion processing of the three-dimensional polygon information into the two-dimensional polygon information of the display device by performing extraction from the image database, and converting the two-dimensional polygon information into pixel-based information. Image composed of a plurality of raster engines, a frame memory for storing final pixel information to a display device, and a D / A converter for reading pixel information from the frame memory and converting the pixel information into a signal to be an information to the display device. In the generator, the 2D polygon information output from the geometry engine Image generating apparatus characterized by having a polygon area calculation processing unit for calculating the polygon area. 2. The number according to claim 1, wherein the added value of the polygon area value output from the polygon area calculation processing section and the already-stored polygon accumulated area is a number corresponding to a raster engine at a subsequent stage. An image generating apparatus having a polygon cumulative area memory for storing in any one of the above areas. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the minimum cumulative area value stored in the polygon cumulative area memory is extracted, and the geometry is stored in the raster engine corresponding to the area of the value. At the same time as outputting the polygon information from the engine, the area value of the polygon output from the polygon area calculation processing unit and the extracted minimum polygon cumulative area value are added, and the same polygon cumulative area memory is added again. An image generating apparatus having a processing load distribution unit that stores the added value in the area.