Thursday, May 20th 2021

AMD's 2019 "Gaming Super Resolution" Patent Could be the Blueprint for FidelityFX Super Resolution?

As AMD's upcoming feature that rivals NVIDIA DLSS nears release, reportedly this June, a USPTO patent application sheds some light on its inner workings. In its November 2019 application, AMD describes the feature as "Gaming Super Resolution." The abstract points to what the feature essentially does—downscaling or upscaling images using various methods, with the goal of improving performance, without much loss in fidelity. "The present application provides devices and methods for efficiently super-resolving an image, which preserves the original information of the image while upscaling the image and improving fidelity. The devices and methods utilize linear and non-linear up-sampling in a wholly learned environment," the application reads.

The application emphasizes on using a combination of linear and non-linear upscaling methods to improve the fidelity of the lower-resolution render output to the user's display resolution, including leveraging a "wholly learned" AI deep-learning network. This would be a DNN that relies on ground-truth information to reconstruct some fidelity to the upscaled image. "The devices and methods include a gaming super resolution (GSR) network architecture which efficiently super resolves images in a convolutional and generalizable manner."
"The GSR architecture employs image condensation and a combination of linear and nonlinear operations to accelerate the process to gaming viable levels. GSR renders images at a low quality scale to create high quality image approximations and achieve high framerates. High quality reference images are approximated by applying a specific configuration of convolutional layers and activation functions to a low quality reference image. The GSR network approximates more generalized problems more accurately and efficiently than conventional super resolution techniques by training the weights of the convolutional layers with a corpus of images."

A lot of water has flown under the bridge since November 2019. DLSS 2.0, introduced in March 2020, was a runaway success as a feature. It doesn't rely on wholly-learned DNNs, and uses temporal feedback techniques to reconstruct details in the final image. The FidelityFX Super Sampling feature that does come out next month, could hence be vastly different, as AMD is taking its own sweet time testing and validating the technology with game developers.
Sources: Beyond3D Forums, VideoCardz, USPTO
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28 Comments on AMD's 2019 "Gaming Super Resolution" Patent Could be the Blueprint for FidelityFX Super Resolution?

#1
W1zzard
Awesome patent... "device to upscale and downscale images"
Posted on Reply
#2
AnarchoPrimitiv
W1zzardAwesome patent... "device to upscale and downscale images"
Having written a patent, two actually, my understanding is that they're supposed to geared toward a more general audience, and the wider the scope your parent encompasses the better as you can essentially lock up more "territory" that way...basically, they're not supposed to be a white paper. I could be wrong though as both my patents were not in the software or semiconductor category, but a type of table base (for a furniture company I was running at the time) and a manufacturing process for a business I hope to start soon.... Again, I could be wrong as I don't have experience in software
Posted on Reply
#3
las
Can't wait to see it being compared to DLSS. AMD needs this feature badly, especially because their RT performance is lacking to begin with, but their 4K and 5K performance is also lacking even without RT and this is where DLSS truly shines; high res gaming.

I will be truly amazed if AMD manages to deliver what DLSS does, or even close, in both performance and visuals. DLSS 1.0 sucked but 2.x is great, if the implementation is good that is.

If XSX, XSS and PS5 will support this, maybe PC games will adopt it "faster"
Posted on Reply
#4
W1zzard
AnarchoPrimitivthey're supposed to geared toward a more general audience, and the wider the scope your parent encompasses the better as you can essentially lock up more "territory" that way
You are absolutely correct. Seems to me they filed for exactly that reason, without any actual invention behind it, probably just trying to game the broken system
Posted on Reply
#5
DeathtoGnomes
as AMD is taking its own sweet time testing and validating the technology with game developers.
@btarunr
You almost sound sarcastic, but I could be mistaken. :D
Posted on Reply
#7
bug
W1zzardAwesome patent... "device to upscale and downscale images"
I can almost imagine AMD going after Adobe with this :D
Posted on Reply
#8
ratirt
TumbleGeorgeI will patent 90° angle! :D
I'd go with 180 since this one is in-line :P
lasIf XSX, XSS and PS5 will support this, maybe PC games will adopt it "faster"
PC support is supposedly be the first one to receive it and the consoles will follow later on. At least that's the word.
Posted on Reply
#9
las
ratirtI'd go with 180 since this one is in-line :p

PC support is supposedly be the first one to receive it and the consoles will follow later on. At least that's the word.
I would just think if consoles have gotten it first then developers would be more likely to implement it in the pc version, but im not sure.

I also "read" that PS5 is not fully capable of using "FSR" because it's not full RDNA2, again, not sure.

AMD did not state much about the tech so we are still guessing, and it's supposed to release next month?
Posted on Reply
#10
ratirt
lasI would just think if consoles have gotten it first then developers would be more likely to implement it in the pc version, but im not sure.

I also "read" that PS5 is not fully capable of using "FSR" because it's not full RDNA2, again, not sure.

AMD did not state much about the tech so we are still guessing, and it's supposed to release next month?
Wouldn't it be also if PC's are getting it first then developers will be more likely to implement it in the consoles since these are basically same as PC nowadays?
And most important, the showcase for the FSR would be much more profound on a PC wouldn't you say?

Here's the video cardz link
videocardz.com/newz/coreteks-amd-fidelityfx-super-resolution-fsr-to-launch-in-june
There's a video also if you're interested.
Posted on Reply
#11
las
ratirtWouldn't it be also if PC's are getting it first then developers will be more likely to implement it in the consoles since these are basically same as PC nowadays?
And most important, the showcase for the FSR would be much more profound on a PC wouldn't you say?

Here's the video cardz link
videocardz.com/newz/coreteks-amd-fidelityfx-super-resolution-fsr-to-launch-in-june
There's a video also if you're interested.
I have already seen that video

It's much easier for dev's to implement specific features on console, but if PS5 does not fully support FSR it's going to be a problem
Posted on Reply
#12
ratirt
lasI have already seen that video

It's much easier for dev's to implement specific features on console, but if PS5 does not fully support FSR it's going to be a problem
It is supposed to be easier for all devs not just the console ones. Either way it is coming and I'm looking forward to seeing what it can do.
Posted on Reply
#13
bug
lasI would just think if consoles have gotten it first then developers would be more likely to implement it in the pc version, but im not sure.

I also "read" that PS5 is not fully capable of using "FSR" because it's not full RDNA2, again, not sure.

AMD did not state much about the tech so we are still guessing, and it's supposed to release next month?
I think it all comes down to how much you can figure out initially. I mean, I'm sure Nvidia didn't plan for DLSS 1.0 as we got it, but it was all they could pull off at the time. That improved dramatically later on. It's possible AMD is in a similar position: aiming for the Moon, but having to settle initially. Another guess: PC first, because PC actually uses more resolutions. If you start with consoles and their two resolutions, you may miss cases that are hard to fix later on. Again, just a guess.
Posted on Reply
#14
birdie
If this is it, I don't have any confidence in this tech.

You cannot upscale anything and everything just by using simple math algorithms, DLSS is a lot more than that.

If it had been that simple, we'd have had re(shaders) by now which can do what DLSS 2.0 does and work on all GPUs.
Posted on Reply
#15
z1n0x
We have no idea what tech will be behind FSR, this is just a patent for which the 18 months expired.
Posted on Reply
#16
R-T-B
W1zzardAwesome patent... "device to upscale and downscale images"
TV makers want to speak with you, AMD...
Posted on Reply
#17
bug
birdieIf this is it, I don't have any confidence in this tech.

You cannot upscale anything and everything just by using simple math algorithms, DLSS is a lot more than that.

If it had been that simple, we'd have had re(shaders) by now which can do what DLSS 2.0 does and work on all GPUs.
The application emphasizes on using a combination of linear and non-linear upscaling methods to improve the fidelity of the lower-resolution render output to the user's display resolution, including leveraging a "wholly learned" AI deep-learning network.
;)
Posted on Reply
#18
Unregistered
birdieIf this is it, I don't have any confidence in this tech.

You cannot upscale anything and everything just by using simple math algorithms, DLSS is a lot more than that.

If it had been that simple, we'd have had re(shaders) by now which can do what DLSS 2.0 does and work on all GPUs.
And what are your credentials? Can you demonstrate some of these simple math algorithms?

I suspect it is not simple math.
#19
las
bugI think it all comes down to how much you can figure out initially. I mean, I'm sure Nvidia didn't plan for DLSS 1.0 as we got it, but it was all they could pull off at the time. That improved dramatically later on. It's possible AMD is in a similar position: aiming for the Moon, but having to settle initially. Another guess: PC first, because PC actually uses more resolutions. If you start with consoles and their two resolutions, you may miss cases that are hard to fix later on. Again, just a guess.
Yeah and Sony already patented some upscaling tech.
Posted on Reply
#20
Punkenjoy
R-T-BTV makers want to speak with you, AMD...
they dont patent upscaling itself but their own method.

And it's very different upscaling a video stream with modern codec versus upscaling 3d image that are being render.
Posted on Reply
#21
HisDivineOrder
Anything that advances the technology or opens it up beyond select games would be great news.
Posted on Reply
#22
HD64G
Many rush into making comments without any knowledge on the topic. A very common issue for the human race. Patience is a big virtue though.
Posted on Reply
#23
zlobby
TumbleGeorgeI will patent 90° angle! :D
That patent already belongs to Apple.
Posted on Reply
#24
TumbleGeorge
zlobbyThat patent already belongs to Apple.
No, they patented a rounded edge, not the 90 degree angle. ;)
Posted on Reply
#25
zlobby
TumbleGeorgeNo, they patented a rounded edge, not the 90 degree angle. ;)
Didn't they patent the angle first? Next were the edges, curves and surfaces.

Oh, man! The innovations!
Posted on Reply
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