text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|May 22, 2007
|Filing date
|Jun 24, 2005
|Priority date
|Dec 31, 2002
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Daniel Lecomte
|Original Assignee
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (5), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (4), Classifications (15), Legal Events (6)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/FR2003/050194, with an international filing date of Dec. 19, 2003 (WO 2004/062292 A1, published Jul. 22, 2004), which is based on French Patent Application No. 02/16919, filed Dec. 31, 2002.
This invention involves the processing, broadcast, recording and secure viewing of digital still images, or, more generally, any file that uses a nominal format of the JPEG type, by authorized users, and provides a secure system for the handling, broadcast, delivery, recording, private copying and viewing of visual contents.
It has been a problem to provide a device that is able to transmit, in a secure manner, a set of high-quality visual still images in a JPEG-type format directly to a display device and/or to be recorded on the hard disk of a unit connecting the teletransmission network to the display device, while at the same time preserving visual quality, but avoiding any fraudulent utilization such as the possibility of making illegal copies of still images recorded on the hard disk of the set top box.
Using currently available solutions, it is possible to transmit still images in digital format using broadcast networks of the Hertzian, cable, satellite or other types, or through DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or BLR (local radio loop) type telecommunication networks. Moreover, to avoid hacking of copyrighted work distributed in this way, the latter are often encrypted using various known methods.
EP 0 920 209 discloses a video scrambling process in the MPEG-2 format, where the video data consists of at least one block of at least one image encoded in the Intra (I) mode and consisting of data (AC, DC) that has been selected using a discreet cosine transform (DCT) and which, for each block, consists of a primary DC coefficient that features the average intensity of the pixels in the block and AC coefficients representing variations in intensity between pixels in the block. Video scrambling is conducted using an internal permutation step in at least one block, according to a permutation row (R), and where coefficients AC represent the variations in intensity between the pixels in the block. That requirement can be applied to JPEG-type images whose structure is similar to that of images in Intra-mode of an MPEG-2 data stream. The AC coefficients and the R-row permutation function applied to them also involve the DC coefficients after they have been recalculated using a C command. That system is a standard encryption solution and allows only scrambling and unscrambling of an MPEG-2 data stream without a security procedure for the broadcast of its data for reconstruction of the original data stream. In particular, all the data used to reconstruct the data stream (row R and DC coefficients encrypted using a key), as well as all the data constituting the original data stream, are comprised in the MPEG-2 data stream and are sent together and through the same route, where the protected MPEG-2 data stream containing the data for the reconstruction is the sole output data for the scrambling process. Consequently, EP '209 does not meet the high-security criteria.
EP 1 011 269 discloses a system for processing a data signal that consists of a system for scrambling the data signal and at least one unscrambling system for the scrambled data signal. The scrambling system comprises means for analyzing the entropic distribution of the data signal, means for scrambling a data signal as a function of its entropic distribution to form a scrambled data signal that has the same entropic distribution as the clear data signal, and means for compressing the scrambled data signal. The unscrambling system consists of means for decompressing the scrambled signal and means for unscrambling the scrambled signal to form the clear data signal. EP '269 also discloses a secure distribution system of a signal in which unscrambling the data stream requires the scrambled data stream and an additional piece of data to unscramble the data stream. Nevertheless, the additional information is stored and encrypted on the hard disk belonging to the user who wishes to utilize the signal. An ill-intentioned user who has an appropriate software means can decrypt the additional information and use the clear data signal without the consent of the owner of this signal. That system is founded solely on the entropic distribution of the signal to scramble it, and scrambling is carried out before compression and quantification. EP '269 describes how to limit the deterioration involved in the process with an equalization applied to minimize losses. However, this process is not without losses and does not guarantee the absence of deterioration. Finally, the process represents a standard encrypting and scrambling solution, where all the initial information is present in the protected data stream. Consequently, the goal of preserving the high visual quality of a process without losses and ensuring high security of the visual contents and the data allowing their reconstruction is not achieved.
This invention relates to a process for distributing digital still images according to a nominal format, where each image is broken into blocks and macroblocks that depend upon each other by correlation coefficients including analyzing contents of the still images to generate two parts: a) a primary contents in nominal format corresponding to the image as modified by substitution of certain correlation coefficients with coefficients that are of the same type, but which are random, and b) additional digital nature of any format, which includes substituted correlation coefficients and digital data that are likely to allow reconstruction of the modified image, transmitting separately the modified primary contents in real or deferred time and additional digital information in real time at a moment of viewing from a server towards recipient equipment, and calculating a synthesis of contents of the recipient equipment that is in nominal format as a function of the modified primary contents and the additional data.
This invention also relates to an apparatus for fabricating digital still images according to the process for distributing digital still images according to a nominal format, including at least one multimedia server containing original still images and a device for analyzing each image emanating from the server to generate the two parts.
This invention further relates to a device that uses still images according to the process for distributing digital still images according to a nominal format, including a standard image decoder, at least one recording interface designed to store the modified primary contents, at least one display interface, and a means for restoring the original image using the two parts.
This invention still further relates to a system for transmitting digital still images including a device including an apparatus for fabricating digital still images according to the process for distributing digital still images, including at least one multimedia server containing original still images and a device for analyzing each image emanating from the server to generate the two parts, at least one device including a standard image decoder, at least one recording interface designed to store the modified primary contents, at least one display interface, and a means for restoring the original image using the two parts, and at least one communications network between the fabricating device and the user device(s).
This invention will be better understood upon reading of the description of the following non-limiting example of selected aspects of the invention, which refers to the attached drawings in which:
This invention involves a process for distributing digital still images according to a nominal format, where each image is broken into blocks and macroblocks that are dependent upon each other through correlation coefficients, and, before transmission to the client's equipment, an analysis of the contents to generate a primary content in the nominal format corresponding to the still image that has been modified by substitution of certain correlation coefficients with coefficients of the same nature, but which are random, and additional digital data of any format, comprising the substituted correlation coefficients and the digital data that are likely to permit reconstruction of the modified image, then of separately transmitting the principal modified contents in real or deferred time and the additional digital data in real time at the moment of viewing from the server to the receiving equipment, and by the fact that on the receiving equipment a synthesis of contents is calculated, in nominal format as a function of the modified primary contents and the additional data.
According to a preferred aspect, the nominal format is defined by the JPEG standard.
Favorably, the synthesis produces an image that is rigorously identical to the original image, i.e., the process experiences no losses.
Favorably, the analysis determines the correlation coefficients that are to be modified to obtain the primary contents that have been modified by the transposition of the two correlation coefficients or by the replacement of the correlation coefficients with a still image by random values.
Preferably, the synthesis is authorized for a consultation of a private copy requested by the client.
In a particular implementation of this process, transmission of the primary modified contents is carried out through an equipment support that is distributed physically as a CD-ROM, a DVD, a hard disk or a flash-type memory board, for example.
In another aspect, transmission of the modified principal contents is carried out through a broad band network such as cable, satellite, fiber optic, Hertzian, DSL, DAB or the like.
The transmission of the additional information is conducted through a cable network, a commuted telephone network (analog or digital CTN, for example), a mobile telephone network that uses GSM, GPRS or UMTS standards, for example, through a BLR (Local Radio Loop) or a DSL-type network.
Transmission of the additional data may be conducted through a broadband network of the same type as the network used by the primary contents, namely, through the same network. Also, transmission of the additional data may be conducted using a flash-type memory board or using a chip card.
The two generated parts (modified primary contents and additional data) can be directed towards a single device, a group of devices or all devices.
Reconstruction can likewise be authorized for consultation of a private copy of the still image requested by the client. The fact that the reconstruction is conditional upon the authorization of the portal allows any service operator to manage all the rights connected to the still images and visual works.
The invention also includes a device for manufacturing visual contents for the purpose of implementing the procedure described previously, comprising at least one multimedia server containing the original images and distinguished by the fact that it comprises an analytical device for the image originating from the server to generate the two parts.
Advantageously, this device comprises a memory for recording a "private copy" marker indicating, for each still image, the rights of each user: a private copy that can be looked at an unlimited number of times, a private copy that can be looked at a limited number of times and what number of times, a prohibited private copy.
Moreover, the invention relates to a device for the use of visual contents for the purpose of implementing the previously described process, which comprises a standard contents decoder, at least one recording interface (hard disk or non-volatile memory) designed to store the modified primary contents and at least one display interface distinguished by the fact that it comprises means for re-keying the original image using the two parts.
The means may be a software application installed in the device. Also, the means may be a fixed electronic device. Further, the means may be a portable (mobile) electronic device with its incorporated screen.
According to another aspect where the equipment is installed on a computer, the means uses a resource that is specific to a product (board) to avoid copying the temporary data of the additional data on a permanent support.
Favorably, the recording interface also stores a "private copy" marker in relation to the modified primary contents indicating the user rights for this image: private copy that can be looked at an unlimited number of times, private copy that can be looked at a limited number of times and what number of times, prohibited private copy.
The device may comprise a chip card reader that allows the user to be identified. The device may also comprise a chip card reader, where the chip card contains the software applications.
The equipment comprises a chip card reader, where the chip card contains the data in the additional information for given contents.
Finally, the invention includes a system for transmitting a digital image comprising a digital image production device, at least one digital image user device and at least one communication network between the production device and the user device(s).
The invention also includes a set of data in nominal format, specifically but not exclusively a JPEG-type file. The file format used must have the following characteristics:
the image corresponding to the file is broken into macroblocks of a selected size, where the macroblocks are themselves broken into a selected size; and
the image contains correlation coefficients between the various blocks and/or macroblocks.
In the following description, an example describes a JPEG image. However, this is merely representative and in no way constitutes a limitation of the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
The general principal of a security process for transmission of still images is set forth hereinafter. It is helpful to authorize the still image viewing services upon request and on the board through all the distribution and local recording networks in the user's digital decoding unit. The solution comprises permanently preserving, outside of the user's habitation, in fact in the distribution and transmission network, a part of the recorded visual contents, where this part is primordial to visualizing the contents on a display device like a monitor or a television screen, but which is of a very low volume relative to a total volume of digital visual contents recorded by the user. The missing part will be transmitted through the transmission distribution network at the time the digital visual contents, pre-recorded by the user, are viewed.
The greater part of the visual contents will therefore be transmitted through a standard distribution network whereas the missing part will be sent upon request through a narrow-band telecommunications network such as the standard telephone network or cellular networks of the GSM, GPRS or UMTS types or by using a small part of a network of the DSL or BLR type, or even by using a sub-assembly of the bandwidth shared by a cable network.
Turning now to the Drawings,
The hard disk in module (8) can be used as a temporary plug to momentarily store at least one part of the visual contents to be displayed, in the case of deferred viewing or limitation in the bandwidth of the transmission network. Viewing can be delayed or deferred upon request of the user or the portal (12).
The connection interface (5) is connected to a broadband transmission and broadcast network (4) such as a modem, satellite modem, cable modem, fiber optic line interface or a radio or infrared interface for wireless communication.
It is through this standard broadcast connection that the visual contents such as images are transmitted. Nevertheless, provision is made to preserve a small part of the visual contents in portal (12) to prevent pirated copies from being made before transmitting the visual contents from the server (1) or the portal (12).
In the case of viewing visual contents, this small part of the visual contents that has been preserved in portal (12) will likewise be sent to module (8) through telecommunications network (10), without the user being able to permanently record on a support medium connected to module (8).
A JPEG image is therefore modified, while preserving the additional data allowing reconstruction of the image in portal (12). This additional data is determined by encoding the image.
The first operation of a JPEG-type encoding is cutting the image into blocks of 8 pixels by 8 pixels for JPEG. Each block therefore constitutes a set of whole values, where each value is encoded over a certain number of bits. In the case of a JPEG image in gray levels, we have 64 encoded values, each by 8 bits, or 256 possible values for each block. The values range from 0 (black) to 255 (white).
The second step in the JPEG compression is the passage into the frequential domain. The block, composed of luminous intensity values, is transformed into a block of the same size containing the special frequencies attached to these intensities. In the case of JPEG, the intensities are shifted beforehand so that they are centered about 0. The new scale of intensities therefore ranges from −128 to +127. Moreover, the transformation carried out is a discrete cosine transformation ("DCT") which organizes the frequencies in the block such that the low-frequency components are located in the upper left of the block. The first upper left component is therefore the continuous component of the block ("DC coefficient").
Since the DC coefficients of adjacent blocks are often close values, the difference between the DC coefficient of the processed block and the final DC coefficient of the same encoded type is encoded to reduce the size taken up by the code data stream.
The third step is quantification of the frequency values obtained by transformation to reduce the data that needs to be transmitted. This quantification is adapted to the human visual system. To do this, a quantification matrix is defined that is of the same size as the frequency block. Each coefficient is quantified as a function of the corresponding value in the quantification matrix. In this way, if the value of the coefficient is 200 and the corresponding quantification step is 50, the quantified value will be 4 (or 200 divided by 50). Since the human eye is less sensitive to data losses in the high frequencies, the quantification steps increase with frequency. This implies, in particular, that if the step is significant for the high frequencies, many of the located quantified coefficients will be equal to 0.
We use this property for encoding the quantified coefficients of each block, by encoding a block like a succession of coefficients ordered in zigzag starting from the upper left corner. The end of the sequence for this block therefore consists of numerous consecutive zeros, which allows encoding to be optimized.
Moreover, variable-length coding (VLC) is a technique for statistical encoding that allocates the code words to the values to be encoded. Short code words are allocated to the elevated occurrence frequency values, and long code words to those of lesser frequency of occurrence. On average, the more frequent short code words are in the majority, such that the encoded chain is shorter than the original data. This type of encoding is also called "entropic encoding" or "Huffman encoding".
In the case of a color image, the representation of the colors in each pixel consists of three components: a luminance component Y and two chrominance components, Cb and Cr.
The human visual system (HVS) is more sensitive to resolution of the luminance component of an image, and the Y pixel values are encoded at full resolution. The human visual system is less sensitive to chrominance data. Sub-sampling eliminates the pixel values based systematically on position, which reduces the quantity of data to be compressed using other techniques. The standard preserves a set of chrominance pixels for each 2�2 neighborhood of luminance pixels.
Due to this fact, for a color image, the base encoding unit for an image is the macroblock. Macroblocks for the still image are encoded successively, from left to right, and from top to bottom. Each macroblock is composed of 6 8�8 blocks: four blocks of luminance Y, one block of chrominance Cb and one block of chrominance Cr. It should be noted that the four luminance blocks cover the same area of the image as each of the chrominance blocks, due to the sub-sampling of the chrominance data, carried out to adapt encoding to the sensitivity of the human visual system.
The invention consists of using the correlation between the DC coefficients in an image to allow manipulation of the appearance of the image in question. In this way, the possibility of obtaining significant deterioration of a still image of the JPEG type without carrying out complicated manipulations is offered by the correlation between the DC coefficients in this image. In effect, as the coefficient of a given block is encoded by the difference relative to the value of the last encoded coefficient, modifying the first coefficient implies modifications over all the values of the DC coefficients dependent upon it. This is how, by modifying the data contained in it, the image is greatly modified.
In the case of a color image, each macroblock in an image contains six blocks, where each block starts with a DC coefficient. Four blocks corresponding to the luminance (Y), and two to the chrominance (C) of the macroblock. The value described in a file that encodes the JPEG image, which represents a DC coefficient, is in effect the difference between the real value of this coefficient and that of the corresponding coefficient which precedes it and which, for the Y-blocks, can be found in the same macroblock or in the preceding macroblock, whereas for the C blocks, it is always found in the preceding macroblock. One modification to one of these differences will automatically cause a change in the data in all the macroblocks which follow it.
This method is an optimal one for the visual deterioration of the JPEG image by using the block's DC coefficients, but it can also be applied to the AC coefficients. Modification can thus also be considered for some of these AC coefficients, in a random manner, to transmit in the additional data, which coefficients have been modified and what is their real value, and to reconstruct the original image using this data. The next step is developed using the DC coefficients, but it is understood that all the next steps are applicable to the AC coefficients.
When it reads the binary train of a still image, a standard JPEG decoder identifies the beginning of the encoded image. To avoid any confusion between a standard decoder unit, which is often called a "Set Top Box or STB", the standard JPEG decoder shall be called a "Player" or "Viewer" in the remainder of this document. This Player can be hardware and/or software. The JPEG player successively decodes each macroblock in the image. The image is reconstructed when all its macroblocks have been processed.
In the case of a JPEG-type image, all the characteristics of the image originating from server (1) or portal (12) are not transmitted towards module (8). In particular, the characteristics in accordance with aspects of the invention are the DC correlation coefficients contained in the image.
Certain DC coefficients of the image are preserved in portal (12). On the other hand, in the stead and place of the DC coefficients of the untransmitted image, the device inserts false DC coefficients of the same type as the DC coefficients that were removed and preserved in portal (12) such that the standard JPEG player in module (8) is not disturbed by these modifications, which it ignores, and reconstructs at its output a JPEG output image which is incorrect from the visual point of view of a human being, but which is correct from the JPEG format point of view.
The unit's JPEG player (8) is a standard JPEG player and is not in any way modified or affected by the changes made to the processed image.
Subsequently, secure transmission of a single JPEG-type image is described. The file containing the code that corresponds to this image is called "visual content." The process likewise applies to a visual content that corresponds to multiple images as this is the case with the standard MJPEG ("Moving JPEG") which is a succession of still images of the JPEG type.
As is shown in
The visual contents are transmitted in the standard manner through the broadband transmission network (4) of the Hertzian, cable, satellite, digital Hertzian, DSL type from server (1) directly through the connection (3 a) or through portal (12) through connection (2) and (3) towards the decoder module (8) through connection (5). Each piece of visual contents broadcast in this way can be either encrypted or not, and the JPEG-type image comprises modifications as described above. As a function of the parameters chosen by the user or of data transmitted by the broadcast server, certain visual contents modified in this way and which are incomplete are recorded on the unit (8)'s hard disk.
When the user wishes to view an image recorded on the hard disk of its unit (8), it makes the request in the standard manner using a remote control connected to its unit (8) which is then connected automatically to portal (12) through connection (9) of the local network or direct access type and through the telecommunications network (10) which is itself connected to portal (12) through connection (11). During the time the image is being viewed, connections (9) and (11) remain established and allow unit (8) to receive functions and parameters for putting the modified DC image coefficients back in order. The modified DC image coefficients transmitted are not recorded in unit (8)'s memory because the reconstructed image is directly displayed on the viewing screen (6) through connection (7) after they have been processed by unit (8)'s player through its volatile local memory. Once they have been processed and viewed, the modified and/or missing DC coefficients of the image that were just transmitted through portal (12) are erased from the local volatile memory of unit (8).
Each time the user wants to look at visual contents that have been recorded on unit (8)'s hard disk, unit (8) will automatically connect itself to portal (12).
Unit (8) may comprise a chip card reader which allows portal (12) to authenticate unit (8)'s proprietary user. For a given JPEG content, the chip card may contain the additional data which was recorded by portal (12).
If it has been authorized, the chip card likewise allows the user to produce private copies of visual contents recorded on the hard disk of its decoder unit (8). To do this, if the user wants to make a private copy of visual contents, the user will do so in the standard manner on a storage device through connection (7) which connects unit (8) to viewing screen (6).
Nevertheless, if the user wishes to preserve a private copy on its unit's hard disk, the user indicates this to unit (8) which records the "private copy" information as well as the user coordinates found on the chip card, in a specific field (84) of the visual contents recorded on the hard disk (85) of the decoder unit (8). Subsequently, each time the user wants to view this private copy, unit (8) will automatically connect to portal (12) and indicate that the user wishes to read the private copy. In return, if reading the private copy is possible for the user, who possesses the chip card connected to unit (8), the decoder unit (8) then receives the DC coefficients that are either modified and/or missing as well as all the other data that allows viewing of the still image that constitutes the private copy.
The copy known as the "private" copy can allow the user to look at the same visual contents in an unlimited manner or a number of times determined in advance by the service offerer who has authorized this private copy.
The invention likewise involves the physical unit (8) used by the consumer to access data. This physical unit is located in the home of the user. It provides a set of functions which manages the appropriate data to be presented according to the audience's selection and manages the connection and communication with the remote server.
The physical unit (8) corresponding to the interface arrangement may be implemented as a fixed autonomous device with local memory device, such as, for example, an integrated hard disk.
The physical unit corresponding to the interface arrangement (8) may be implemented as a portable autonomous (mobile) device with integrated hard disk and/or disk player (CD, DVD, etc.).
The autonomous physical unit (8) may comprise a chip card reader. The interface arrangement (8) may be implemented as an additional card which can be installed in a PC-type computer and will be connected to at least one network transmission and broadband broadcast interface (4) and at least one telecommunications network interface (10). This card can use the PC computer's hard disk to recording the primary contents, but includes its own calculator and volatile memory to not allow the ill-intentioned PC user a means of accessing additional data such as modified still-image DC coefficients.
Multimedia servers (1) and/or (12) comprise means for encoding, transcoding and scrambling of visual data, in particular, means for adding cryptographic and security data of visual contents.
Finally, it should be noted that the invention degrades the JPEG image from the visual point of view until it no longer allows recognition of the objects represented and displayed without having access to the data and additional characteristics, but totally reconstructs the JPEG image in the interfacing arrangement (8) without any losses.
The invention will also be better understood through the following description by referring to
The other part of the modified JPEG contents ("additional information") is recorded in the memory plug (123) in portal (12). For each JPEG contents broadcast in this way, portal (12) preserves, in a memory plug (123), the changes that were made to this JPEG contents by analyzer (121) in portal (12). It is specified here that, for the same JPEG input contents (101) the contents can be handled differently for each user (8) and/or for each group of users (8). In this way, memory plug (123) in portal (12) comprises a different memory zone for each user.
In the examples given, for a primary user, a JPEG-type image is modified; in the second example, device (8) is portable (mobile).
The different stages for this primary user are now described in detail.
Portal (121) has selected the JPEG contents (101) that it will have to send to user (8) to be looked at on its viewing screen (6). This user is connected to a digital broadcast cable network (4) and to an ADSL telecommunications network (10).
The analysis system (121) in portal (12) therefore reads the entering JPEG (101) contents, under the circumstances, an image, and it decomposes it into macroblocks (and also into slices), then into blocks. This analysis allows it to recognize the DC coefficients in the code, and to substitute some of them with random values to make the image illegible from the human visual point of view. The true values of the DC coefficients are stored in the output area (123), which later allow reconstruction of the start image in unit (8), by following the inverse route. In the example shown, one macroblock out of two consists of a modified block (DC coefficient), while at the same time respecting the equality of modification frequencies for the six blocks in a macroblock.
The new modified JPEG contents are then recorded in the output area (122) to be distributed over the broadcast network (4) through connection (3). The DC coefficients substituted in the JPEG image are recorded in plug (123) in portal (12).
During this time, and in a manner that is completely unsynchronized, the modified JPEG output contents emanating from the output area (122) in portal (12) is broadcast through the broadband network (4) towards one or more users (8).
Each authorized decoder unit (8) that wants to record this JPEG content that is modified in this way, can thus read this JPEG content and record it in its local memory (85) such as, for example, its hard disk. This recording initiative is left to decoder (8) under the control of portal (12). To do this, the analysis system (121) had inscribed, in the JPEG contents, some additional data information that pinpoints the recipients of these modified JPEG contents. The recipients can thus be a specific recipient (8) and it alone, a group of recipients (8) or a set of decoders (8) that are connected to network (4).
The phase described above corresponds to the first preparation phase of the JPEG contents by portal (12), to its transmission through broadband network (4) and its recording in a decoder (8). This decoder can then display this JPEG contents that has been recorded in its memory or on its hard disk (85). To do this, the synthesis system (87) of decoder (8) reads the JPEG from its memory (85) and sends it to a standard JPEG player (81). If no additional data is received by the synthesis system (87), then the JPEG content that reaches player (81) is processed and displayed as it is, which causes a significant distortion of the image displayed on viewing screen (6). In effect, the modified image, which is processed by synthesis system (87), does not correspond to the original image, because some DC correlation coefficients have been substituted for by random coefficients. In compensation, as the recorded contents are indeed a JPEG-type content, where player (81) makes no difference and displays the data on output screen (6) which appear in fact as JPEG image data, but which are completely incoherent to the human being looking at screen (6). Every copy of the JPEG content emanating from hard disk (85) in unit (8) produces the same visual effect during its restoration by any JPEG reader. Any use of this copy that may be ill-intentioned is therefore destined to failure.
When the user of decoder (8) actually wants to view, on screen (6), the visual contents recorded in its memory or on hard disk (85), the user makes a request for this to synthesis system (87). Synthesis system (87) then makes a request to memory (85) and begins to analyze the modified JPEG contents emanating from memory (85) through playing area (83). Synthesis system (87) then establishes a connection with portal (12) through the telecommunications network (10) which is, in the example, a DSL link. Once this link has been established, synthesis system (87) brings from memory plug (123) in server (12) the substituted correlation coefficients and the data corresponding to the modified image of the contents recorded in memory (85). These correlation coefficients and position data reach synthesis system (87) through the input memory area (86) and are stored temporarily in the volatile memory (88) in synthesis system (87). Starting with the modified JPEG contents that arrive via plug (83) and starting from correlation coefficients and associated data that arrive via plug (86) to memory (88), synthesis system (87) reconstructs, in a manner that is inverse of the previously described analysis process, the image modified by the real image and sends the new JPEG image reconstructed in this manner to reader (81) so that it is displayed correctly on screen (6). The correlation coefficients to be substituted and the data associated with this image are used to calculate the image to be displayed on screen (6). Once this data has been used and the image is displayed on screen (6), they are erased from volatile memory (88).
In the example undertaken, before portal (12) authorizes sending the image and associated data from its plug (123), portal (12) verifies that the user of unit (8) is indeed authorized to do so. To do this, portal (12) reads the data contained in chip card (82) in unit (8) and verifies that this user is indeed authorized to look at this visual content. It is only after this verification that the correlation coefficients and associated data are sent from plug (123) to unit (8) corresponding to this user through network (10).
In the example undertaken, the user has moreover made a private copy of the visual contents. Synthesis system (87) has therefore inscribed, in a part (84) of memory (85) of the additional data as well as the number of chip card (82) and the "private copy" data as data associated with these visual contents. The next time these visual contents are read privately, synthesis system (87) analyzes the associated data and thus informs portal (12) that the user of decoder (8) is reading the private copy. If this function is authorized for user (8) by portal (12), correlation coefficients and associated data will then be sent by portal (12) to plug (86) as described above. In the opposite case, the correlation coefficients and associated data are not sent and the user of decoder (8) is not able to read the reconstructed JPEG contents.
The different stages for the second embodiment shown by
The JPEG contents are processed by analysis system (12) in the same way as the JPEG contents as described with respect to the description of
Additional information is recorded in area (123) and likewise recorded once again on a physical support (10 a) in the form of a credit card, consisting of a chip card and a flash memory. This card (10 a) is read by a card reader (82) in device (8). Device (8) is an autonomous system that is portable and mobile. Device (8) comprises synthesis system (87), standard JPEG reader (81), two memory areas (86) and (83) as well as disk reader (85). Device (8) moreover comprises an integrated screen (6 a) of the flat screen type which allows the user to view directly audiovisual programs on autonomous device (8).
To view a JPEG-type visual content, the user of device (8) introduces, into disk reader (85) a disk (20 a) of type (20) that is identical to that recorded by analysis system (12). This disk (20 a) thus contains JPEG content of the primary contents type, i.e. with the DC coefficients.
Advantageously, the disk (20 a) is replaced by a memory card and the disk reader (85) is replaced by a reader of the memory card.
The user of device (8) can therefore view this JPEG content on its screen (6 a) integrated into its device. Nevertheless, in relation to the substitution of the DC coefficients, the JPEG content will not be correct from the visual point of view. The user introduces chip card (82) into the reader to render the contents visually correct, where memory card (10 a) contains the additional information with the DC coefficients. The synthesis system therefore reconstructs the correct JPEG contents using the primary contents emanating from disk (20 a) and the additional information emanating from card (10 a) connected to reader (82).
In a particular arrangement, chip card (10 a) likewise contains the applications and algorithms that will be executed by synthesis system (87).
In another particular arrangement, chip card (10 a) contains data and DC coefficients from multiple images for reconstructing multiple JPEG images. In one specific arrangement, device (8) comprises a cellular connection towards a GSM network (10).
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text:
Developmental heterochrony and the evolution of autistic perception, cognition and behavior
Autism is usually conceptualized as a disorder or disease that involves fundamentally abnormal neurodevelopment. In the present work, the hypothesis that a suite of core autism-related traits may commonly represent simple delays or non-completion of typical childhood developmental trajectories is evaluated.
A comprehensive review of the literature indicates that, with regard to the four phenotypes of (1) restricted interests and repetitive behavior, (2) short-range and long-range structural and functional brain connectivity, (3) global and local visual perception and processing, and (4) the presence of absolute pitch, the differences between autistic individuals and typically developing individuals closely parallel the differences between younger and older children.
The results of this study are concordant with a model of 'developmental heterochrony', and suggest that evolutionary extension of child development along the human lineage has potentiated and structured genetic risk for autism and the expression of autistic perception, cognition and behavior.
The autism spectrum is a set of neurodevelopmental conditions characterized and defined by deficits in language and social communication, combined with high expression of restricted interests and repetitive behavior
The causes of autism have been studied predominantly using genetic, neurological and psychological conceptualizations and approaches
Evolutionary approaches to the study of autism have been largely restricted to accounts of how phenotypes subject to central deficits in autism, especially language and joint attention, represent uniquely human-evolved or human-elaborated phenotypes (see for example
Recent human evolution has involved not just the evolution of enhanced general and social cognition, but also large-scale changes to life history, prominently expressed in extension of childhood, defined as the period from birth to sexual maturity and completion of physical growth
As for social cognition considered as a set of adult phenotypes, evolutionary changes generate scope for genetic, epigenetic and environmental alterations in the timing and rates of cognitive development that manifest as neurodevelopmentally-based psychiatric conditions
In this article, I evaluate the hypothesis that autism-related traits represent not simply expressions of qualitatively-atypical or 'pathological' development, but instead, relatively juvenile phenotypes that have been retained and expressed for longer than is usual in children undergoing typical development. In this context, rather than concentrate on characteristics of autism that represent deficits or absences, I focus on qualitative differences and similarities between autistic individuals and neurotypical individuals of different ages in perception, cognition and behavior. The primary goal of this article is thus to determine the extent to which autism spectrum phenotypes can be regarded as relatively straightforward consequences of shifts in the timing and rates of neurological and psychological development. To the degree that such developmental heterochrony indeed characterizes the autism spectrum, research into causes and therapies for autism might usefully focus more closely on how genetic and environmental variation mediate the rates and timing of child developmental trajectories and milestones, and causes of variability among children in developmentally-structured cognitive styles. A developmental heterochronic structure to autism also implicates recent evolutionary changes along the human lineage in the potentiation and genetic structuring of autistic perception, cognition, and behavior, and risk for autism spectrum conditions.
Autism and age-related childhood phenotypes
A set of autistic and autism-related phenotypes, derived from models and reviews of the major features, causes, and correlates of autism, was ascertained based on the availability of (1) reasonably well replicated data showing differences between individuals with autism spectrum phenotypes and typically developing individuals, and (2) data that substantiates differences in these same phenotypes between relatively young, and relatively old, typically developing individuals, usually children. The Web of Science and PubMed databases were systematically searched for articles that met these criteria, using a range of related search terms and cited papers within salient articles. Recent review papers were used for especially well-studied or well-documented topics. For topics where directly comparable data were available, patterns observed for autism spectrum conditions were contrasted with those found in the other most thoroughly studied neurodevelopmental condition, schizophrenia, to evaluate patterns of similarity and differences. This article is thus not a systematic review
Four sets of phenotypes were chosen for detailed consideration based on the criteria described above: (1) restricted interests and repetitive behavior, (2) short-range and long-range structural and functional brain connectivity, (3) global and local visual perception and information processing, and (4) the presence of absolute pitch in auditory perception and processing.
Restricted interests and repetitive behavior
Restricted interests and repetitive behavior represent one of the core diagnostic sets of features for the autism spectrum. This set of behaviors, which follows directly from Kanner's
This set of behaviors is also characteristic of typical early child development, and is considered to exhibit important stage-specific adaptive functions
In the developmental psychology literature addressing autism spectrum conditions, restrictive interests and repetitive behavior, especially motor stereotypies, have traditionally been considered as 'immature' behaviors that are normal components of early development but in the autism spectrum have been maintained for longer than normal
These findings are in clear agreement with a developmental heterochronic model for autism with regard to restricted interests and repetitive behavior. The causes of the delays
Short-range and long-range structural and functional brain connectivity
Relatively high levels of short-range functional and structural brain connectivity, concomitant with low levels of long-range connectivity, represent one of the best-replicated and best-supported findings in the study of autism, being reported for a wide range of data sources (magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging, and electroencephalography (EEG)), analytic methods, and independent sample populations (see for example
Figure 1
A simple depiction of the developmental heterochronic model, with regard to changes in short-range relative to long-range structural and functional brain connectivity.
A simple depiction of the developmental heterochronic model, with regard to changes in short-range relative to long-range structural and functional brain connectivity. In this specific model, autism involves a slower rate of pruning for short-range connections, and schizophrenia involves a faster rate. Neurodevelopmental variation salient to this process may also involve cortical volume and early short-range connectivity that are greater in autism than in typically developing individuals, and reduced in schizophrenia, which will increase the magnitude of the observed variation in developmental trajectories. Frame thickness is shown as proportional to relative degree of short- range connectivity, and arrow size corresponds to rates of differentiation.
Typical development from infancy to early adulthood involves a robustly characterized shift from relatively short-range to long-range connectivity, in association with early overproduction of neurons and synapses, differential pruning of relatively short-range connections, and increasing myelinization
Findings on connectivity in autism, and in typical development, concord with a model of heterochronic alterations, with biases towards shorter-range connectivity in autism representing, at least in part, the result of slower or incomplete connectivity-pattern maturation
Local and global perception and processing
The 'weak central coherence' theory developed by Francesca Happé posits that autism represents a cognitive 'style' characterized by relatively underdeveloped top-down, context-dependent, gestalt, integrated big-picture perception and cognition, and overdevelopment of detail-focused, context-independent, locally-oriented, parts-centered processes
Overwhelming evidence supports the existence in autism spectrum individuals of biases towards local, compared to global, perception and processing of visual information (reviewed in
In typical development, a large suite of recent studies has demonstrated that younger individuals exhibit a local bias in the perception and processing of visual information, which gradually changes to a global bias from about age 4 to adolescence
An especially informative specific example of local-global visual processing effects in autistic individuals and typically developing children of different ages comes from studies of visual illusions. A suite of reports has provided evidence that autistic individuals are less susceptible than typically developing individuals to visual illusions
Several studies show evidence for increases with age, across childhood, in visual illusion susceptibility
These findings generally accord with the developmental heterochronic model, with regard to local and global visual processing. However, more robust tests of the extent to which the local-global processing differences between autistic and typically developing individuals parallel the differences between young and older typically developing children require that the same visual-processing tests be deployed across both groups, and that similar neurophysiological and psychological processes (involving weaker central coherence, stronger local bias, enhanced perceptual function, increased systemizing, or some combination) underlie both the autism-neurotypical and age-related differences. Indeed, partitioning of perceptual-level effects
Pitch perception
Perception of auditory pitch information may involve absolute pitch (specific pitches) or relative pitch (involving intervals between pairs of consecutive tones). Absolute pitch ability refers to the spontaneous identification of a particular pitch label (for example, middle 'C') when exposed to a musical tone, a skill that requires notably increased auditory-perceptual and discrimination skill
The prevalence of absolute pitch ability has been estimated as about 0.01% in typical populations, but between 5% and 11% in autism, and autism involves notably enhanced abilities in pitch discrimination and memory (
In typically developing individuals, infants perceive absolute pitch more than relative pitch, and show the ability to track 'extremely fine-grained information' regarding absolute pitch
Absolute pitch perception shows clear evidence of developmental heterochrony across typically developing and autistic individuals, although it is important to note that pitch discrimination abilities cannot necessarily be equated with use of absolute compared to relative pitch information. Moreover, the degree to which absolute pitch perception in autistic individuals recruits the same brain regions as in typical individuals remains to be established. Of particular interest with regard to developmental transitions in pitch perception is conceptualization of the shift as involving the 'unlearning' of absolute pitch perception, because it leads to the generation of overly specific categories of sounds that inhibit learning of higher-level patterns
Autism has also been reported to involve enhancements in other modalities of perception, including, for example, vision
Developmental heterochrony, human evolution, and the autism spectrum
Neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism are usually conceptualized in terms of deficits, disorders, disease, genetic abnormalities, and 'pathological' expression of maladaptive neurological and behavioral phenotypes. These frameworks for understanding and analyzing autism spectrum conditions can be useful for elucidating proximate mechanisms that underlie the causes of autism, but they tend to implicitly assume that neural and psychological development in autism is fundamentally atypical, due to deviation from normative trajectories that starts in the early stages of brain growth and differentiation.
In this article, I have evaluated an alternative, though not necessarily exclusive, model for the etiology of autism, which is based simply on shifts in the timing and rates of infant and child development. This heterochronic developmental model shows clear concordance with well-replicated patterns in the literature on autism and child development in that across the four domains of (1) restricted interests and repetitive behavior, (2) short-range and long-range functional and structural connectivity, (3) local and global visual perception and processing, and (4) auditory pitch perception and processing, the differences between autistic and typically developing individuals mirror the differences between younger and older typically developing individuals. The latter three domains are also expected to be causally associated, in that shorter-range connectivity may subserve more local perception and processing (see for example
The aspects of autism evaluated here can thus be explained, in part, as involving developmental delays or non-completion that lead to mismatches of chronological age with perceptual, cognitive and behavioral profiles. Other central phenotypes of autism, such as delay and underdevelopment of language, social reciprocity, joint attention, pretend play, imagination, object identification, and other aspects of cognition and social behavior
The purpose of a developmental heterochronic conceptualization for the autism spectrum is not to equate it with other diagnostic tools or categories, such as developmental delay, but to demonstrate the nature and ultimate, evolutionary causes of the continuity of autism spectrum phenotypes with typical childhood phenotypes, and to help explain the sources of the otherwise inexplicable constellation of morphological, psychological and behavioral traits first described by Kanner and Asperger. Moreover, to the extent that psychological traits of children represent not just immature, underdeveloped phenotypic stages necessary to reach the adaptive mature target stage, but also in many cases ontogenetically-based, stage-specific adaptations that change in qualitative form as development proceeds
From an evolutionary perspective, genetically-based variation in timing and rates of childhood development is also not unexpected, given that the evolutionary history of human development and life history have followed a similarly structured trajectory of change, towards extension of development in traits ranging from brain gene expression
Developmental heterochronic shifts may, of course, proceed in either of two temporal directions. As described above, autism appears to involve delays and non-completion of typical developmental trajectories, which can be considered as extensions of developmental neoteny for some set of neurological systems. By contrast, the evidence described here, as well as previous theoretical considerations of schizophrenia in terms of 'failures of neoteny'
Further tests of the developmental heterochronic model, and its contribution to helping explain psychological variation among typically developing individuals as well as in autism, schizophrenia, and related conditions, require integration of information from genetic, developmental, and neurological studies, using analyses that explicitly compare multiple neurodevelopmental conditions in longitudinal frameworks (see for example
This article evaluates the hypothesis that some of the major features of autism represent outcomes of shifts in the rate and timing of childhood development, such that traits typical of relatively young individuals are expressed for longer periods, or typical development is not completed. Comprehensive review of the literature indicates that across the four domains of (1) restricted interests and repetitive behavior, (2) short-range relative to long-range functional and structural connectivity, (3) local and global visual perception and processing, and (4) auditory pitch perception and processing, the differences between autistic and typically developing individuals parallel the differences between younger and older typically developing individuals. In contrast to autism, schizophrenia appears to involve developmental heterochronic shifts in the opposite direction, towards accelerated neurodevelopmental differentiation, as reflected, for example, in excessive synaptic pruning and neuronal apoptosis. Given that the evolution of human life history has prominently involved changes in the duration of childhood, these results lend an evolutionary dimension to the analysis of neurodevelopmental psychiatric conditions, and suggest that neurogenetic studies should focus more directly on the causes of variation in rates and timing of childhood neurodevelopmental processes.
Competing interests
The author confirms that they have no competing interests.
The author is grateful to NSERC for financial support, to the CARTA Center for motivating this work, to S Alam, M Brüne, F Galis and Ze'ev Hochberg for helpful comments, and to Silven Read for technical assistance.
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Why are autism spectrum conditions more prevalent in males?
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Pre-publication history
The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Neville Lawrence might have been less euphoric about the Mother Country had he heard what had happened, just the year before, to Kelso Cochrane, a black Antiguan-born carpenter, stabbed to death in West London in May 1959 by six white youths (the killers were never identified). He might have been more fearful had he read about the 1958 race riots in Nottingham and Notting Hill. And he must have felt a chill when the Tory candidate Peter Griffiths won Smethwick for the Tories, in the 1964 General Election, with the slogan "If you want a nigger neighbour vote Labour".
But Neville Lawrence was quiet, stolid and hard-working, and not easily weaned from optimism. He continued to believe in British decency - as did his wife, Doreen, tougher-minded than him but no less of an assimilator. By the time their oldest son Stephen was 18, they'd seen enough of life in the borough of Greenwich - "the race murder capital of Britain" - to have become wary: Rolan Adams, a black 15-year-old stabbed to death by white youths in Thamesmead in 1991, was someone Stephen knew. But like many other black families, the Lawrences were law-abiding, church-going and self-improving (and their son a model student). They didn't feel themselves to be at risk from racist thugs.
Even after Stephen was stabbed to death in April 1993, Neville and Doreen Lawrence tried to go on believing in the Mother Country. "Doesn't John Major know about this?" Doreen kept asking, assuming that, if he did, he'd want to do something. Uncomprehendingly at first, then with growing rage, they saw the police and the justice system betray them. Thanks to Doreen's persistence, the callous incompetence and institutional racism which prevented Stephen's murderers from being brought to trial have now been publicly acknowledged. But it took six years. And the killers are still at large.
For the journalist Brian Cathcart (formerly deputy editor of this paper), telling this familiar story again, in a manner that can keep the reader interested, poses a formidable problem. By and large, it's one which he surmounts. The prose is sometimes a little dry. There are longueurs towards the end, with the Macpherson inquiry (as there must have been at the inquiry itself). There are no sensational new revelations. But his account of the the bungled police investigation in particular is compelling, lucid, and merciless in its detail.
Like the Bulger murder, which preceded it by just two months, the Lawrence murder haunts anyone reading about it with a sense of the different, more innocent ending it might have had. If only Stephen hadn't forgotten he was supposed to go straight home after school (his mother was coming back from a week's course in Birmingham). If only he hadn't gone to the house of his uncle in Grove Park. If only he and Duwayne Brooks hadn't played so many Nintendo games there and left so late, at 10pm. The if onlys multiply on the way home - the alternative routes they might have taken; the buses they missed; the decision to leave the bus stop where they were waiting, by Well Hall roundabout, to see if a 286 was coming; the Walkman Stephen was wearing, which may have caused him to miss (as Duwayne didn't) the noise of the white boys charging at him and their cry of "What? What? Nigger!".
One of Doreen Lawrence's accusations against the police officers at the scene of Stephen's murder is that they "did not want to get their hands dirty with a black man's blood". In reality, with two arteries severed, he was beyond saving. But it's true that the officers were slow to establish how severe his wounds were (Duwayne thought he'd been struck with an iron bar, not a knife), and, despite their first-aid training, made no effort to attend to them. It's true too that the first people on the scene, a couple coming home from a prayer meeting, had initially driven past, afraid this might be a mugger's trap. Even for these good samaritans, the matter of race was inescapable.
Over the next 24 hours, institutional racism manifested itself in various ways. Duwayne Brooks, though distressed and traumatised, was treated with aggression and contempt. The Inspector who asked Neville to identify the body did so with the words: "We've got a young lad in there, he is dead, we don't know who he is but we would like you to clarify that point." The police liaison officers patronised the Lawrences and fobbed off their requests for information. It's surprising to learn from Cathcart's book that the Met realised within hours that this was going to be a sensitive case, likely to provoke outrage in the black community. Nothing in the Met's conduct suggested any such awareness. On the contrary, with its suspicion of the anti-racist groups helping the Lawrences and its hostility to the family's solicitor, Imran Khan, it struck the wrong note from the start.
The problems began with Ian Crampton, who headed the investigation for the first three days without giving it focus or direction. Brian Weeden, who then took over, was slow, placid, and couldn't see the wood for the trees. The incident room was a Kafkaesque nightmare. Almost no one had the skills to use the computer database - the Holmes system - which was supposed to facilitate the search for suspects. Documents piled up. Anonymous tip-offs by phone and letter weren't followed up. Key witnesses went unidentified, or lost their nerve by the time they were questioned, including one, Witness K, who claimed to have visited the house in Bournbrook Road where those responsible hung out, just one hour after the murder - there were five of them, he said, and they'd all just had a bath.
Despite the lackadaisical, uninspired and cynically negligent nature of the investigation, the prime suspects were known within 48 hours: Neil and Jamie Acourt, David Norris and Gary Dobson had all been named by several sources, not just in connection with Stephen's death but with other recent stabbings. The obvious move would have been to take them in for questioning and/or to put them under surveillance, before vital forensic evidence (shoes, knives, bloodstained clothes, etc) could be removed. But first Crampton and then Weeden chose to wait. Eleven more days passed before any arrests were made. Even then the seeming urgency was an illusion: when officers tried to arrest David Norris, for example, his mum said he was out; it was three more days before he presented himself at a police station.
If the police come out of this appallingly, the Crown Prosecution Service isn't blameless, either. Having decided that the evidence against the suspects was insufficient, it then wrecked the chances of the Lawrence family's private prosecution through its hounding of the vulnerable Duwayne Brooks. Two weeks after Stephen's murder, Duwayne had taken part in a rowdy anti-racist demonstration in Welling. Despite the extenuating circumstances, he was charged with criminal damage and violent disorder. The CPS was urged to drop the case, but chose to pursue it, in the process destroying Duwayne's credibility as a witness in the Lawrence case, since the defence at his own trial - post-traumatic stress disorder - could be used to question his reliability at identification parades.
The other elements of this story are well known: the secret video of the accused in Gary Dobson's flat (a video not made until December 1994, more than 18 months after the murder); the whiff of corruption involving David Norris's gangster father Clifford; the inquest; the inquiry; the vindication in the Macpherson report of almost all that the Lawrences had alleged. Though Cathcart comprehensively rehearses all this, it's often the smaller details that speak loudest: the plastic bags tied round Stephen's hands after his death to preserve scientific evidence (the contents were not analysed for two years); the piece of paper with six names on it which Doreen Lawrence gave to Chief Superintendent Isley and which she saw him fold and refold until it was the size of a postage stamp; her row in the Sainsbury's car park in Woolwich (shortly after Stephen's murder) with two women who called her a "black cunt"; the Bob Marley CD that the self-confessed "nigger-hater" Gary Dobson claimed to have borrowed from the Acourts on the night of Stephen's murder; Neil Acourt's provoking gesture to the crowd (come on then, try it) as he left the Macpherson inquiry; Stephen's memorial stone spattered with white paint.
When the Macpherson report appeared, three months ago, many a brave and recriminating word was spoken about the new, equal-opportunity Britain which the martyrdom of Stephen Lawrence would help us build. But a glance through recent news items isn't encouraging: not a single minority candidate in the Scottish Parliament or Welsh Assembly, London race crimes running at 30 a day, threatening letters sent to black homes by a group called White Lightning, "Van driver called me an African bastard", and so on. The Mother Country is still no place to bring up children.
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- Ian Blair
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- Woolwich Crown Court


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These sparkling Martha Stewart Crafts™Cool Spectrum glitter markers make it easy to add glittered details and handwriting to cards, scrapbook pages, and decorations. They're great for paper, cardboard, wood, and other porous surfaces. Color your stamps with them to create shimmering designs. Acid free and archival quality. Set of five. Colors: green, violet, indigo, blue, and silver. Snap-closure storage case included.


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Chapter Two: Anxieties
Chapter Two: Anxieties
As they hiked, the Yoshi got more and more anxious to the upcoming trial. He knew he wasn't going to his death, but a part of him was afraid to just how he would be received by this King. Just because the Koopa Bros liked him, doesn't mean this king would. As if reading his mind, Red leaned over and whispered almost conspiratorially, "Try to relax. If I can be honest with you, Bowser isn't actually the horrible guy everyone says he is. He needs all the support he can get and he is surprisingly easy to please. Though he might say otherwise."
Red's words had the desired effect of cheering up the Yoshi. He felt himself slowly growing more and more calm as the walk turned into several hours. The long walk did not bore the Yoshi seeing as how Green and Yellow got into a mock argument about mushroom farming. Green wanted the mushrooms done one way and Yellow did not like the effort put into in today's mushroom growing market.
Eventually the two got into a fight and traded mock punches much to the amusement of Black, Red, and the Yoshi. "Guys settle down, I am sure Bowser will have an opinion that will settle this." This had absolutely no effect as the two who were fighting got into it. "Whoa settle down there kids, or I will make you settle down. This isn't cool, its childish, Sit down and shut up!"
This had the desired effect as Red had a temper and none of the arguing party wanted to be on the receiving end of his wrath. Turning back to the Yoshi who still looked amused, said, "Quickest way to end an argument is to use one's faults to their advantage. I am known for my temper you see, and these two knuckle heads know it."
They walked on in comfortable silence and the Yoshi thrived on the companion element of it. After a while they were still hiking in the forest, but they were slowing down as if the journey was coming to an end. "One thing about Bowser is he doesn't want his loyal subjects having to walk all the way to his castle. There are a number of hidden and totally secret passages into his lair. We are near one now."
They had stopped next to a completely ordinary bush. After hearing that there are many passages into Bowser's castle, the young Yoshi, tried to find anything even slightly out of the ordinary with the bush. There was nothing whatsoever to be found.
"Yeah, I know what you were trying to do there. It is a perfectly ordinary bush with nothing whatsoever wrong with it. That is until a faithful follower such as myself tells the hidden password. One, such as Mario might expect it to be something that Bowser likes, such as Princess Peach. After numerous defeats and many failures he had it changed to something that no one on earth or at least the Mushroom Kingdom would expect.
"Only a follower or servant can use it. Say Mario overhears us tell this bush the password and afterward runs up and says the code, nothing would happen. Bowser has a reputation to uphold so he plays dumb but he is actually kind of smart." Red walked up to the bush and looked around as if he actually needed to check his surroundings. "One other thing, look around now for points to memorize this spot. We need to hurry on through; the timer on this door is very quick and is not motion sensitive."
He paused as the Yoshi looked around trying to memorize anything that would help him find his way back. The surroundings were nothing special. He did not want to give up and therefore looked around some more. He looked around at the ground, rocks, and various other parts of the view that would give him some sort of clue. His gaze kept coming back to one tree in particular. He stared long and hard at this tree, studying the very soul of the tree itself. It was soon deduced that it was smaller by half an inch then the others. It also had various scratches and holes carved deep into the tree.
This was enough to be unique by a very small degree than the others. He turned back to Red and nodded. Red had been very patient as the Yoshi attempted to find something unique about the tree. Upon receiving the news, the red shelled Koopa turned back to the bush and whispered, (though still loud enough to be heard) "One Day..." Pause and everything. Instantly something miraculous happened.
The bush wiggled and danced and slowly little bits began to move this way and that. It also grew solid and where a bush once stood, a pipe now stood in its place. The Yoshi blinked as what was a flimsy bush not too long ago was now a solid and very real pipe.
"It's best not to focus on the impossibility of it all. Bowser does learn he just likes to fake it sometimes. Now please after you. When traveling by pipe for the first time, try to close your eyes and imagine it will all be over in a bit. It helps that way."
The Yoshi stared at all his new friends and then walked over to the pipe. When he was on it, he looked at the Bros in inquiry. It was Black who answered him. "This pipe only goes one way, so it is impossible for you to get lost. This is the fastest way to the castle besides walking or flying and since we are ground creatures and do not have the pleasure of wings we have to resort to pipes. We will not send you flying in another direction. Just keep your feet tucked in and everything will be just dandy."
With that small bit of encouragement the Yoshi crouched down and instantly his world became upside down. He had no idea what was down or up. He was flying or falling through space and seeming nothingness. His entire being felt like tiny bits of particles of himself was floating all over the place. It was very disorientating. Finally he materialized somewhere dank and dark. He fell off the pipe injuring his tail and every other part of himself.
Oh how he hated pipe travel. There had to be some other way of doing things. One that didn't feel so disorientating. Not much later Red followed by Black, Yellow and Green appeared. They didn't fall over, but Green looked slightly ill. "Never again, I hate traveling by pipe; it is such a waste of time."
Yellow went over to the grounded Yoshi and helped him up. "Follow us and we will take you to Bowser or someone else in charge." This was said by Green and the march to someone in charge resumed.
The castle that he had found himself was gorgeous and had an archaic look to it. It was also impossibly neat and organized. Nothing was out of place and it was very spacious. The Yoshi's own home before being abandoned had been totally smaller than this. He wondered where Bowser got the money to afford his own castle. He walked past twisting corridors that if he was on his own would have thrown him for direction. He would never have been able to find his way around the area on his own.
After a while, he began to wonder if the Koopa Bros were lost. They had been going on in maze-like corridors for quite a while now. Eventually the pace seemed to slow and eventually they met someone.
This someone was old and like the Koopa Bros was a Koopa. She was definitely a female Koopa and he blushed slightly at that dead giveaway. Red seemed to notice his uncomfortable mood and did something that was both help and turn off. He took the youngster off and the Koopa noticed them and immediately made it known.
"Red, why are you back early? Don't you know that his rancidness has specifically requested a search of recruits? Who is this?" She glared at the Yoshi, but then noticed his odd appearance and a smile began to appear on her face. "Is that a Yoshi?" The youngster couldn't resist getting down on one knee much to the amusement of this Koopa and the others. "He has manners, I will give him that. I am not royalty young one; I am only the humble servant of the King." The Yoshi refused to budge and the smile faded slightly.
"Where did you find him?" It was Red who answered. "He was huddled under a tree shivering. My guess is that he was abandoned because of his odd color and appearance. He wasn't taught to speak, but he is far from stupid and can understand a lot."
A rare look of concern came into the old Koopa's eyes. "You can call me Kammy Koopa, and as for your problem, we do not discriminate future troops. I sense a delicate and fragile mind in this one. No, we won't put you in the brainwashing course. I sense a strong sense of loyalty in this one."
Throughout this tirade, the Yoshi had refused to get up from the bow. Kammy nodded once, "You may rise, you definitely have a sense of respect about you. But I am not royalty officially. I always like being worshiped but I am not technically royalty. We need to give you a name. I can't just call you Yoshi. No that won't do at all.
"From this moment on, you will be known as Joheiner. Jo for short. We will also enroll you in the First Annual Bowser's School for Future Troops. I have never been wrong about anyone joining us. I can spot talent from a mile away. Bowser is currently away, but I know he will be psyched to meet you. I am busy right now but you will have a free day to get settled into your new home. I won't harass you about timing until you get used to the way things are done around here."
She walked away leaving Jo standing there feeling a sense of blind worship. Oh it was heaven on earth to receive kindness and not judgment for a change! He was going to learn how to speak properly and receive an education. As Red and the others led him to where he was to stay, he wondered if things could get any better.