Sony's New Patent Could Accelerate Ray Tracing

PlayStation 5 architect Mark Cerny filed a patent called "System and method for accelerated ray tracing with asynchronous operation and ray transformation." The patent suggests that Sony Interactive Entertainment is working on improving the console's performance while using ray tracing.

The patent describes a processing strategy that uses a software-implemented shader program to shorten rays and thus improve performance while using ray tracing. According to the patent, the described strategy "may result in a significant improvement of ray tracing speed, as the shader program is only performing hit testing."

Ray tracing – a method of graphics that simulates light behavior and allows for realistic reflections – is one of PS5's selling points. However, it requires significant power and results in reduced performance, so the aforementioned processing strategy might be extremely useful to Sony.

The list of games supporting ray tracing on PS5 includes Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Gran Turismo 7, Metro Exodus, and several others. 

You can see how the strategy works here. Also, don't forget to join our new Reddit page, our new Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are sharing breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.