Microsoft Patents GPU-Accelerated Video EncodingMicrosoft Patents GPU-Accelerated Video Encoding
Microsoft has been granted a key patent that defines one of the primary uses of graphics processors in the future: Video encoding.
Since the dawn of GPU-accelerated computing in the consumer space, ithas been video encoding that was almost exclusively used to demonstratethe computing horsepower that is hiding in graphics processors. Byusing GPUs, which often integrate hundreds of individual processors,video tasks can be run massively parallel, while only two, four or eightstreams can be run on a CPU, depending on the number of cores.
Microsoft applied for the patent titled “Accelerated video encodingusing a graphics processing unit” in October 2004 and was granted apatent to its invention today. It outlines a concept where the GPU isused, among others, to perform motion estimation in videos, the use ofthe depth buffer of the GPU, to determine comprising, collocating videoframes, mapping pixels to texels, frame processing using the GPU andoutput of data to the CPU.
The patent appears to cover all bases of GPU-accelerated videoencoding, which hands Microsoft the rights to a major technology thatalready impacts prosumer applications and is making its way into themainstream as we are moving into HD and beyond. Especially with thearrival of 3D, video encoders will depend on GPU acceleration to achievereasonable video rendering times.
The beginnings of this technology and availability to the consumerdates back to the availability of DirectX 10 and Windows Vista in 2007.Nvidia began supporting what is generally described as GPGPU (generalpurpose GPU) computing or stream computing back in 2008 with the releaseof its Geforce 8800GTX graphics card and underlying CUDA architecture.AMD’s ATI unit followed a few months later and began offering GPUacceleration with its HD 2000, 3000 and 4000 graphics cards. The firstGPU-accelerated video-encoder we know of was Elemental’s Badaboom, whichis now potentially infringing Microsoft’s patent.
Microsoft has embraced the technology in its products as well, evenif the company is not talking much about it. Windows 7 integrates nativesupport for GPU-accelerated video transcoding via the DirectX ComputeAPI.