Applications of interval arithmetic for reduction of number of computations in ray tracing problems
Patent 7348975 Issued on March 25, 2008. Estimated Expiration Date: December 28, 2024. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.
Embodiments provide for ray tracing traversal that relies on selected geometrical properties of the application to reduce the number of operations required during each traversal step. The traversal algorithm does not depend on the number of rays in the group. As a result, multi-level traversal schemes may be implemented, starting with a large number of rays in a group and then reducing it as needed to maintain group coherency. Multi-level traversal schemes may be created by splitting large groups of rays while traversing acceleration structures.
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