Method and apparatus for estimating a fragment count for the display of at least one three-dimensional object

1. A method of estimating a fragment count for a display of at least one three-dimensional, 3D, object; the method comprising:

determining an ellipsoid representative of a set of vertices defined by coordinates of the at least one 3D object;

applying a transformation to the ellipsoid;

calculating, by a hardware processing component, a projection area of the transformed ellipsoid;

estimating, by the hardware processing component, the fragment count for the display of the 3D object based at least partly on the calculated projection area of the transformed ellipsoid prior to a runtime display of the 3D object; and

estimating by the hardware processing component, a time fragment shader length for the display of the 3D object based at least partly on the calculated projection area of the transformed ellipsoid prior to the runtime display of the 3D object, wherein estimating the time fragment shader length is performed after estimating the fragment count, wherein the time fragment shader length is a length of time to process instructions associated with a filling and shading stage.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ellipsoid representative of a set of vertices defined by coordinates of the at least one 3D object comprises at least one of:

an inertia ellipsoid;

a best-fit ellipsoid; and

a bounding ellipsoid.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises determining a sphere representative of the set of vertices.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fragment count for the display of the 3D object is estimated based at least partly on the projection area of the transformed ellipsoid multiplied by a coefficient value.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the coefficient value comprises a predefined coefficient value.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the coefficient value comprises a value derived at least partly from at least one of measured fragment count data and previous fragment count estimate data for at least one previously displayed object.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising: calculating a runtime duration estimate for at least a part of a command sequence for a graphics processing unit including estimating a fragment count for a display of the at least one three-dimensional, 3D, object.

8. A hardware processing component arranged to estimate a fragment count for a display of at least one three-dimensional, 3D, object; the hardware processing component being arranged to:

determine an ellipsoid representative of a set of vertices defined by coordinates of the at least one 3D object;

apply a transformation to the ellipsoid;

calculate a projection area of the transformed ellipsoid;

estimate the fragment count for the display of the 3D object based at least partly on the calculated projection area of the transformed ellipsoid prior to a runtime display of the 3D object; and estimate a time fragment shader length for the display of the 3D object based at least partly on the calculated projection area of the transformed ellipsoid prior to the runtime display of the 3D object, wherein estimating the time fragment shader length is performed after estimating the fragment count, wherein the time fragment shader length is a length of time to process instructions associated with a filling and shading stage.

9. The signal processing component of claim 8 , wherein the signal processing component is implemented in an information display system.

10. The signal processing component of claim 9 , wherein the information display system comprises an automotive driver information display system.

11. The signal processing component of claim 8 , wherein the ellipsoid representative of a set of vertices defined by coordinates of the at least one 3D object comprises at least one of: an inertia ellipsoid; a best-fit ellipsoid; and a bounding ellipsoid.

12. The signal processing component of claim 8 further arranged to determine a sphere representative of the set of vertices.

13. The signal processing component of claim 8 , wherein the fragment count for the display of the 3D object is estimated based at least partly on the projection area of the transformed ellipsoid multiplied by a coefficient value.

14. The signal processing component of claim 13 , wherein the coefficient value comprises a predefined coefficient value.

15. The signal processing component of claim 13 , wherein the coefficient value comprises a value derived at least partly from at least one of measured fragment count data and previous fragment count estimate data for at least one previously displayed object.

16. The signal processing component of claim 8 further arranged to calculate a runtime duration estimate for at least a part of a command sequence for a graphics processing unit, GPU including estimating a fragment count for a display of the at least one three-dimensional, 3D, object.

17. A non-transitory computer program product having executable program code stored therein for estimating, in a hardware processing components, a fragment count and a time fragment shader length for a display of at least one three-dimensional, 3D, object, the program code operable for:

determining an ellipsoid representative of a set of vertices defined by coordinates of the at least one 3D object;

applying a transformation to the ellipsoid;

calculating a projection area of the transformed ellipsoid; and

estimating the fragment count for the display of the 3D object based at least partly on the calculated projection area of the transformed ellipsoid prior to a runtime display of the 3D object; and

estimating the time fragment shader length for the display of the 3D object based at least partly on the calculated projection area of the transformed ellipsoid prior to the runtime display of the 3D object, wherein estimating the time fragment shader length is performed after estimating the fragment count, wherein the time fragment shader length is a length of time to process instructions associated with a filling and shading stage.

18. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 17 wherein the ellipsoid representative of a set of vertices defined by coordinates of the at least one 3D object comprises at least one of:

an inertia ellipsoid;

a best-fit ellipsoid; and

a bounding ellipsoid.

19. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 17 wherein the fragment count for the display of the 3D object is estimated based at least partly on the projection area of the transformed ellipsoid multiplied by a coefficient value.

20. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 19 wherein the coefficient value comprises a value derived at least partly from at least one of measured fragment count data and previous fragment count estimate data for at least one previously displayed object.