text:
Konami Details Plans
New Metal Gears; BeatMania arrives in U.S.
All told, the company presented 15 upcoming games, handily divided into four categories: Music, Children's, Portable and Hardcore.
Dance and rhythm game fans will definitely be happy to learn that BeatMania -- the title that started the entire Bemani series -- will be coming to the U.S. at long last. Although it's slated for a 2006 release, the DJ simulator will include the special turntable controller, allowing gamers to scratch and spin in time to the beat of the music.
Additionally, the Bemani line will be getting three new additions, including two new DDRs (Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2 for PS2 and DDR Ultramix 3 for Xbox) and Karaoke Revolution Party.
Despite the "party" suffix, Konami's latest karaoke sim isn't packed with minigames; rather, it emphasizes multiplayer action. The biggest new element to the game is its Sing & Dance mode which allows particular fit crooners to plug in a DDR pad and dance as they sing. Each platform's version of the game will have special features unique to that system; the PS2 will feature EyeToy support to allow players to place themselves in the game while the Xbox version will support Live to "expand the song library" (presumably in the form of downloadable content).
The DDR titles will feature similar tweaks, including a Freestyle mode for the talentless (no specific steps are preassigned) and a Quest Mode in which players travel from city to city to build the ultimate team of DDR maniacs.
Less information was forthcoming regarding the upcoming Crime Life: Gang Wars, which the company describes as a free-roaming beat-em-up with a difference. Specifically, morality is heavily integrated into the game design and the decisions a player makes (whether right or wrong) will direct affect the final outcome of the story. To put it in familiar terms, the brief teaser trailer on display could easily be described as a mix of Def Jam: FFNY's action in a GTA: San Andreas environment with a good/bad dichotomy reminiscent of Fable.
At the other end of the spectrum, the company's kids' lineup seems perfectly harmless, with a bumper crop of licensed titles and a few homegrown franchises. Card battling cartoon Yu-Gi-Oh is making its DS debut with Nightmare Troubadour, which will feature wireless multiplayer and currently vague touchscreen elements. The Castlevania-esque Shaman King: Master of Spirits will be putting in a second appearance on GBA, and new sequels are due for both Frogger and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. For the girls in the family, Konami has licensed Winx Club, a series about fashion, friendship and relationships. (Obviously, it's not targeted at the girls in the family who are hardcore Halo fanatics.)
Konami's portable plans are mainly pinned on two upcoming big-name PSP titles: first-person shooter Coded Arms and action-platformer Death Jr. Coded Arms sports impressive handheld graphics and randomly-generated maps; unfortunately, the gameplay video seemed slightly jerky (presumably due to the PSP's lack of a second analog input, which makes a Halo-style control scheme impossible). Death Jr. was highly reminiscent of Ratchet & Clank with a mix of third-person shooting and tricky platforming. The game's sense of humor was outstanding, with a Tim Burton-esque vibe and macabre supporting characters like Stigmartha (whose hands always bleed) and conjoined twins Smith and Weston.
The bulk of the presentation was focused on the company's hardcore offerings, specifically Castlevania and Metal Gear. Each series' producer was on hand to present the latest information on these top-selling franchises (although Castlevania's Koji Igarashi was amusingly coy, building up anticipation for several video clips which lasted about three seconds apiece).
The most significant Castlevania news is the announcement that Curse of Darkness is no longer PS2-exclusive; according to Igarashi, it will be published simultaneously on Xbox. As both games are arriving together, both will be equal in terms of content (with no bonuses for one over the other). A few of Darkness' features were demonstrated, particularly with regard to the Innocent Devil summoned monsters who fight alongside anti-hero Hector. More tantalizing was the brief in-game glimpse of Hector battling whip-wielding Trevor Belmont, the hero of Castlevania III.
Additionally, Igarashi announced that the previously untitled Castlevania for DS has a subtitle: Dawn of Sorrow. Only a few new features of the game were revealed, most significantly that the Tactical Soul System returns from the previous chapter but is now upgradeable -- the more souls of a single type collected by hero Soma Cruz, the more powerful its capabilities become.
Hideo Kojima had the company's biggest news, teased at over the course of the conference: Metal Gear Solid 4 will be on PlayStation 3, and Kojima himself will be directing. Also of note is the pending arrival of the PS2-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 3 remix, Subsistence, which will include a third-person camera perspective, online battle modes and the first U.S. appearance of the original MSX Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2.
We'll publish hands-on impressions over the coming days.
Comments (25)
SUIKODEN 1+2 on PSPPosted: Jun 06, 2005 12:00AM PST by NeonGenesis
Simply, we need more Psp RPG's. Konami should double up SUIKODEN 1+2 on psp.
This is the year to be a Castlevania fanaticPosted: Jun 06, 2005 12:00AM PST by morimoto_rules

I simply can not believe that there will be two Castlevania titles out this year. Before Lament of Innocence came out, I didn't have a PS2. I got a PS2 for that reason (eventually I got several other PS2 titles, as well, so I'm not a total fanboy). Now I find out that Curse of Darkeness is coming out for the Xbox! Call me a fanboy, I don't care. I'm buying them both. I don't even care that neither of them have bonus content.

And have you seen Castlevania for the DS? I'm glad I didn't trade mine in. This is going to be the ULTIMATE handheld Castlevania.

Trashtalk style!Posted: Jun 04, 2005 12:00AM PST by Koku-jin_Jyubei
MGS4 will be on xbox eventually because Microsoft has the money and BEATMANIA WILL TAKE OVER!!!! only real Bemani heads play Beatmania not LAME DDR!
Finally some X-Box love.Posted: May 30, 2005 12:00AM PST by jericholic
About time Castlevania comes to X-Box. Now if they will give us some Metal Gear love.
A bit iffy on Coded Arms, but Death Jr looks coolPosted: May 27, 2005 12:00AM PST by gamewiz1
Coded Arms. What can I say about ya? Well, I had high hopes for this one, but I never enjoyed a game in the past that had generated levels. In fact, after trying a RPG that had all random generated dungeons, I've avoided them altogether. I'd be interested in hearing good things about it, but I'm skeptical about buying it. As for Death Jr, this title seems fun. I tend to like platformers, and from what I've heard, this one should be pretty good. I'll more than likely buy this one.
What The ****Posted: May 26, 2005 12:00AM PST by spade_2006
Why isn't Metal Gear 4 On xbox, Everybody knows it would be better on xbox then cheap a*s PS2 Or PS3. GARBAGE
IIDXstyle da!Posted: May 25, 2005 12:00AM PST by Koku-jin_Jyubei
Beatmania is my favorite game..of all time. I hope they just start with IIDX versions because I already have the controller..but I play all psOne Beatmania. I'M JUST HAPPY THEY'RE FINALY PORTING BEATMANIA..REAL BEMANI!!!
actually leokittyPosted: May 24, 2005 12:00AM PST by yota1983
the only time i remeber people thinkin it was real was in the begining, the second he mentioned his new director for the game, we all knew he was jokin, Alan Smithee is who he said was goin to direct it, who is alan smithee? hes a guy directors use when they think a movie they made sucks,instead of puting their name on the screen, Alan Smithee gets all the credit, pretty funny huh, its not that big of a suprise that the creator of metal gear has a sense of humor, god i love those guys
MSX versions of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2???Posted: May 23, 2005 12:00AM PST by break master
There is a God, and apparently he's a gamer.
Castlevaina DS and Metal Gear sweetnessPosted: May 22, 2005 12:00AM PST by completist_junkie
First of all, it's nice to hear that the new Castlevania for the DS has a subtitle that carries on from Aria of Sorrow. Second, thank you Mr. Kojima for improving on the already excellent game that is Metal Gear Solid 3 by bumping it up to include noline battles and, of course the icing on the cake, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. NERDGASM!!!!
BeatManiaPosted: May 20, 2005 12:00AM PST by captain cool guy
Now dont get me wrong I am a huge Castlevania fan, and I like Metal Gear, but I have been waitin for a US release of BeatMania since FOREVER!!!!!!!. I know its gonna be expensive cuz of the controller, but if you love music games then its worth it. I got Taiko Drum Master and its worth every penny.
ddr!Posted: May 19, 2005 12:00AM PST by greenblu22
i love that game, hopefully extreme 2 will be harder...
MGS4!Posted: May 19, 2005 12:00AM PST by new_age_soldier
wow when i saw the trailer and found out the kojima is directing again i was happy and suprised. i really thought he was out this time. MGS4 on PS3 is gonna be one of the best games out.(as of now.) cant wait.
Yeah But...Posted: May 19, 2005 12:00AM PST by True-Gamer
I read like 1 or 2 days ago on 1up that MGS3: Subsistence would also be on Xbox. What the hells the point of putting it on PS2 again? It has some new features and online play which no doubt in my mind will be crappy, and cramp up your memory card space on your PS2. Does anyone know if the Xbox Version is still in the works? Or is it cancelled?
Definitely.Posted: May 18, 2005 12:00AM PST by Lumiveanima117
I loved in the trailer how he announced he'd be in on it. I knew he couldn't be out. That "no place for Hideo" thing he said a while ago was really clever. They used it perfectly in the trailer. I can't wait!
Re: I knew itPosted: May 18, 2005 12:00AM PST by Iso1ith
Greymatter...this really isn't anything new...ever since completion of MGS2, Kojima has been saying he was going to past on his duties slowly onto someone else, yet he never seems to keep his word. lol Hideo Kojima will direct MGS games until he dies jk Anyway I would actually be SURPRISED if he did step down a bit and give someone else a chance not that it will happen any time soon. As for your comment regarding inferior people handling the franchise...shut up. Honestly Kojima isn't the only talented Konami director, or producer. Plently of people who have worked on the series already can do a fine job at guiding a MGS game. Afterall, almost every one of the games (although great) basically follow the same simple standard of gameplay with minor enchancements here and there.
Almost solid line up...Posted: May 18, 2005 12:00AM PST by wizardofcoz4126
The list of games look good, but they should have left out the Winx Club and TMNT. Don't get me wrong, I like the TMNT, but I liked their OLDER games better than the newer crap they have been released. Anyways, I look forward to MGS4 and the Castlevania games since I am Big fan of those franchises.


text:
- Report: #133073
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: USBI - Telliss
USBI - Telliss9093 Technology Drive Fishers, Indiana U.S.A.
USBI - Telliss rip off by fraudulant phone charges Fishers Indiana
*Author of original report: Finally...after 2 Months!!!!!
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On Feb. 14th I recieved my bill from my phone service provider and was shocked (BLEEPING out alot of other words) to see that I had been charged $140.63 for four(4) calls made to Sweden. Those calls were made at 2:52, 2:59 and 3:16 A.M. and the last at 4:26 in the afternoon.
All of the calls were made on 1-31...A monday. As a first shift worker I have contacted Telliss and assured them that I could not an would not have been awake at those times to make any such calls.
I found out they were supposed to have been made from the modem of my computer, which makes it ever more so absurd because the only other two in my family are my wife and my six year old.
I have contacted my local Co. and they have put the charges on hold for 90 days and I have also contacted Tellis with the number given on my phone bill and they also assured me this billing would be put on hold for 90 days and that they would put a block on the number.
I have given them 10 days for a response from the e-mail I sent, with none coming I am taking the next step I deem is necessary and sending a letter directly to them.I will give them another 10 days + 2 days delivery time for a response. I hope , FOR THEIR SAKE, I get one. If not I will not be very pleasant the next time I am forced to call.
Kendallville, Indiana
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/27/2005 05:56 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/USBI-Telliss/Fishers-Indiana-46038/USBI-Telliss-rip-off-by-fraudulant-phone-charges-Fishers-Indiana-133073. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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#1 Author of original report
Finally...after 2 Months!!!!!
AUTHOR: Eric - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Wednesday, April 20, 2005POSTED: Wednesday, April 20, 2005
I will not pretend that I did not use a stronger tone in my letters...not E-mail...to Telliss but if that (and a little logic) are what was needed to get this removed from my phone bill I was glad to do it.
I am not happy at all that this even happened,however, I feel that I must give some credit to Telliss for taking all but the federal tax(I can live with $4.10)off of my local bill and for swollowing what may have been long and hard to do what was the right thing. NOW, I am not going out and signing up for Telliss as a long distance provider but,as I have said earlier, for at least two reasons I feel I must give credit where credit is due: 1)because however hard it was...they did the right thing and
2)I also promised in my letter to them that I would give them the choice of me writting a good or bad follow-up...And I am nothing, if not a man of my word.
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text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Mar 17, 1998
|Filing date
|Sep 15, 1995
|Priority date
|Sep 15, 1995
|Fee status
|Publication number
|Carrie Lee Claflin, Gary D. Zimmerman, Gregory Lonnon
|Original Assignee
|Hewlett-Packard Company
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (8), Referenced by (20), Classifications (16), Legal Events (6)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
The present application is related to the following co-pending U.S. Patent Application being assigned to the same assignee, entitled: "A LOSSY DATA COMPRESSION METHOD", U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/528,582, filed on Sep. 15, 1995, incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to data compression and decompression, more particularly, to a data compression and decompression architecture implemented in hardware.
Prior art page printers typically capture an entire page before any image is placed on paper. In such printers, formatting is either performed on the host computer, or on a formatter within the printer. Since a laser printer engine operates at a constant speed, if new rasterized data is not available at a rate that keeps up with the engines operation, a page "overrun" (also referred to as punt) occurs and the page is not printable.
To prevent print overruns, a variety of techniques are used. At first, a full raster bit map of an entire page was stored so that the print mechanism always had rasterized data awaiting action. Early laser printers, which printed at 300 dots per inch resolution, could use this technique because approximately 1 megabyte of raster memory for each page is used. However, with a 600 dot per inch printer, approximately 4 megabytes of memory are now required. Additionally, because laser printers achieve their rated speeds by pipelining of raster data, additional raster memory is needed to run the printer at its rated speed. Without the additional memory, composition of the subsequent page cannot begin until the present page has been printed. To remain cost competitive, substantial effort has been directed to reducing the amount of required memory in a laser printer.
One technique for memory reduction involves the construction of a page description language. A page description language is built in two steps: during formatting, data received from the host computer is converted into a list of simple commands, called display commands, which describe what must be printed. The second step prepares the display command list for printing and entails a parsing of the display commands and a rendering of the described objects into a raster bit map. This procedure requires a full page raster bit map memory because the same memory is used for succeeding pages.
A further refinement to the page description language helps reduce the amount of required memory by sorting the display command list procedure according to their vertical position on a page. The page is then divided into sections called page strips or "page intermediate" and each page strip is passed, sequentially, to the print engine for printing. When display commands within a page strip are rendered into rastered data at a fast enough pace, the same memory used to store a first page strip can be reused for subsequent page strips further down the page.
Presently, printer resolution has reached 600 dots per inch and beyond. Such printers handle not only text but also line art and various types of images. Many of these printers use general purpose data compression techniques to minimize the amount of memory required by the printer.
Data compression systems, which are known in the art, encode a stream of digital data signals into compressed digital code signals and decode the compressed digital code signals back into the original data. Data compression refers to any process that attempts to convert data in a given format into an alternative format requiring less space than the original. The objective of data compression systems is to effect a savings in the amount of storage required to hold a given body of digital information. When that digital information is a digital representation of an image or text, data compression systems are divided into two general types: lossy, and non-lossy.
The non-lossy systems have what is referred to as reciprocity. In order for the data compression system to possess the property of reciprocity it must be possible to re-expand or decode the compressed data back into its original form without any alteration or loss of information. The decoded and original data must be identical and indistinguishable with respect to each other. Thus, the property of reciprocity is synonymous to that of strict noiselessness used in information theory.
Some applications do not require strict adherence to the property of reciprocity. As stated above, one such application in particular, is when dealing with graphical data. Because the human eye is not sensitive to noise, some alteration or loss of information during the compression decompression process is acceptable. This loss of information gives the lossy data compression systems their name.
An important criteria in the design of data compression systems is the compression effectiveness, which is characterized by the compression ratio. The compression ratio is the ratio of data size in uncompressed form divided by the size in compressed in form. In order for data to be compressible the data must contain redundancy. Compression effectiveness is determined by how effectively the compression procedure uses the redundancy in the inputting data. In typical computer stored data, redundancy occurs both in the non-uniform usage of individual symbology, example digits, bytes, or characters, and in frequent reoccurrence of symbol sequences, such as common words, blank record fields and the like.
The data compression system should provide sufficient performance with respect to the data rates provided by and accepted by the printer. The rate at which data can be compressed is determined by the input data processing rate of the compression system. Sufficient performance is necessary to maintain the data rates achieved, thereby not allowing a "page punt" because the laser is starved for data. Thus, the data compression and decompression system must have enough data band width so as not to adversely effect the overall system.
Typically, the performance of data compression and decompression systems is limited by the computations necessary to compress and decompress and the speed of the system components such as random access memory and the like, utilized to store statistical data and guide the compression process. This is particularly true when the compression and decompression systems are implemented in firmware, wherein firmware guides a general purpose type central processing unit to perform the data compression decompression process. In such a system, performance for a compression device is characterized by the number of processor cycles required per input character during compression. The fewer the number of cycles, the higher the performance. The firmware solutions were limited by the speed of the firmware compression and decompression because firmware took several central processor unit cycles to decompress each byte. Thus, the firmware process generally was tailored to decrease compression ratios in order to increase decompression speed.
General purpose data compression procedures are known in the prior art; three relevant procedures being the Huffman method, the Tunstall method and the Lempel-Ziv method. One of the first general purpose data compression procedures developed is the Huffman method. Briefly described, the Huffman method maps full length segments of symbols into variable length words. The Tunstall method, which maps variable length segments of symbols into fixed length binary words, is complimentary to the Huffman procedure. Like the Huffman procedure, the Tunstall procedure requires a foreknowledge of the source data probabilities. Again this fore knowledge requirement can be satisfied to some degree by utilizing an adaptive version which accumulates the statistic strength processing of the data.
The Lempel-Ziv procedure maps variable length segments of symbols into variable length binary words. It is asymptotically optimal when there are no constraints on the input or output segments. In this procedure the input data string is parsed into adaptively grown segments. Each segments consisting of an exact copy of an earlier portion of the input string suffixed by one new symbol from the input data. The copy which is to be made is the longest possible and is not constrained to coincide with an earlier parsed segment. The code word which represents the segment in the output contains information consisting of a pointer to where there earlier copy portions begin, the length of the code, and the new symbol. Additional teaching for the Lempel-Ziv data compression technique can be found in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,302 incorporated herein by reference.
While the aforementioned data compression procedures are good general purpose lossless procedures, some specific types of redundancy may be compressed using other methods. One such lossless method commonly known as run length encoding (RLE), is well suited for graphical image data. With RLE, sequences of individual characters can be encoded as a count field plus an identifier of the repeated character. Typically, two characters are needed to mark each character run, so that this encoding would not be used for runs of two or fewer characters. However, when dealing with a graphical image represented in digital data form, there can be large runs of the same character in any given line making RLE an effective compression procedure for such information.
Given a 600 DPI Laser Printer with 1 megabyte of ram as a base configuration, many text pages along with more complex graphics pages may cause memory low conditions in the firmware. For these memory starved printers, some form of data compression must be used. One of the requirements for the compression and decompression system is that the decompressed data must be delivered to the laser in real time. That is, once the page printing process begins, the engine cannot be stopped. Thus the compression and decompression system for these memory starved printers need fast image compression and decompression along with high compression ratios to help print pages at full engine speed.
Previous solutions implemented in firmware were limited by the speed of firmware decompression since firmware decompression took many microprocessor cycles to decompress each byte. These firmware algorithms used in previous products were tailored to meet the strengths and weaknesses of firmware compression decompression. Thus, in a tradeoff, the firmware algorithms are tailored to increase decompression speed while sacrificing the compression ratio.
Firmware based compression algorithms used in previous products separated the image into horizontal blocks and compressed each block individually. This was done to minimize the size of continuous physical memory needed to store an image. For example, in the Laser Jet 4L printer, manufactured by the assignee of this application, images were compressed into 16 row high compressed blocks. However, breaking an image up into numerous blocks decreases the compression ratio because compressing an image in a single block causes more efficient compression by giving the compression algorithm more data to work with. During memory low conditions, non-contiguous memory may need to be used because the largest free memory block in a system is too small to satisfy the existing memory request.
Previous hardware solutions to the non contiguous memory problem used special link literal in the compressed data stream to communicate to the decompression machine when one fragment of data ended and where the next began. The same solution also used a special EOF literal in the compressed data stream to communicate to the decompression machine when the entire block was finished. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,953, issued on Nov. 12, 1996, titled: "Storing Compressed Data In Non-Contiguous Memory", assigned to the same assignees as the present application. This scheme decreases the compression ratio because it requires that unique tokens be defined which could not be later be used by the compression algorithm.
Another advantage of storing the compressed image in several horizontal blocks allows the image processor to gain access to any particular block in an expedited manner, without having to decompress the entire image. This was particularly useful in the rendering process where most of the compressed image was not needed. The image processor first finds the first block that contains the needed data appearing below the block of unneeded area and decompresses the rest of the blocks needed to reconstruct the needed portion of the image. Again, as mentioned above, this method compromised the compression ratios, because the entire image was not compressed into a single block, in exchange for the speed gained by not having to decompress parts of the image that were not needed.
Finally, prior to the present invention, there was no quick way of predicting the compressed size of the input data. Allowing for prediction of the image compression size allows the image processor to use less temporary buffers, make decisions on compression methods quickly, and increase the overall compressor speed.
The image processor is responsible for rendering an intermediate representation of a page into horizontal strips of a page suitable to be sent to the laser. The intermediate representation of the page may be a high level page description language such as PCL or post script. Each page's description contains imaging instructions to render itself. The instructions usually require that the image processor clip the top and or bottom of image data in order to break the page into horizontal strips for printing. An example of horizontal strip buffering can be seen in FIG. 1. For exemplary purposes, three strips 103, 104, and 105 are shown in FIG. 1, also shown are two characters 101 and 102. In a normal application, each strip has a width equal to the destination media. However, for clarity during this discussion, the strips are shown in a magnified format. Character 101 is continued from the strip rendered prior to strip 103. Because of the size of character 101, it also extends into strip 104. In a similar manner, character 102 is present in strips 104, 105 and the strip subsequent to 105. Thus, for the image processor to properly render both characters 101 and 102, portions of these characters must be clipped. For example, when rendering strip 103, a small portion on the top of character 101 must be clipped because it is not present in strip 103. The lower portion of character 101, which is also not present in 103, must also be clipped. As the image processor starts rendering strip 104, character 101 must have its top portion clipped. Only a portion of character 102 is present in strip 104. Finally, strip 105 requires the top portion of character 102 to be clipped along with a small bottom portion extending into the next strip. Extrapolating this to the normal situation where a strip has a width equal to the media width, it is possible that the image processor may need to clip hundreds of characters during the rendering of a single strip.
Rendering a final image from the intermediate description can be very memory and real time intensive depending upon the complexity of the strip. Therefore, compression techniques have been introduced into printers in order to both limit the amount of memory needed by the system in typical cases and increase the number of pages which can be printed with a given amount of physical memory. The task of clipping is performed by the image processor for potentially a large number of characters is further complicated by the fact that to reduce memory consumption, these font characters are stored in a compressed format. Therefore, the image processor must both clip and decompress the font information during the rendering process. Both of these operations must be performed with sufficient throughput as not to cause a "print overrun".
Prior to the present invention, to help reduce the real time burden on the image processor, the individual characters of the font are divided along a horizontal line where each resident portion between two division lines are independently compressed. An example of such division can be seen in FIG. 2. By dividing the compressed image into pieces along the vertical axis, the image processor does not need to decompress the entire image when rendering only a portion of it. For example, referring to FIG. 1, when rendering strip 104, the image processor first must clip the top portion of the element 101. While it is possible that the image processor could completely decompress element 101, this presents a significant real time burden for the image processor. Using the idea as shown in FIG. 2, the image processor may actually start decompressing element 101 at line 110G. In doing so, the image processor must then only discard a small portion which lies below line 110G but is not to be rendered into strip 104 of FIG. 1. Similarly, when the image processor starts rendering character 102, it can begin decompressing character 102 at line 110D and stop decompression at line 110G.
Dividing characters along a vertical axis to facilitate easier clipping by the image processor tends to reduce the compression ratio for the individual characters as noted above. Thus, prior compression techniques limited either the compression ratio which could be obtained or the flexibility and therefore speed of the image processor.
In order to accomplish the present invention there is provided an apparatus for compressing an original data into a compressed data. The apparatus also decompresses the compressed data back into the original data. The apparatus is constructed from a random access memory (RAM) used for storing the original data and other information. Next, there is an input controller connected to the RAM. A compression unit and decompression unit are connected to the input controller. There is an output controller connected to the compression and decompression units and the RAM. Finally there is a controller connected to the RAM, the input and output controllers, and the compression and decompression units.
The controller configures the input controller to retrieve input data from the RAM and transfers the retrieved data to an active unit, the active unit being the compression unit for compressing the original data into the compressed data or the decompression unit for decompressing the compressed data into the original data. The controller determines which unit is the active unit. Under direction of the controller, the output controller retrieves data from the active unit. Data from the output controller may be transferred to the RAM, to a printer, or counted to determine the size of the data.
The input controller receives a start compression indication and a start decompression from the controller. Upon receiving the start compression indication the input controller makes the compression unit the active unit. Similarly, upon receiving the start decompression indication, the input controller makes the decompression unit the active unit. The input controller also receives an input buffer count from the controller, which indicates a number of input data bytes to retrieve from the random access memory. When the input controller completes retrieving the number, the input controller signals the controller. After the controller receives the signal it may reconfigure the input controller. In a similar manner, when the output controller is stopped, the controller may reconfigure it.
A better understanding of the invention may be had from the consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 shows characters being rendered into strip buffers.
FIG. 2 shows vertical division of the two characters used in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the preferred embodiment of the hardware compressor and decompressor architecture (HWC) in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a logical flow diagram for the input controller.
FIG. 5 is a logical flow diagram for the output controller.
FIG. 6 is a logical flow diagram for the decompression process used by the architecture of FIG. 3.
FIG. 7 is a logical flow diagram describing operation of the HWC for non-contiguous input.
FIG. 8 is a logical flow diagram describing operation of the HWC for non-contiguous output.
FIG. 9 is a logical flow diagram showing one possible embodiment for use of the compression size prediction function of the present invention.
The present invention is not limited to a specific embodiment illustrated herein. The preferred embodiment of the present invention provides for real time decompression and simultaneous clipping. Thus, the compressor may compress an entire character into a single block. The present invention uses a hardware compression architecture that gives the image processor the flexibility to crop images at will, store images in non-contiguous memory, predict compression sizes quickly, all without compromising the compression ratio.
Referring now to FIG. 3 where a block diagram of the hardware compressor decompressor unit is shown. Input controller 201 connects to the physical memory interface (i.e., memory bus). In essence the input controller 201 has direct memory access (DMA) to the physical memory. Input controller 201 also receives commands from the central processing unit of the image processor 205. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention these commands consist essentially of: START COMPRESSION, START DECOMPRESSION, INPUT BUFFER LENGTH, INPUT BUFFER ADDRESS, CONTINUE, and INPUT IMAGE DONE. As will be described in greater detail subsequently, the input controller 201 provides the interface between the compression unit 202 or decompression unit 203 and physical memory. Data retrieved from physical memory passes through input controller 201 where it is transferred to either compression unit 202 or decompression unit 203 depending upon the mode of operation.
Compression unit 202 receives a plurality of commands from the input controller 201. These commands in the preferred embodiment consist of: START COMPRESSION, and FINISH. In a similar manner a decompression unit 203 receives analogous commands from the input controller 201. Data output from the compression unit 202 and decompression unit 203 are routed to the output controller 204. Output controller 204 also receives various commands from the image processing unit 205. In the preferred embodiment these commands consist of: MAXIMUM COUNT, OUTPUT BUFFER ADDRESS, BIT BUCKET DATA, VIDEO ON THE FLY, and STOP. Output controller 204 routes the data received from compression unit 202 or decompression unit 203 to either the physical memory, bit bucket, or the video state machine.
Thus, with the architecture of FIG. 3, the hardware compression unit (also referred to as HWC) can be programmed to independently stop the input controller 201 or output controller 204 using the INPUT BUFFER LENGTH and MAXIMUM COUNT commands respectively. After the HWC stops, the image processor unit can continue the current HWC mode of operation (compression, decompression, bit bucketing, output data), the current mode can be changed and then continued, or the HWC can finish and stop.
During compression or decompression of data the HWC can be programmed to switch input and output buffers based upon input or output byte counters. To change a buffer, the input or output controller is stopped at a programmed byte count, while it is stopped the image processor may change the input or output addresses. When the input or output controller is restarted, it uses the new addresses for reading or writing of data. Switching input and output buffers allow the HWC unit to use multiple memory buffers, which may be non-contiguous, for both input and output during compressing or decompressing data.
The compression unit 202 or decompression unit 203 can continue compressing or decompressing after the image processor unit stops the input controller 201 or output controller 204. The compression and decompressions algorithms are not affected by the stopping and continuing. Also, while the HWC is compressing or decompressing data the output does not need to be written to the physical memory. This HWC feature (herein referred to as bit bucketing) increases the HWC's speed and allows for quick determination of an imaged compression or decompressed size.
The compression and decompression units 202 and 203 respectively operate in similar manners to other hardware implementations of the compression techniques used. However, to operate in the present environment additional features are necessary for proper operation. First, each of these units should start to process data when it receives the appropriate start command from the input controller. If the flow of input data is interrupted, these units must wait for another byte or the finish flag. If this flag is set, the units finishes processing the available data and give the result to the output controller to process. Finally, when these units are idle, they assert the not active signal. One skilled in the art would be able to make such modifications to currently known hardware implementations without undue experimentation.
Referring now to FIG. 4, where a flow diagram of the input controller is shown. First, the image processor unit sets up the input address and the input count with the location and length of the first block in the image. Next, the image processor unit sends either the start compression command or start decompression command 301. The appropriate unit is activated 310 by asserting either the start compression or start decompression signal. Next, the input controller checks to see if input count equals zero 302. Assuming the input count is not equal to zero, the input controller brings in a byte from physical memory as designated by the input address 303. The input counter is decremented 304 each time a byte is sent to the active machine 305. Additionally, the input address is incremented to allow retrieval of the next input byte 304. Eventually, the input count equals zero indicating that all bytes in the present input block have been sent to the active machine 302. The input controller signals the completion of the block by interrupting the image processor unit with an input fragment done interrupt 307.
If the needed part of the image has not been completely processed then the image processor unit programs the new location and length of the next block of the image into the input address and input count respectively. Next, the image processor unit issues a start command to continue at next address and the input controller resumes at 303. Alternatively, if there is no more data to be processed, the image processor unit then relates this information to the input controller by issuing the input image done command. The input controller then sets the finish flag 309 signaling the compression or decompression unit to finish the current code it is working on with the data already presented. The input controller deactivates the unit and returns to the idle state 310 waiting for another start command. One skilled in the art will notice that as shown, the input machine isolates the compression unit and decompression unit and the output machine from any knowledge about whether the input image has been fragmented.
Referring now to FIG. 5 where a flow diagram for the output controller is shown. The output controller is responsible for moving data on the active compression or decompression machine to physical memory. The output controller allows the image processor to crop both the beginning and end of an image, quickly calculate the size of a compressed block, and fragment the output of a compression or decompression into as small and as many fragments as necessary.
The output controller begins operation when the active compression or decompression machine (202 or 203 in FIG. 3) has its first byte ready. First, the output controller sets the output count to zero 402. Next, the byte is retrieved from the active unit 404. For each byte received, the output count is incremented 405. Next, the output controller performs one of three functions. First, if the video on fly flag is set, 406 the data is then moved to the video state machine as it requests it 407. Second, if the bit bucket flag is set, 408 the output controller does nothing with the data once it has signaled the active compression or decompression unit that it has retrieved it. Third, if neither one of these flags are set then the output controller moves the data to physical memory at the location pointed to by the output address 409. For each byte that is stored in the physical memory, the output address must be incremented 410. Next, a check is made to see if either unit is still active 411. Assuming one unit is still active, control is looped back up to 403 where the output count is compared against the max. count.
At some point, output count equals max. count. On the occurrence of this event, the output controller produces an output done interrupt 412. The output controller then waits until the max. count value is increased 413. This signals that the output should again begin transferring data. If, in the alternative the active unit transitions into a non-active state, then the output controller produces a done interrupt 414 and waits in the idle state 401 for the next operation.
The operation of the output controller depends upon the function that the image processor needs to perform. The three most often used functions include cropping to the beginning of an image, fragmenting the output image, and quickly calculating the size of a compressed block. To crop to the beginning of an image, the image processor first sets the bit bucket flag and sets the max. count value to the amount of the image it needs cropped before issuing the start command. Note, the output address value is irrelevant at this point. When the image processor receives the output done interrupt, it continues to process the rest of the image as desired. For instance, the image processor may fragment the rest of the output image or fragment part of it and crop the last part.
To fragment an output image the processor must first initialize the value in the output address. If the block in question is the beginning of the output image, then the image processor needs to initialize the output address before it issues the start command. The image processor then sets the max. count value to the current output count plus the length of the requested output fragment. When the image processor receives the output done interrupt it can continue to fragment the output data by setting the output address to the new location in memory and again setting the max. count value to the current output count plus the length of the requested output fragment.
To quickly calculate the size of a compressed block, the image processor first sets the bit bucket flag and then sets max. count value to its maximum value. In this application, the maximum value may be larger than the amount of physical memory available. Note, the output address value is irrelevant at this point. The image processor then issues the start command. When the image processor receives the done interrupt, the value in the output count reflects what the length of the resulting compressed image will be. In this way, the image processor can make decisions on how and where to store the image. For instance, it is possible, although unlikely, that a compressed image may be bigger than the original image. In this case it does not make sense for the image processor to store that particular image in its compressed form.
In FIG. 6 a flow diagram illustrates the logical flow used for decompressing images. As stated before, the entire image is compressed into a single logical block. The HWC clips the top portion of the compressed image by "bit bucketing" the output data for the top of the image. The bit bucketing of data is needed to obtain current compression information at the start of the image on the strip and increases the decompression speed. The next step is decompressing and rendering the image on the current strip. The decompressing and rendering can occur at once or in blocks depending on the image size on the strip.
With renewed reference to FIG. 6, first a decision is made whether the image needs top clipping 501. In those cases where top clipping is necessary, the top is decompressed using the bit bucket and program the HWC to stop at the end of the top clip 502. Next, it is determined if the image needs to be decompressed into blocks 503. For those images that are not to be decompressed into blocks, the next decision is whether the image needs to have the bottom clipped 504. Assuming the entire image is to be decompressed 508, it is rendered and decompressed into the image data 509 and the HWC is reset and exited 510. In the alternative if a bottom region needs to be clipped, first the image height of the strip must be found 505. Next, that portion of the image that overlaps the strip is decompressed 507. Finally, the image data is decompressed and rendered in 509.
If the decompressed data needs to be rendered in blocks 503, then first the image height of the strip must be found 511. Given the maximum number of rows that can be decompressed into the temporary buffer 512, the HWC is programmed to decompress the first block 513. A block is decompressed 514 and rendered 514. A check is made to determine if the last block has been processed. The HWC continues processing blocks 517, 514, 515 until all blocks are processed 516. For the last block, the HWC is programmed to decompress it 518. And finally, the last block is rendered 520.
By manipulating the input and output controllers, the HWC can efficiently operate in non-contiguous memory. The non-contiguous memory is used under low memory conditions, by chaining of memory allocations. By allocating and using smaller chunks of memory, the system increases its ability to operate in low memory conditions.
The method used to control the HWC relies on the ability of the HWC to stop and continue on byte boundaries. Using the stopping and continuing functions of the HWC, it can be programmed to take input from a non-contiguous source or output to a non-contiguous destination. Referring now to FIG. 7, where a flow chart for non-contiguous input is shown. For non-contiguous input, first the image processor must load the input address register 601. Next, the input byte count register is also loaded 602. A start command is issued to the HWC. Once the HWC had processed all of the input information, an interrupt is generated 604. Assuming the buffer is done 605 a check is made to determine if another section of data needs to be processed 606. For each additional input buffer, the input address register 601 and input byte count register 602 must be updated appropriately. A continue command is then sent to the HWC 603. Eventually all of the input buffers have been processed and the input image done command is sent to the HWC 607. The flow chart of FIG. 8 illustrates control for non-contiguous output. Because of the similarity between non-contiguous output control and non-contiguous input control as described above, the flow chart of FIG. 8 will not be described in detail.
FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing the preferred embodiment of how predicting compression size may be used in a printing system. First, in 801 the HWC is programmed to compress the image data using the bit bucket for output. After Receiving the interrupt from the HWC the predicted compression size is retrieved 802. If the compression is successful 803, a permanent storage block using either linear storage or non-contiguous storage as allocated 805. If the allocation is successful 806, the HWC is programmed to compress the image data into the permanent storage 807.
If the original compression was not successful 803 then an attempt to allocate permanent storage block for the uncompressed image data is performed 804. If that allocation is successful 814 then the image data in an uncompressed format is moved the permanent storage 815. If the allocation is unsuccessful, meaning that the image data cannot fit in the available memory, then a temporary buffer is used for other compression methods 817. For example, a firmware lossless compression may prove to be more efficient for a given type of data. After each lossless attempt an attempt to allocate storage is made 818. If any lossless compression allocation is successful 819, then the lossless compressed data is moved into the permanent storage 815.
For data that does not compress sufficiently using lossless methods, a lossy method may prove successful. For a discussion of the lossy compression see co-pending Patent Application "A LOSSY DATA COMPRESSION METHOD", U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/528,582, filed on Sep. 15, 1995. The lossy compression of the image data is performed 810. Based upon the allocation required for the lossy compressed data image 811, another allocation is requested 812. Upon a successful allocation, the lossy compressed image data is moved into the permanent storage 815. Finally, if the allocation for lossy compressed data is unsuccessful than a memory overrun occurs 813 and the page is unprintable.
Although the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated, and that form described, it is readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.
|Cited Patent
|Filing date
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|Oct 10, 1990
|Dec 8, 1992
|Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
|Image processing system
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|Jul 20, 1993
|Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
|Image processing system for reducing wait time before image data transfer to an image output section
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|Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
|Apparatus and method for reconfiguring an image processing system to bypass hardware
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|Hewlett-Packard Company
|Page printer having adaptive data compression for memory minimization
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|Apr 30, 1996
|Nec Corporation
|Image compression and decompression apparatus with reduced frame memory
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|Adobe Systems, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for processing data for a visual-output device with reduced buffer memory requirements
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|Aug 6, 1996
|Adobe Systems, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for processing data for a visual-output device with reduced buffer memory requirements
|Aug 19, 1994
|Nov 12, 1996
|Hewlett-Packard Company
|Storing compressed data in non-contiguous memory
|Citing Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Jun 17, 1997
|Dec 22, 1998
|Hewlett-Packard Company
|Configurable data processing pipeline
|Apr 18, 1997
|Dec 7, 1999
|Adobe Systems Incorporated
|Printer memory boost
|Apr 14, 1998
|Dec 14, 1999
|Hewlett-Packard Company
|Means and method for configuring a data processing pipeline
|Jul 8, 1998
|Oct 3, 2000
|Hewlett-Packard Company
|Printer having processor with instruction cache and compressed program store
|Oct 27, 1998
|Feb 20, 2001
|Hewlett-Packard Company
|Modifications of postscript adaptive data compression (ADC) for 3 plane, 8 bit color images, JPEG lossy compression, and variable Q factors
|Nov 6, 1998
|Sep 11, 2001
|Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
|Method for processing graphic data in a laser printer
|Aug 1, 2000
|Feb 4, 2003
|Hewlett-Packard Company
|Printer having processor with instruction cache and compressed program store
|Jun 12, 2000
|Aug 17, 2004
|Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
|Fast page analyzer for proper selection of compression engine for rendered data
|Jun 18, 2002
|Jan 2, 2007
|Lexmark International, Inc.
|Method for printing shingling print data
|Mar 8, 2000
|Oct 14, 2008
|Microsoft Corporation
|System and method for transferring a compressed data file to a peripheral device
|Nov 24, 2004
|May 19, 2009
|Microsoft Corporation
|System and method for transferring a compressed data file to a peripheral device
|Dec 13, 2011
|Renesas Electronics Corporation
|Image processing apparatus for reading compressed data from and writing to memory via data bus and image processing method
|May 8, 2012
|Mossman Holdings Llc
|Memory controller including a hardware compression and decompression engine for managing system memory and graphical operations
|May 7, 2012
|Apr 29, 2014
|Intellectual Ventures I Llc
|Memory controller including a hardware compression and decompression engine for managing system memory and graphical operations
|Nov 27, 2001
|May 29, 2003
|Joel Tague
|Tracking features of devices
|Jun 18, 2002
|Dec 18, 2003
|Bates John B.
|Method for printing shingling print data
|Nov 24, 2004
|May 19, 2005
|Microsoft Corporation
|System and method for transferring a compressed data file to a peripheral device
|Apr 10, 2008
|Nov 27, 2008
|Nec Electronics Corporation
|Image processing apparatus for reading compressed data from and writing to memory via data bus and image processing method
|Jan 14, 2009
|May 14, 2009
|Dye Thomas A
|Memory controller including a hardware compression and decompression engine for managing system memory and graphical operations
|May 22, 2008
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|Image processing apparatus for reading compressed data from and writing to memory via data bus and image processing method
|U.S. Classification
|358/1.15, 358/1.13, 358/1.16
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Nov 13, 1995
Owner name: HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY, CALIFORNIA
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R.N., and Serial Entrepreneur. I choose D. all of the above. Now you prepare that Fetzer valve with some 3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads, and I'm gonna need 'bout ten quarts of anti-freeze, preferably Prestone. No, no make that Quaker State.
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our hospitals
Disha Eye Hospital at Durgapur
Disha Eye Hospital in Durgapur is situated at Palasdiha near Durgapur City Centre and covers an area of 17,000 sq. ft. It was inaugurated on 9th January 2012. Disha Durgapur was solely established to fulfill the needs of patients residing in the steel city of Durgapur, Burdwan, Asansol, Dhanbad, Birbhum and Bankura as they previously had to travel long distances to Barrackpore to avail specialised eye care treatment. Disha Eye Hospital in Durgapur is a 25 bedded hospital equipped the latest eye care facilities in the sub specialties of Cataract, Comprehensive Ophthalmology, Cornea, Glaucoma, Oculoplasty and Retina. Dr. Partha Mondal and his team of efficient consultants a are available and since inception, …………………………. No. of OPD patients have been served by them and ………………………… surgeries have been performed.
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It's a great opportunity for all the patients. Treatment is good. Sir, I shall be highly obliged if you kindly allow another branch in Burdwan, it would be good.


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- Report: #192190
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: Stores On Line
Stores On Line754 E. Technology Ave. Orem, Utah U.S.A.
StoresOnLine ripoff don't get suckered into their scam Orem Utah
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Once I was taken in by them and received their small package of material, that was it from them. No help except a phone call from them letting me know that if I really wanted stores on line to work I would need some additional help. This help could be had for an additional $3,000.00. That's right three thousand dollars in addition to the $2649.50 that I had agreed to pay in installments.
I tried my best to get the program to work but nothing would do what it what it was supposed to do. The program that came with their package did not install right on my computer the first time and it took several tries before it was installed. Once installed I tried to enter my information into the program but there again it would not take this info.
After several calls to their support group, I still could not get anything to work right. Support was almost non extant and sure didn't help solve my problem.
Two months into the program and nothing working right yet, I decided that this program Stores On Line was not for me and I asked them to release me from my promised payment and I would send everything back to them that I had received. No deal. I had signed a contract with them and that was all there was to it. Well, I made it very clear to them that I was not going to pay for anything else and that the down payment I had made was all they were ever going to get from me.
It started out with me owing them $2649.50 back in March 10, 2003 and to date, May 18, 2006 they have added interest in the amount of over $8,000.00.
All I can say is DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH STORES ON LINE. There program is a scam, and the only ones that ever made any money with their program are the ones that work for them or that have paid out large sums of money. Then there is nothing that says you will ever make enough to even pay for their program.Please learn from my mistakes and do not put your name on the dotted line.
Coloma, Michigan
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 05/18/2006 02:52 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Stores-On-Line/Orem-Utah-84097/StoresOnLine-ripoff-dont-get-suckered-into-their-scam-Orem-UtahRip-Off-Report-Investigati-192190. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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Skip to comments.Ron Paul Won't Endorse Romney, Cites More of Same
Posted on 10/12/2012 1:31:28 PM PDT by Innovative
Texas Republican congressman Ron Paul pointedly refused to endorse his party's presidential contender, Mitt Romney, arguing that neither he nor President Barack Obama would make necessary cuts to public spending that would avert a fiscal catastrophe.
"No," the iconoclastic Libertarian bluntly told CNBCâs "Futures Now," when asked about whether he was prepared to endorse Romney. He accused both the former Massachusetts governor and the president of being captive to similar interests.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Claiming that there is no difference between Romney and Obama, as he is doing, is sheer insanity.
Ron Paul was
He's a sore loser and a poor example to have an (R) next to his name. Put your big boy pants on Dr. Paul and deal with it.
Paul had a couple of good ideas, but the primary voters spoke ages ago and rejected him. Get with the program or STFU. Paul needs to put his bruised ego aside and work to defeat the Kenyan Caliph.
Eff Ron Paul.
It all depends on whether people intend to pull their panties back up and fight Romney where he needs to be fought.
Ron Paul has the same problem as Obama!
They are both self absorbed!
I dislike Ron Paul, but I don't blame him for not endorsing Romney.
Ron Paul.........the new Ralph Nader.
We hear that same lame excuse for voting for (and endorsing) the RINO that's at the head of the ticket every four years.
Some of us are old enough to remember when we didn't have to vote against the evil of two lessers.
If I were in Paul's spot, I wouldn't be endorsing either one of these clowns either.
I agree with you completely.
I'm not voting for Romney; rather, I'm voting against the Communist Racist.
Haven't sent any money to Romney campaign either. And I don't intend to.
You don't respect Paul anyway so why do you care who he endorses or doesn't?
Frankly, nobody really cares and Ron Paul's intellectual and political reach is statistically insignificant.
Does anyone really care what this habitually self-gratifying political nit-wit does?
Thanks Ron - enjoy ruling the island of your mind.
FURP! You crazy old fart!
Your tagline: "A vote for anyone but Romney is a vote for obama. GO MITT!!" is absolutely correct. It's amazing that some people don't get it — or they are just pretending not to and really do want to give Obama a second term: Ego is more important to them than the survival of the country.
Ron Paul is a slimeball.
Good for him. Endorsing a socialist because he might be better than a marxist is just taking the slow road to perdition.
My son in Special Forces says a lot of military he knows were Ron Paul supporters because of his get out of foreign countries approach. Romney is more in favor of more military intervention than Obama, though not by much.
No one is required to endorse anyone. His call. While I disagree with Paul on lots, he seems to be the only candidate who actually had unshakeable convictions.
Is Ron Paul still a Congressmen? Be terrible if he lost his House election this time around. After all, I don't agree with him 100 percent on everything. And according to Ron, even if you're up against Satan and Soros, who needs a candidate whose views aren't perfect?
"I'm not voting for Romney; rather, I'm voting against the Communist Racist. "
You're lucky. My state labels the choices as voting FOR Obama or FOR Romney, so I can't vote AGAINST a candidate - only FOR a candidate. I wish we had an AGAINST choice...
It's his EGO, not his "unshakable convictions".
No self respecting anyone other than really stupid people or marxists would want to give Obama a second term.
Romney or Obama will be the next President.
Romney is a pragmatic business man. We will have to work daily to keep his feet to the fire but he will listen to us. Obama is a fevered far Leftist ideologue who will work tirelessly against us.
If Obama is reelected by 2016 we will be so far over the fiscal cliff there will be no climbing back. Romney sees the chart below as a problem. 0bama thinks the problem is we have not spent enough!
FY 1992-1993 Bush 1 and Dem Congress. FY 1994-95 Clinton and a Dem Congress. FY 1996-2001 Clinton and a GOP Congress. FY 2002-2003 Bush 2 and GOP House/Dem Senate. FY 2004-2007 Bush and a GOP Congress. FY 2008-2011 Obama and Dem Congress. FY 2012+ Obama/GOP House/Dem Senate.
Obama added planks favoring Gay Marriage and taxpayer funded abortion on demand up to birth to the 2012 Democrat Party platform.
By contrast the 2012 GOP platform is the most Conservative one in their history. No matter how much one might hate Romney, no one with a brain would refuse to see the stark difference between Romney and Obama on both fiscal and social issues.
With Romney Fiscal and Social Conservatives have a seat at the table, while Obama will actively promote everything real Conservatives are against.
By 2016 everything Conservatives claim to be so passionate about will be legislated. As Roe V Wade should of taught Conservatives once something is legislated it become almost impossible to undo.
Once 2016 rolls around the Judiciary will be so packed with Obamabots anything Conservatives DID manage to legislate would simply be undone by Judicial Fiat.
If Obama is reelected there will be nothing left to win.
After another 4 year term of Obama the USA will be a European style 1 party state with a state directed media, that will allow just enough political window dressing from a loyal opposition to keep their peon classes passive.
And those around here who feel their political sour grapes from the 2012 GOP Primaries are more important then the future of our country will have been the active allies of that destruction
Ron Paul has a third plan to deliberately derail the train, which might save the train itself to run again after major repairs but also might kill even more passengers than a slower speed crash. And the ineducable passengers hate Paul's plan, enjoy going at Obama's speed, and would rather pretend there will be no crash at all - so Romney's plan is the best option available that might actually be adopted.
So this libertarian is supporting Romney without question - he's certainly no John McCain. But we had better hope the American people have vast reservoirs of creative energy waiting to be tapped, because it's going to take another Internet-sized economic boom by 2014 to stave off disaster, and any President is just a brakeman, not an engineer.
No one ran to worship Romney. Mature adult minds realized that 85% of something was much better then 100% of what we oppose. Romney is the only game in town now. Sad as that is, it is the practical reality. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, "if Obama decided to invade hell, I would at least give the devil favorable mention on this website."
On the other hand, childish minds decided that it was more important to stroke their egos and cling to their sour grapes that their candidate of choice did not win the 2012 GOP nomination then oppose a President who is actively working to destroy everything they CLAIM is important to them
Bottom line: I cannot allow Obama to hurt the members of our armed forces any longer.
ron paul belongs in the same rubber room as biden
Excluding a congressional district Ron Paul has never been a serious contender for anything....his support is a foot wide and one inch thick!!!
Ron who????????
I was a supporter of Paul- or at least of a more libertarian policy approach within the GOP- and I fully support Romney. I have donated to his campaign. Romney is by no means my ideal candidate, but he is much more likely to support policies I favor than Obama.
My support of Romney is pragmatic, and I support him with no illusions...
I was a supporter of Paul- or at least of a more libertarian policy approach within the GOP- and I fully support Romney. I have donated to his campaign. Romney is by no means my ideal candidate, but he is much more likely to support policies I favor than Obama.
My support of Romney is pragmatic, and I support him with no illusions...
If this was about Ron Paul's ideology, he would endorse Gary Johnson, who must be virtually identical ideologically to Ron Paul. Since he isn't, this seems calculated solely to keep the "Ron Paul" brand going. Ron Paul has to remain a rebellious outsider in order to keep his fan base and regular donations coming in. He has to keep his fans thinking that there's no one else out there as good as him.
"Endorsing a socialist because he might be better than a marxist is just taking the slow road to perdition."
Romney is in no way a socialist and, when you make that accusation, you severely weaken our arguments and credibility against genuine socialists like Barney Frank.
Just on 2cnd Amendment alone, he has been endorsed by the NRA and this is from GOAL, Gun Owners Action League:
GOAL statement:
During the Romney Administration, no anti-Second Amendment or anti-sportsmen legislation made its way to the Governors desk.
Governor Romney did sign five pro-Second Amendment/pro-sportsmen bills into law. His administration also worked with Gun Owners Action League and the Democratic leadership of the Massachusetts House and Senate to remove any anti-Second Amendment language from the Gang Violence bill passed in 2006.
That Bohemian corporal named Schicklgruber had unshakeable convictions, too.
I felt very much the same, spent some time researching his actions as governor and was quite relieved to find a great deal more conservative actions that I had realized. You might find this comforting as well.
The Club for Growth on Romneys term as Governor, quotes regarding cutting size of government, entitlement reform, tax reform:
On balance, his record comes out more positive than negative, especially when one considers that average spending increased only 2.22% over his four years, well below the population plus inflation benchmark of nearly 3%.
Governor Romney receives credit for reducing actual spending unilaterally in Fiscal Year FY2003, even though he entered office halfway into the fiscal year, because of the tremendous spending cuts he forced down the Legislatures throat in January of 2003. Facing a $650 million deficit he inherited from the previous administration, Romney convinced the unfriendly State Legislature to grant him unilateral power to make budget cuts and unveiled $343 million in cuts to cities, healthcare, and state agencies. This fiscal discipline continued in 2004, in which Romney continued to slash nearly every part of state government to close a $3 billion deficit.
To his credit, Romney attempted to cut down on government spending by streamlining many duplicative and wasteful elements of Beacon Hill. Some of his more ambitious proposals were rejected by his über-liberal Legislature. These include: his plans to overhaul the wasteful Boston Municipal Court and close underused courthouses; merge the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority with the Highway Department; decentralize management of the University of Massachusetts; streamline the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission; and phase out the obsolete Worcester State Hospital where employees outnumber patients nearly 3 to 1.
Governor Romney successfully consolidated the social service and public health bureaucracy and restructured the Metropolitan District Commission. Romney even eliminated half of the executive branchs press positions, saving $1.2 million. He also used his emergency fiscal powers to make $425 million worth of cuts in 2006, taking particular aim at local earmarks, instead of allowing the Legislature to dip into the states $1.2 billion rainy day fund. While there is no question that Governor Romneys initial fiscal discipline slacked off in the second half of his term, on balance, he imposed some much-needed fiscal discipline on a very liberal Massachusetts Legislature.
Romney fought for legislation that would bring Massachusetts welfare system up to date with federal standards by increasing the number of hours each week recipients must work and establishing a five-year limit for receiving benefits. Much to his credit and to the dismay of many Massachusetts liberals, Romney successfully forced Medicaid recipients to make co-payments for some services and successfully pushed for legislative action forcing new state workers to contribute 25% of their health insurance costs, up from 15%. Governor Romney also deserves praise for proposing to revolutionize the Massachusetts state pension system by moving it from a defined benefit system to a defined contribution system.
In May of 2004, Mitt Romney proposed cutting the states income tax rate from 5.3% to 5.0%a measure Massachusetts voters had approved in a 2000 referendum, but was blocked by the State Legislature in 2002. The proposed tax cut would have provided $675 million in relief over a year and a half. When the Massachusetts Legislature refused to budge, Romney proposed the same tax cut in 2005 and again in 2006 with no success. Romney was more successful when he took on the State Legislature for imposing a retroactive tax on capital gains earnings. After a bloody fight, Romney succeeded in passing a bill preventing the capital gains tax from being applied retroactively, resulting in a rebate of $275 million for capital gains taxes collected in 2002.
more at link....
Actually, Ron Paul is not a nit-wit. I agree with most of his positions, especially the position of the need to cut down government drastically and to take control of the Federal Reserve before our US dollars become complete trash. I would have felt much better if Romney or Ryan explained to people how the printing of the Fed is acting like a huge tax on the Middle Class and on the poor, and this de facto tax by itself destroys the Obama talking points of "fighting" for the Middle Class, before even getting to the Obamacare taxes.
Ron Paul has done more to divide the Republican party than any other living politician I know.
Obama has done more to UNITE the Republican party than any other living polician I know.
Ironic, aint it?
Yes, Ron has some good points. And sadly, he is also wigged out on others. I can't back him, and I try not to encourage others to do so. Ron destroys his good side, with his bad side, so at the end of the day, I have to say I don't really care what he supports. I don't care what his opinion is. He's useless to me. He leads folks astray more than he leads them in the right direction. Sorry, but that's my take on it.
Good. The owner of this site doesn't endorse Romney either. Funny, the Mitt cheerleaders don't seem to be jumping down his throat.
Ron Paul has done more to divide the Republican party than any other living politician I know.
Obama has done more to UNITE the Republican party than any other living polician I know.
Ironic, aint it?
My point is that I keep hearing this same, tired, shopworn bullshit every four years. EVERY four years since '84, the GOP runs another idiot RINO with a brilliant pedigree of northeastern liberal connections, Ivy League degrees and so on and EVERY four years, mealy-mouthed propagandists like you pop out of the woodwork like bedbugs, giving these same excuses why we should vote for "our" ripe-suck candidate, because their ripe-suck candidate is worse.
After decades of this BS, I'm sorry, I can't hear you. Ryan's performance last night cemented that fact. Ryan was supposed to be the "man with the math" and last night, all I saw was another step-n-fetchit junior-league politician. I strongly suspect that, in fact, Ryan can't do math, he has some junior staffer doing it for him. If I'd been in that debate, I would have pulled the whole thing in on Biden's head by telling the audience that Biden LIED when he said that he (Biden) didn't vote for either war - when in fact, he voted for BOTH of them. Ryan let that one slip right on by... why? Because the elites don't like to really draw blood on each other.
I'm not a Libertarian. I just am smart enough to see that there's not a dime's worth of difference between two elitist stooges from Harvard who want to feed on the carcass of America. Ryan's budget plan relies on business plans by the Underpants Gnomes to achieve his rates of GDP growth which the US has rarely sustained for any appreciable time, and goes way too easy on spending cuts. At least Paul had the balls to call out the level of spending cuts actually necessary to start talking about getting down to sane budget levels quickly. Ryan doesn't. Romney isn't. No one is.
I estimate that the US tips over before 2016 under Obama and maybe a year or two later under Romney/Ryan as their plans stand now. I don't see the GOP in Congress getting serious about spending cuts, and I don't see the GOP talking about replacing Crybaby Boehner anytime soon, either.
Since he is not seeking re-election, there isn't much the GOP can do to him, but his son is still in the party. It should be made clear to the son that how his father acts when the party needs his endorsement will have a direct effect on his son's political future.
Ron Paul has always struck me as being about the same age as Ralph Nader.
All this doesn't matter, though... RP is very yesterday, and what he says won't even affect such die-hards as FReepers.
I support PRINCIPLED left and right wingers like RP, Kuchinich, Paul Wellstone, and Taranto for Congresscritters. I believe that havin their principled voices there is very important. However, as president - NO NON NO
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text:
Top Definition
The International House of Pancakes.
"Because it's always morning somewhere."
devilzukin tarafından 5 Aralık 2003, Cuma
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
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The only acceptable place to eat at when it's five in the morning and you're drunk and you just want to eat a sandwich and get into fights with other patrons for throwing snot rags on your table
Hey, I'm hungry. Want to go to IHOP?
EYE HOP tarafından 13 Nisan 2003, Pazar
Apple's version of jumping.
Damn, those Mac boys really know how to iHop!
Nic Demus tarafından 10 Ağustos 2004, Salı
IHOP is a place where one can get breakfast for breakfast, breakfast for lunch, or even breakfast for dinner. What more could someone ask for? Anybody who does not order breakfast at IHOP fails.
"Let's go to IHOP for breakfast"
"But its 6:00 p.m."
"I know"
"I'll just get a salad"
"But its 6:00 p.m."
"I know"
"I'll just get a salad"
Michael Korsgaden tarafından 29 Mayıs 2008, Perşembe
I've starving. Wanna bounce to IHOP?
Kevin tarafından 29 Ocak 2003, Çarşamba
Where dreams come true
"IHOP is where I lost my virginity"
undispute tarafından 30 Temmuz 2008, Çarşamba
really really big but saggy tits. Not perky whatsoever like big pancakes. flap jacks
Alvatron/peestandingup tarafından 25 Kasım 2006, Cumartesi


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Speeding violation nets DUI citationOctober 07,2013
Stop for speeding
nets DUI citation
WAITSFIELD A Warren man, who state police claim was speeding down Route 100 in a 40-year-old Volkswagen late Saturday night, is expected to be charged with driving under the influence when he is arraigned next month in Barre.
Police say they pulled over a 1973 Volkswagen Karmann operated by 64-year-old David Campanelli at approximately 11 p.m. Saturday. Campanelli, police allege, had been driving in excess of the posted speed limit.
During the course of the traffic stop, police arrested Campanelli for suspicion of driving under the influence. He was later released on a citation to appear at the criminal courthouse in Barre on Nov. 7. He is expected to be charged at that time.MORE IN This Just InMONTPELIER The Democratic Governors Association has yet to launch a television ad in favor of... Full StoryBARRE Technical difficulties havent forced Central Vermonts Talk Station to sound a whole... Full StoryNORTHFIELD A Taiwanese woman is suing Norwich University claiming the school wouldnt hire her ... Full Story
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When talking about Wildcards i am also talking about Baltacha because she is outside top 100 and won't get past round 3 or even 2 because she will have tough match despite her record against Flipkens but the other side of the argument is look at Murray in 2005 when he got a wildcard to Wimbledon due to good run at Queens and got to round 3 and if he hadn't of had fitness problems may have got further that year.
Also wolfcastle, support who you like and also appology accepted and also received by me to you ok.Sort: Newest | Oldest | Most Replied Expand all replies
A Yahoo! User Jun 25, 2009 02:36 Flag
The wild card system really needs to be looked at. If some of these players had made it into the tournament through qualifying, then they'd have the confidence of knowing that they had earned their place rather than being gifted it.
Murray in 2005 is certainly one example of a player who deserved a wild card and Laura Robson this year is another. But if Alex Bogdanovic hasn't been able to win a match after seven Wimbledon wild card entries, why give him an eighth?
A Yahoo! User Jun 25, 2009 02:29 Flag
No worries Kieran!
Personally I would prefer to see Ana Ivanovic ( or Viki Azarenka ) get through!
But I would also like to see a homegrown player go as far as possible!
- 1 Reply to A Yahoo! User
I personally want Kuznetsova or Safina go far.
I think Ivanovic will struggle though as her year has been poor by her standards after 2 (i think) Grand Slam victories last year and her serve is letting her down but you never know but your other tip is worth putting money on though.
As i have said in another post, my name is Shaun, i am using the house e-mail which was named with my dads name so sorry for confusing you ok.