Tech Report CS-93-50

Time-Critical Graphics

Matthias M. Wloka

November 1993

Abstract:

Interactive 3D graphics, multimedia, and virtual reality combine high throughput and low-latency requirements with degradable quality demands. They also value timely delivery of results more than accuracy. I therefore propose to implement a time-critical computing paradigm to address the balancing of computation times with other quality control parameters to achieve a user-specified result. In particular, I concentrate on the following issues: integration of external signals, explicit specification of update rates, prediction, graceful degradation, and scheduling of data inquiry computations. I review previous graphics system models and outline a new model that addresses the above issues and combines interactive 3D graphics with multimedia.

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