Apple Inc.
Pipelining and Concurrency Techniques for Groups of Graphics Processing Work

Abstract:

Techniques are disclosed relating to processing groups of graphics work (which may be referred to as "kicks") using a graphics processing pipeline. In some embodiments, a graphics processor includes multiple sets of configuration registers such that multiple kicks can be processed in the pipeline at the same time. In some embodiments, kicks are pipelined such that a subsequent kick ramps up use of hardware resources as a previous kick winds down. In some embodiments, the graphics processing may execute kicks concurrently and/or preemptively, e.g., based on a priority scheme. In some embodiments, the disclosed techniques may be used with pipelines that include front and back-end fixed function circuitry as well as shared programmable resources such as shader cores. In various embodiments, the disclosed techniques may improve overall performance and/or reduce latency for high-priority graphics tasks.