Nvidia 'infinite resolution' patent proposes vector data structures

[HEXUS]

Replacing bitmap textures could mean that games age much more gracefully.

Read more.

[Tabbykatze]

Isn't this how proper printing processes work? Rather than a semi fixed rasterised image, they use vector based images so it can scale up and scale down without definitively changing how the image actually is?

[kalniel]

Isn't this how proper printing processes work? Rather than a semi fixed rasterised image, they use vector based images so it can scale up and scale down without definitively changing how the image actually is?

SVGs have been around for a long time. The problem is you have to put the data into some kind of mathematical model in the first place - simple when you are creating the data yourself, but extremely hard if you are going from a bitmap image as your source. There has previously been some work on scaling techniques (see emulators etc.) that try to approximate the bitmap with vectors, though they've not been all that good. Without looking into this in more detail, I'd guess nVidia's is essentially the same thing, but they're patenting their particular method. Pretty sure Google, Intel, MS et al also have their own methods.

[Luke7]

Kinda cool.

But stuff like this makes me really unsure of how patents work... hasn't this kind of thing been around for ages? It's just a mathematical process, one already established in the industry, so what about it, precisely, have they patented? Can other companies (read:AMD) do the same thing but with a slightly different system as not to infringe on the patent?

IMO, whilst the patent system does incentivize and reward creators for their efforts, it REALLY holds technological progression back, forcing devs to spend their time creating workarounds rather than building upon, improving or developing new systems.

[watercooled]

The software patent system seems pretty silly anyway tbh. Like with video encoding, you have competing standards having to avoid doing things in certain (perhaps faster/better) ways so as to avoid patent infringement vs any one entity being able to cherry pick all the best bits.

[kalniel]

Kinda cool.

But stuff like this makes me really unsure of how patents work... hasn't this kind of thing been around for ages? It's just a mathematical process, one already established in the industry, so what about it, precisely, have they patented? Can other companies (read:AMD) do the same thing but with a slightly different system as not to infringe on the patent?

Whilst the idea of approximating bitmaps with a vector is nothing new, it's still just that - an approximation - there's no estabished mathematical process that's 100% accurate. Plenty of scope for a patent if you develop a new approximation that's not been seen before and/or apply it in a new way.