An MPEG downdecoder which eliminates picture quality deterioration ascribable to motion compensation. A decimating inverse discrete cosine transform unit 14 performs 4xc3x974 decimating IDCT if the DCT mode is the field mode. If the DCT mode is the frame mode, a decimating IDCT unit for frame mode 15 applies IDCT to the totality of the coefficients of the DCT block and separates the DCT block into two pixel blocks in order to cope with the interlaced scanning. Each of the separated pixel blocks is processed with DCT. To reference picture data, pixels are interpolated using orthogonal transform by motion compensation units 18, 19 to generate virtual upper-order picture data of high resolution, which is processed with motion compensation. The motion-compensated virtual upper-order picture data is orthogonal transformed to decimate pixels to generate reference picture data used for addition.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a picture decoding method and apparatus for decoding compressed picture data of a first resolution obtained on predictive coding by motion prediction in terms of a pre-set pixel block (macro-block) as a unit and on orthogonally-transform in terms of a pre-set pixel block (orthogonal transform block) as a unit. More particularly, it relates to a picture decoding method and apparatus for decoding compressed picture data of the first resolution and for decimating the data to moving picture data of a second resolution lower than the first resolution.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is now going on the standardization of digital television signals employing the picture compression system, such as Moving Picture Experts Group Phase 2 (MPEG2). Among the standards for digital television broadcast, there are a standard for standard resolution pictures, such as those with the number of effective lines in the vertical direction of 576, and a standard for high-resolution pictures, such as those with the number of effective lines in the vertical direction of 1152. Recently, there is raised a demand for a downdecoder for decoding compressed picture data of a high-resolution picture and for reducing the resolution of the compressed picture data by xc2xd to generate picture data of the picture data of standard resolution to display the picture data on a television monitor adapted to cope with the standard resolution.
There is proposed in a publication entitled xe2x80x9cScalable Decoder free of low-range Driftxe2x80x9d (written by Iwahashi, Kanbayashi and Takaya, Shingaku-Gihou CS94-186, DSP 94-108, 1995-01) a downdecoder for decoding a bitstrean of, for example, MPEG2, obtained on predictive coding with motion prediction of a high-resolution picture and compression coding by discrete cosine transform, and for downsampling the picture to a picture of standard resolution. This Publication, referred to below as Publication 1, shows the following first to third downdecoders.
Referring to FIG. 27, this first downdecoder includes an inverse discrete cosine transform unit 1001, for processing a bitstrean of a high resolution picture with 8 (number of coefficients as counted from the dc component in the horizontal direction) xc3x978 (number of coefficients as counted from the dc component in the vertical direction), an adder 1002 for adding a discrete cosine transformed high resolution picture and a motion-compensated reference picture, and a frame memory 1003 for transient storage of the reference picture. The first downdecoder also includes a motion compensation unit 1004 for motion-compensating the reference picture stored in the frame memory 1003 with xc2xd pixel precision, and a downsampling unit 1005 for converting the reference picture stored in the frame memory 1003 to a picture of standard resolution.
This first downdecoder reduces an output picture, obtained on decoding as a high resolution picture by inverse discrete cosine transform, by the downsampling unit 1005, to output resulting picture data with the standard resolution.
Referring to FIG. 28, the second downdecoder includes an inverse discrete cosine transform unit 101 for performing 8xc3x978 inverse discrete cosine transform, as it substitutes 0 for the high-frequency components of the discrete cosine transform (DCT) block of the high resolution picture, an adder 1012 for suing the discrete cosine transformed high resolution picture to the motion-compensated reference picture, and a frame memory 1013 for transient storage of the reference picture. The second downdecoder also includes a motion compensation unit 1014 for motion-compensating the reference picture stored in the frame memory 1013 with xc2xd pixel precision, and a downsampling unit 1015 for converting the reference picture stored in the frame memory 1013 to a picture of standard resolution.
This second downdecoder performs inverse discrete cosine transform to obtain a decoded output picture, as a high-resolution picture, as it substitutes 0 for coefficients of high-frequency components among the totality of coefficients of the DCT block, and reduces the output picture in size by the downsampling unit 1015 to output picture data of standard resolution.
Referring to FIG. 29, a third downdecoder includes a decimating inverse discrete cosine transform unit 102 for doing e.g., 4xc3x974 inverse discrete cosine transform, using only the coefficients of the low-frequency components of the DCT block of the bitstream of the high resolution picture, for decoding to a standard resolution picture, and an adder 1022 for summing the standard resolution picture processed with decimating inverse discrete cosine transform and the motion-compensated reference picture. The third downdecoder also includes a frame memory 1023 for transiently storing the reference picture and a motion compensation unlit 1024 for motion-compensating the reference picture stored by the frame memory 1023 with a xc2xc pixel precision.
In this third downdecoder, IDCT is executed using only low-frequency components of all coefficients of the DCT block to decode a picture of low resolution from a picture of high resolution.
The above-described first downdecoder performs inverse discrete cosine transform on the totality of the coefficients in the DCT block to obtain a high-resolution picture on decoding. Thus, the inverse discrete cosine transform unit 1001 of high processing capability and the frame memory 1003 of high capacity are needed. The second downdecoder performs discrete cosine transform on the coefficients in the DCT block to obtain a high-resolution picture on decoding, as it sets the high-frequency components of the coefficients to zero, so that a lower processing capacity of the inverse discrete cosine transform unit 1011 suffices. However, the frame memory 1003 of high capacity is yet needed. In contradistinction from these first and second downdecoders, the third downdecoder performs inverse discrete cosine transform on the totality of the coefficients in the DCT block, using only coefficients of the low-frequency components of the coefficients in the DCT block, so that a low processing capability of an inverse discrete cosine transform unit 1021 suffices. Moreover, since the reference picture of the standard resolution picture is decoded, a lower capacity of the frame memory 1023 suffices.
Meanwhile, the display system of a moving picture in television broadcast is classified into a sequential scanning system and an interlaced scanning system. The sequential scanning system sequentially displays a picture obtained on sampling the totality of pictures in a given frame at the same timing. The interlaced scanning system alternately displays pictures obtained on sampling pixels in a given frame at different timings from one horizontal line to another.
In this interlaced scanning system, one of the pictures obtained on sampling pixels in a frame at different timings from one horizontal line to another is termed a top field or a first field, with the other picture being termed a bottom field or a second field. The picture containing the leading line in the horizontal direction of a frame becomes the top field, while the picture containing the second line in the horizontal direction of a frame becomes the bottom field. Thus, in the interlaced scanning system, a sole frame is made up of two fields.
With the MPEG2, not only a frame but also a field can be allocated to a picture as a picture compressing unit in order to compress the moving picture signals efficiently in the interlaced scanning system.
If, in the MPEG2, a field is allocated to a picture, the resulting bitstream structure is termed a field structure, while if a frame is allocated to a picture, the resulting bitstream structure is termed a frame structure. In the field structure, a DCT block is constituted by pixels in the field and discrete cosine transform is applied on the field basis. The processing mode of performing field-based discrete cosine transform is termed the field DCT mode. In the frame structure, a DCT block is constituted by pixels in the frame and discrete cosine transform is applied on the frame basis. The processing mode of performing field-based discrete cosine transform is termed the frame DCT mode. In the field structure, a macro-block is constituted from pixels in a field and motion prediction is performed on the field basis. The processing mode of performing motion prediction on the field basis is termed the field motion prediction mode. In the frame structure, a macro-block is constituted from pixels in a frame and motion prediction is performed on the frame basis. The processing mode of performing motion prediction on the frame basis is termed the frame motion prediction mode.
Meanwhile, a picture decoding apparatus, adapted for decoding compressed picture data for the interlaced scanning system, using the third downdecoder shown in the Publication 1, is proposed in, for example, a Publication entitled in xe2x80x9cA Compensation Method of Drift Errors in Scalabilityxe2x80x9d written by N. Obikane, K. Tahara and J. Yoneintsu, HDTV Work Shop ""93. This Publication is hereinafter termed the Publication 2.
Referring to FIG. 30, the conventional picture decoding device, shown in Publication 2, includes a bitstream analyzer 1031, fed with a bitstream obtained on compressing a high resolution picture in accordance with the MPEG2, for analyzing this bitstream, a variable length encoding/decoding unit 1032 for variable length encoding data for allocating codes of lengths corresponding to the data occurrence frequency and for decoding the variable length encoded bitstream, and a dequantizer 1033 for multiplying the respective coefficients of the DCT block with quantization steps. The conventional picture decoding device also includes a decimating inverse discrete cosine transform unit 1034 for decoding a standard resolution picture by e.g., 4xc3x974 inverse discrete cosine transform using only coefficients of low-frequency components of the totality of the coefficients of the DCT block, and an adder 1035 for summing the standard resolution picture processed with decimating inverse discrete cosine transform to a motion-compensated reference picture. The conventional picture decoding device also includes a frame memory 1036 for transiently storing the reference picture and a motion compensation unit 1037 for motion compensating the reference picture stored in the frame memory 1036 to a xc2xc pixel precision.
The decimating inverse discrete cosine transform unit 1034 of the conventional picture decoding device, shown in the Publication 2, performs the inverse discrete cosine transform, using only the coefficients of the low-frequency components of the totality of the coefficients in the DCT block. It is noted that the positions of the coefficients of the frame DCT mode, processed with the inverse discrete cosine transform, differ from those of the field DCT mode.
Specifically, in the field DCT mode, the decimating inverse discrete cosine transform 1034 applies the inverse discrete cosine transform only on the 4xc3x974 of 8xc3x978 coefficients in the DCT block, as shown in FIG. 31. On the other hand, in the frame DCT mode, the decimating inverse discrete cosine transform 1034 applies the inverse discrete cosine transform only on the 4xc3x972+4xc3x972 of 8xc3x978 coefficients in the DCT block, as shown in FIG. 32.
Also, the motion compensation unit 1037 of the conventional picture decoding device performs motion compensation to xc2xc pixel precision, adapted to cope with the field motion prediction mode or with the frame motion prediction mode, based on the information (motion vector) on the motion prediction performed on the high resolution picture. Specifically, while the MPEG2 usually provides that the motion compensation be performed to xc2xd pixel precision, the number of pixels in a picture is thinned out to one-half if a standard resolution picture is to be decoded from a high resolution picture. Thus, the motion compensation unit 1037 performs motion compensation as it sets the pixel precision for motion compensation to xc2xc pixel.
Therefore, the motion compensation device 1037 performs linear interpolation on the pixels of the reference picture stored in the frame memory 1036 as a standard resolution picture to generate pixels to a xc2xc pixel accuracy.
Specifically, the processing for linear interpolation of pixels in the perpendicular direction for the field motion prediction mode and that for the frame motion prediction mode are explained with reference to FIGS. 33 and 34, in which the phase of pixels in the vertical direction is indicated in the perpendicular direction, with the phase of each pixel in a displayed picture being indicated by an integer.
Referring to FIG. 33, the processing for interpolation of a picture motion-predicted in the field motion prediction mode is explained. For a high resolution picture (upper layer), motion compensation is independently performed to a xc2xd pixel precision, from field to field, as shown in FIG. 33. On the other hand, for a standard resolution picture (lower layer), motion compensation is achieved by generating pixels dephased by xc2xc, xc2xd and xc2xe pixel in the perpendicular direction by linear interpolation in a field based on the pixel of an integer number precision. That is, in the standard resolution picture (lower layer), pixels with xc2xc pixel precision of the top field are generated by linear interpolation based on the pixels of the integer number precision of the top field, while those with xc2xc pixel precision of the bottom field are generated by linear interpolation based on the pixels of the integer number precision of the bottom field. It is assumed for example that the value of a pixel of the top field, having the phase in the perpendicular direction at the 0-position, is a, with the value of a pixel having the phase in the perpendicular direction at the 1-position is b. In this case, the pixel of the top field with the phase in the perpendicular direction of xc2xc is (3a+b)/4, while the pixel of the top field with the phase in the perpendicular direction of xc2xd is (a+b)/2, with the pixel of the top field with the phase in the perpendicular direction of xc2xe being (a+3b)/4.
Referring to FIG. 34, the processing of interpolation of a picture motion-predicted in the frame motion prediction mode is explained. For a high resolution picture (upper layer), interpolation processing is performed across the fields, that is across the bottom field and the top field, as shown in FIG. 34a, with the motion compensation precision being xc2xd pixel precision. For a standard resolution picture (lower layer), motion compensation is achieved by generating pixels dephased by xc2xc, xc2xd and xc2xe pixels in the perpendicular direction, based on the pixels of the integer number precision of two fields, that is the top field and the bottom field. For example, it is assumed that the value of a pixel of the bottom field having the phase in the perpendicular direction of xe2x88x921 is a, the value of a pixel of the top field having the phase in the perpendicular direction of 0 is b, the value of a pixel of the bottom field having the phase in the perpendicular direction of 1 is c, the value of a pixel of the top field having the phase in the perpendicular direction of 2 is d, and a pixel of the top field having the phase in the perpendicular direction of 3 is e. In this case, the pixels of xc2xc pixel precision, having the phase in the perpendicular direction in a range from 0 and 2, may be found as follows:
The pixel having the phase in the perpendicular direction of xc2xc is (a+4b+3c)/8, while the pixel having the phase in the perpendicular direction of xc2xd is (a+3c)/4. The pixel having the phase in the perpendicular direction of xc2xe is (a+2b+3c+2d)/8, while the pixel having the phase in the perpendicular direction of {fraction (5/4)} is (2b+3c+2d+e )/8. The pixel having the phase in the perpendicular direction of {fraction (3/2)} is (3c+e)/4, while the pixel having the phase in the perpendicular direction of {fraction (7/4)} is (3c+4d+e)/8.
With the above-described picture decoding device, disclosed in the Publication 2, the compressed picture data of the high resolution picture, associated with the interlaced scanning system, can be decoded to standard resolution picture.
However, with the conventional picture decoding device, shown in the above Publication 2, the pixels of the standard resolution picture obtained with the field DCT mode are dephased with respect to the pixels of the standard resolution obtained with the frame DCT mode. Specifically, with the field DCT mode, the phases of the pixels in the perpendicular direction of the respective pixels of the top field of the lower layer are xc2xd, {fraction (5/2)}, . . . , with the phases in the perpendicular direction of the respective pixels of the bottom field of the lower layer being 1, 3, . . . , as shown in FIG. 35. On the other hand, with the field DCT mode, the phases of the pixels in the perpendicular direction of the respective pixels of the top field of the lower layer are 0, 2, . . . , with the phases in the perpendicular direction of the respective pixels of the bottom field of the lower layer being 1, 3, . . . , as shown in FIG. 35. Thus, the pictures with different phases co-exist in the frame memory 1036, thus deteriorating the picture quality of the output picture.
With the conventional picture decoding device, shown in the Publication 2, correction is not made of phase deviations or dephasing of the pixels at the time of the motion compensation with the field motion prediction mode and the frame motion prediction mode resulting in the deteriorated picture quality.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a picture decoding method and a picture decoding device for decoding standard resolution picture data from compressed picture data of the high resolution picture whereby phase deviations of pixels at the time of motion compensation by the field motion prediction mode and the frame motion prediction mode may be eliminated to prevent picture quality deterioration ascribable to motion compensation.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a picture decoding device for decoding moving picture data of a second resolution from compressed picture data of a first resolution obtained on predictive coding effecting motion prediction in terms of a pre-set pixel block (macro-block) as a unit and on compression encoding by orthogonal transform in terms of a pre-set pixel block (orthogonal transform block) as a unit, the second resolution being lower than the first resolution. The picture decoding device includes first inverse orthogonal transform means for applying inverse orthogonal transform to an orthogonal transformed compressed picture data obtained on orthogonal transform by the orthogonal transform system coping with interlaced scanning (field orthogonal transform mode), second inverse orthogonal transform means for applying inverse orthogonal transform to an orthogonal transformed compressed picture data obtained on orthogonal transform by the orthogonal transform system coping with sequential scanning (frame orthogonal transform mode), addition means for summing compressed picture data inverse orthogonal transformed by the first inverse orthogonal transform means or the second inverse orthogonal transform means to motion-compensated reference picture data to output moving picture data of the second resolution, storage means for storing moving picture data outputted by the addition means as reference picture data, first motion compensation means for motion-compensating a macro-block of reference picture data motion-predicted by the motion prediction system coping with interlaced scanning (field motion prediction mode) and second motion compensation means for motion-compensating a macro-block of reference picture data motion-predicted by the motion prediction system coping with sequential scanning (frame motion prediction mode). The first inverse orthogonal transform means inverse orthogonal transforms coefficients of low-frequency components of respective coefficients of the orthogonal transform block. The second inverse orthogonal transform means inverse orthogonal transforms coefficients of the entire frequency components of respective coefficients of the orthogonal transform block. The second inverse orthogonal transform means separates the respective pixels of the inverse orthogonal transformed orthogonal transform block into two pixel blocks coping with interlaced scanning. The second inverse orthogonal transform means orthogonal transforms the separated pixel blocks, inverse orthogonal transforms coefficients of low-frequency components of respective coefficients of the two orthogonal transformed pixel blocks and synthesizes the inverse orthogonal transformed pixel blocks into an orthogonal transform block. The first motion compensation means and the second motion compensation means interpolate pixels using orthogonal transform for stored reference picture data in order to generate virtual upper-order picture data of the first resolution, and motion-compensating the generated virtual upper-order picture, the first motion compensation means and the second motion compensation means applying pixel decimation using orthogonal transform for the motion-compensated virtual upper-order picture for generating reference picture data summed to the compressed picture data.
With the present picture decoding device, the coefficients of the entire frequency components of an orthogonal transform block, orthogonal transformed by the frame orthogonal transform mode, are inverse orthogonal transformed and separated into two pixel blocks coping with interlaced scanning. These two pixel blocks are orthogonal transformed and the inverse orthogonal transformed two pixel blocks are synthesized. The picture decoding device also interpolates pixels to the stored reference picture data, using orthogonal transform, to generate virtual upper-order picture data of the first resolution, which are motion-compensated. These motion-compensated virtual upper-order picture data are pixel-decimated using orthogonal transform to generate reference picture data added to the compressed picture data. The picture decoding device outputs moving picture data of the second resolution lower than the first resolution.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a picture decoding device wherein the first inverse orthogonal transform means inversely orthogonal transforms coefficients of low-frequency components of respective coefficients of the orthogonal transform block, and corrects the pixels by xc2xc pixel in the vertical direction for respective pixels of the top field resulting from inverse orthogonal transform, while correcting the pixels by xc2xe pixel in the vertical direction for respective pixels of the bottom field resulting from inverse orthogonal transform. The second inverse orthogonal transform means inverse orthogonal transforms the coefficients of the entire frequency components of the orthogonal transform block. The second inverse orthogonal transform means separates the inverse orthogonal transformed orthogonal transform block into two pixel blocks for coping with interlaced scanning, while separately orthogonal transforming the separated pixel blocks. The second inverse orthogonal transform means inverse orthogonal transforms the coefficients of low-frequency components, among the coefficients of the orthogonal transformed two pixel blocks, while phase-correcting respective pixels of the top field resulting from inverse orthogonal transform by xc2xc pixel in the vertical direction and phase-correcting respective pixel of the bottom field resulting from inverse orthogonal transform by xc2xe pixel in the vertical direction and synthesizing the phase-corrected top and bottom fields. The first motion compensation means and the second motion compensation means correct the phase of the pixels in the vertical direction of the top field of stored reference picture data by xc2xc pixel, while correcting the phase of the pixels in the vertical direction of the bottom field by xc2xe pixels by way of pixel interpolation to generate a virtual upper-order picture of the first resolution. The first motion compensation means and the second motion compensation means correct the phase of the pixels in the vertical direction of the top field by xc2xc pixel, while correcting the phase of the pixels in the vertical direction of the bottom field by xc2xe pixel by way of pixel decimation to generate reference picture data to be added to compressed picture data.
In the present picture decoding device, the coefficients of the low-frequency components of the coefficients of the orthogonal transform block orthogonal transformed by the field orthogonal transform mode are inverse orthogonal transformed, the respective pixels of the bottom field resulting from the inverse orthogonal transform are corrected for phase in the vertical direction by xc2xc phase, while the respective pixels of the top field resulting from the inverse orthogonal transform are corrected for phase in the vertical direction by xc2xe phase. The coefficients of the entire frequency components of the orthogonal transform block, orthogonal transformed by the frame orthogonal transform mode, are inverse orthogonal transformed and separated into two pixel blocks for coping with interlaced scanning. The separated two pixel blocks are respectively orthogonal transformed and inverse orthogonal transform is applied to coefficients of the low-frequency components of the respective coefficients of the two orthogonal transformed pixel blocks. The coefficients of the low-frequency components of the coefficients of the orthogonal transformed two pixel blocks are inverse orthogonal transformed, and the respective pixels of the top field resulting from the inverse orthogonal transform are corrected for phase in the vertical direction by xc2xc phase, while the respective pixels of the bottom field resulting from the inverse orthogonal transform are corrected for phase in the vertical direction by xc2xe phase. The top and bottom fields, thus corrected for phase, are synthesized together. Also, in the present picture decoding device, pixels of the top field of the stored reference picture data are corrected for phase by xc2xc pixel, whereas pixels of the bottom field of the stored reference picture data are corrected for phase by xc2xe pixel to generate virtual upper-order picture of the first resolution to decimate pixels generate reference picture data added to the compressed picture data. The present picture decoding device outputs moving picture data of the second resolution lower than the second resolution.
In still another aspect, the present invention provides a picture decoding method for decoding moving picture data of a second resolution from compressed picture data of a first resolution obtained on predictive coding effecting motion prediction in terms of a pre-set pixel block (macro-block) as a unit and on compression encoding by orthogonal transform in terms of a pre-set pixel block (orthogonal transform block) as a unit, the second resolution being lower than the first resolution. The picture decoding method includes applying inverse orthogonal transform to an orthogonal transformed compressed picture data obtained on orthogonal transform by the orthogonal transform system coping with interlaced scanning (field orthogonal transform mode), applying inverse orthogonal transform to an orthogonal transformed compressed picture data obtained on orthogonal transform by the orthogonal transform system coping with sequential scanning (frame orthogonal transform mode), summing inverse orthogonal transformed compressed picture data to motion-compensated reference picture data, storing moving picture data resulting from the summing as reference picture data, motion-compensating a macro-block of reference picture data motion-predicted by the motion prediction system coping with interlaced scanning (field motion prediction mode), motion-compensating a macro-block of reference picture data motion-predicted by the motion prediction system coping with sequential scanning (frame motion prediction mode), inverse orthogonal transforming coefficients of low-frequency components of respective coefficients of the orthogonal transform block orthogonal transformed by the field orthogonal transform mode, inverse orthogonal transforming coefficients of the entire frequency components of respective coefficients of the orthogonal transform block orthogonal transformed by the frame orthogonal transform mode, separating the respective pixels of the inverse orthogonal transformed orthogonal transform block into two pixel blocks for coping with interlaced scanning, orthogonal transforming the separated pixel blocks, inverse orthogonal transforming coefficients of low-frequency components of respective coefficients of the two orthogonal transformed pixel blocks, synthesizing the inverse orthogonal transformed pixel blocks into an orthogonal transform block, interpolating pixels using orthogonal transform for stored reference picture data to generate virtual upper-order picture data of the first resolution, motion-compensating the generated virtual upper-order picture data and effecting pixel decimation using orthogonal transform for the motion-compensated virtual upper-order picture for generating reference picture data summed to the compressed picture data.
With the present picture decoding method, the coefficients of the entire frequency components of an orthogonal transform block, orthogonal transformed by the frame orthogonal transform mode, are inverse orthogonal transformed and separated into two pixel blocks coping with interlaced scanning. These two pixel blocks are orthogonal transformed and the inverse orthogonal transformed two pixel blocks are synthesized. The picture decoding method also includes interpolating pixels to the stored reference picture data, using orthogonal transform, to generate virtual upper-order picture data of the first resolution, which are motion-compensated. These motion-compensated virtual upper-order picture data are pixel-decimated using orthogonal transform to generate reference picture data added to the compressed picture data. The picture decoding method also includes outputting moving picture data of the second resolution lower than the first resolution.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a picture decoding method further including inverse orthogonal transforming coefficients of low-frequency components of respective coefficients of an orthogonal transform block orthogonal transformed by the field motion prediction mode, correcting the phase of respective pixels of the top field resulting from inverse orthogonal transform by xc2xc pixel in the vertical direction, correcting the phase of respective pixels of the bottom field resulting from inverse orthogonal transform by xc2xe pixel in the vertical direction, inverse orthogonal transforming coefficients of the entire frequency components of the orthogonal transform block orthogonal transformed by the frame orthogonal transform mode, separating the inverse orthogonal transformed orthogonal transform block into two pixel blocks coping with interlaced scanning, orthogonal transforming the separated two pixel blocks, inverse orthogonal transforming the coefficients of the low-frequency components of respective coefficients of the two orthogonal transform pixel blocks, correcting the phase of respective pixels of the top field resulting from inverse orthogonal transform by xc2xc pixel in the vertical direction, correcting the phase of respective pixels of the bottom field resulting from inverse orthogonal transform by xc2xe pixel in the vertical direction, synthesizing the top and bottom field corrected for phase, correcting the phase of pixels in the vertical direction of the top field resulting from inverse orthogonal transforms by xc2xc pixel, and correcting the phase of pixels in the vertical direction of the bottom field resulting from inverse orthogonal transforms by xc2xe pixel to decimate pixels to generate reference picture data to be added to the compressed picture data.
In the present picture decoding method, the coefficients of the low-frequency components of the coefficients of the orthogonal transform block orthogonal transformed by the field orthogonal transform mode are inverse orthogonal transformed, and the respective pixels of the bottom field resulting from the inverse orthogonal transform are corrected for phase in the vertical direction by xc2xc phase, while the respective pixels of the top field resulting from the inverse orthogonal transform are corrected for phase in the vertical direction by xc2xe phase. The coefficients of the entire frequency components of the orthogonal transform block, orthogonal transformed by the frame orthogonal transform mode, are inverse orthogonal transformed and separated into two pixel blocks for coping with interlaced scanning. The separated two pixel blocks are respectively orthogonal transformed and inverse orthogonal transform is applied to coefficients of the low-frequency components of the respective coefficients of the two orthogonal transformed pixel blocks. The coefficients of the low-frequency components of the coefficients of the orthogonal transformed two pixel blocks are inverse orthogonal transformed, and the respective pixels of the top field resulting from the inverse orthogonal transform are corrected for phase in the vertical direction by xc2xc phase, while the respective pixels of the bottom field resulting from the inverse orthogonal transform are corrected for phase in the vertical direction by xc2xe phase. The top and bottom fields, thus corrected for phase, are synthesized together. Also, in the present picture decoding method, pixels of the top field of the stored reference picture data are corrected for phase by xc2xc pixel, whereas pixels of the bottom field of the stored reference picture data are corrected for phase by xc2xe pixel to generate virtual upper-order picture of the first resolution to decimate pixels generate reference picture data added to the compressed picture data. The present picture decoding method outputs moving picture data of the second resolution lower than the second resolution.
According to the present invention, inverse orthogonal transform is applied to coefficients of the totality of frequency components of the orthogonal transform block orthogonal transformed by the frame orthogonal transform mode to separate the block into two pixel blocks in meeting with the interlaced scanning. The two separated pixel blocks are respectively orthogonal transformed to inverse orthogonal transform the coefficients of the low-frequency components, and the two inverse orthogonal transformed pixel blocks are synthesized.
Thus, according to the present invention, the processing volume and the recording capacity required for decoding can be decreased, while pixel dephasing otherwise produced between the field orthogonal transform mode and the frame orthogonal transform mode can be eliminated without detracting from interlaced character proper to the interlaced picture. It is also possible to improve the picture quality of the moving picture data of second resolution.
Also, according to the present invention, pixels are interpolated to the stored reference picture data using orthogonal transform to generate virtual upper-order picture of first resolution to effect motion compensation, while the motion-compensated virtual upper-order picture are processed with pixel decimation using orthogonal transform to generate reference picture data to be added to the compressed picture data.
Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the deterioration of the picture quality due to motion compensation.
According to the present invention, inverse orthogonal transform is applied to the coefficients of the low-frequency components among the coefficients of the orthogonal transform block orthogonal transform by the field orthogonal transform mode. The pixels of the top field obtained on inverse orthogonal transform are corrected for phase by xc2xc pixel in the vertical direction of the pixels of the top field obtained on inverse orthogonal transform, while the pixels of the bottom field obtained on inverse orthogonal transform are corrected for phase by xc2xe pixel in the vertical direction of the pixels of the bottom field obtained on inverse orthogonal transform. The coefficients of the totality of the frequency components of the orthogonal transform block orthogonal transform by the frame orthogonal transform mode are inverse orthogonal transformed, the inverse orthogonal transformed orthogonal transform blocks are separated into two pixel blocks for coping with interlaced scanning, and orthogonal transform is applied to the separated two pixel blocks. The coefficients of the low-frequency components of the respective coefficients of the orthogonal transformed two pixel blocks are inverse orthogonal transformed and the pixels of the top field obtained on inverse orthogonal transforms are corrected for phase by xc2xc pixel in the vertical direction of the pixels of the top field resulting from inverse orthogonal transform, while the pixels of the bottom field obtained on inverse orthogonal transforms are corrected for phase by xc2xe pixel in the vertical direction of the pixels of the bottom field resulting from inverse orthogonal transform. The top and bottom field, corrected for phase, are synthesized together.
This reduces the processing volume and the recording capacity required for decoding, while dephasing of the pixels of the output moving picture data of the second resolution may be eliminated. That is, the output moving picture data can be displayed without filtering, while it is possible to improve the picture quality of the moving picture data of the second resolution.
Also, according to the present invention, the pixels in the vertical direction of the top filed of the stored reference picture data are corrected for phase by xc2xc pixel, while the pixels in the vertical direction of the bottom filed of the stored reference picture data are corrected for phase by xc2xe pixel, by way of pixel interpolation, to generate virtual upper-order picture data of the first resolution. The pixels in the vertical direction of the top filed of the stored reference picture data are corrected for phase by xc2xc pixel, while the pixels in the vertical direction of the bottom field are corrected for phase by xc2xe pixel, by way of pixel decimation, to generate reference picture data to be added to the compressed picture data.
This renders it possible to reduce picture quality deterioration otherwise caused by motion compensation.


A compressed gaseous fuel system for an internal combustion engine includes an electronic engine controller, a common fuel rail, fuel injectors operatively connected with the common-rail and with the engine controller, and a high pressure gaseous fuel source. A control regulator reduces gas system pressure to a final variable control pressure specified by the engine controller and furnishes the fuel at the control pressure to the common-rail. A fuel pump operatively connected with the control regulator and with the engine controller selectively transfers fuel from the fuel rail to a portion of the fuel system located upstream from the downstream pressure regulator in the event that the pressure within the common-rail exceeds a desired pressure.

Common-rail fuel injection systems have been in general use for many years with gasoline-fueled internal combustion engines. Lately, common-rail systems have been used with diesel engines. Common-rail systems typically use a fuel pump to provide pressurized fuel, most often in a liquid form, to the fuel rail. In turn, injectors which are plugged into or otherwise operatively connected with a fuel rail, furnish fuel to the engine's cylinders. When compressed gas is used for an internal combustion engine fuel, the high pressure gas in the fuel tank is stepped down in pressure using one or more pressure regulators, and a fuel pump is generally not needed.
Given the comparatively low density of gaseous fuel, as compared with liquid fuels, it is necessary to handle a much higher volume of gaseous fuel than would otherwise be the case were liquid fuel to be used. This results in the need for gaseous fuel injectors to have a very large range of authority as compared with injectors used for injecting liquid fuels.
The amount of gas injected per injection event by gaseous fuel injectors may be controlled not only by the pulse width furnished to the injector solenoid, but also by the common-rail pressure. As shown in FIG. 3, as common-rail pressure increases, fuel delivery increases concomitantly for equal duration injection events. A problem may arise, however, where it is desired to transition from a higher injection rate to a lower mass injection per injection event. Although less fuel may be injected by decreasing the injector pulse width, this does not always produce desirable results at low flows because the desired amount of fuel may be less than the range of authority of the injector at the pressure available within the common-rail. This is a problem where it is desired to inject small amounts of fuel, given that the fuel rail represents a relatively larger volume, sometimes at a higher pressure than is desired.
When the pressure within the fuel rail is higher than desired, it is necessary to remove some of the gaseous fuel from the rail other than by running the fuel through the injectors. Although it would be possible to simply release the fuel to the atmosphere, the negative impact on fuel economy is an obvious deterrent to such a strategy. The problem of how to reintroduce a fuel to the fuel system is solved by the present invention. By removing some of the fuel from the fuel rail and by recompressing the fuel and injecting fuel into the fuel system upstream of the common-rail, the rail pressure may be reduced to the desired value without wasting fuel. The present inventive system solves the problems that prior art fuel systems experience in handling compressed gas while at the same time achieving a dynamic range of response of injectors by varying the common-rail fuel pressure.

Compressed gaseous fuel system for internal combustion engine


A yarn end loosening apparatus is provided for performing yarn end loosening operations on yarn packages. The yarn end loosening apparatus includes a chamber for directing streams of air relative to a yarn package disposed within the chamber to effect loosening of a yarn end from the yarn package. Additionally, the yarn end loosening apparatus includes an assembly for introducing air streams from, respectively, a taller package jet nozzle and a shorter package jet nozzle, the jet nozzles being spaced from one another to each direct a stream of air at the axial location of a type of yarn package having a predetermined axial length. Additionally, the yarn end loosening apparatus includes a device for selectively controlling the supply of air through the taller and shorter package jet nozzles such that only a selected one of the jet nozzles directs air into the chamber during a yarn end loosening operation.

The present invention relates to a yarn end loosening apparatus having adjustable height jet nozzles each for directing a stream of air against a yarn package and a controllable air supply to selectively supply the jet nozzles with air according to the height of the yarn package.
In an automatic bobbin winder, yarn packages, which are supplied via an appropriate transport system to an unwinding position at a winding head, are rewound to cross-wound bobbins. To be able to automatically engage the starting end of the yarn of the yarn packages supplied to the winding head to a yarn grasping member of the winding head, this starting end of the yarn must be easy to grasp. So-called yarn package preparation units are known for this purpose which deposit the yarn on a defined position of the yarn package. This starting end of the yarn is then blown out of a yarn end loosening chamber by means of a jet nozzle and can then be taken up. However, such devices are not suitable for taking up again yarn ends after a yarn break on an undefined position on the yarn package surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,179 to Surkamp et al teaches a yarn supplying unit comprising a yarn end loosening chamber which surrounds the yarn package to be unwound. It comprises in its interior yarn loosening jet nozzles directed tangentially and obliquely upward for generating a current of air directed helically in the direction of unwinding of the yarn. These jet nozzles are supplied with compressed air after the yarn package replacement and after a yarn break. They extend essentially over the entire height of the yarn end loosening chamber. In the case of a relatively large yarn end loosening chamber which is also suitable for correspondingly large yarn packages, a relatively great consumption of air results thereby.
Since a bobbin winding machine must customarily be suitable for rewinding different types of yarn packages which also differ in particular in their dimensions, yarn end loosening chambers must also be used which are set for a maximum yarn package length to be processed. It is necessary, in order to loosen the starting end of the yarn, to blow on the upper tapered portion of the package.
In order to reach this yarn package area with blowing air independently of the yarn package length, all jet nozzles arranged along the yarn end loosening chamber must be operated, leading to a relatively high consumption of compressed air.

Yarn end loosening apparatus having adjustable height jet nozzles and a controllable air supply for different height yarn packages


The present invention is directed to aqueous systems for polyamideimide, polyether imide, and/or polyamic acid binder solutions. The present invention provides stable aqueous binder solutions equivalent or superior to current aqueous binder solutions.

Fluoropolymers have found use in many non-stick and release coating applications such as, for example, non-stick coatings for cookware. However, due to the non-stick nature of perfluoropolymers, primer layers having binders are generally needed to adhere to a surface of a substrate prior to application of the fluoropolymers, to enable sufficient adhesion of the fluoropolymer to the substrate. In the art, binder compositions comprising polyethersulfones (PES) or polyamideimides (PAI) or polyetherimides (PEI) or polyimides (PI), or combinations thereof, have been found to be useful in primer layers as film formers and for adhering to both the substrate surface and with perfluoropolymers.
Current binder compositions utilize N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) as solvent due to its inexpense and solubilizing capabilities. See, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,834 (to Concannon). More recently, the toxicity profile of NMP has been re-evaluated and pending regulations worldwide may minimize or eliminate the use of NMP in such binder solutions. Accordingly, alternative solvents, organic and aqueous based, are needed, which are considered to be more environmentally friendly. Suitable solvents will be capable of solubilizing the binders, including at practical concentrations or binder solids levels, allowing the binders to spread on the surfaces and create a primer layer or film on metal and rubber surfaces without adversely affecting the binder layer or its ability to bind to both the substrate and the fluoropolymer layers. The preferred solution to this problem would be to completely eliminate NMP from such binder solutions and present aqueous binder solutions. Unfortunately, these binder resins are completely insoluble in water. However, a water plus co-solvent approach may be an acceptable replacement for NMP, particularly if the aqueous binder solution is predominantly water, and the co-solvent has a much more favorable toxicity profile than NMP. The present invention meets these needs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A retention memory retains 2D image data picked-up and output by camera portion in association with corresponding thumbnail image data. The 2D image data retained in the retention memory is converted to 3D image data formed of image data for left-eye and for right-eye for stereoscopic vision of the image as desired. A retention portion creates thumbnail image data with a shrunken image based on this 3D image data and stores the created thumbnail image data and the 3D image data in the retention memory in association with each other. The thumbnail image data is created, for example, by reducing the left-eye image data and the right-eye image data of the 3D image data to satisfy a thumbnail size. A listing of thumbnails based on the thumbnail image data in retention memory is displayed on a display portion so that the retained image can be recognized at a glance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display device and method, and more particularly to an image display device and method for displaying an image based on data in a three-dimensional image format.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, a three-dimensional image (referred to as a 3D image hereinafter) is displayed using a liquid crystal display integrally formed of a display liquid crystal panel and a slit liquid crystal panel, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent-Laying Open No. 5-122733.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 7-236164, for example, discloses a device that displays a 3D image and a two-dimensional image (referred to as a 2D image hereinafter) simultaneously on the same screen.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 9-330022 discloses the following image display device. Three-dimensional image information is attached to map data read from a memory in accordance with a predetermined rule so that display data is created through three-dimensional computer graphics processing. The created image data is then used to display a three-dimensional image on a two-dimensional screen.
Recently, as image data in a variety of formats, including 2D images and 3D images are handled simultaneously, a device having an image display stores image data in these different kinds of formats in a mixed manner. When the listing of the stored image data in different kinds of formats is displayed in the form of a menu, the listing of so-called thumbnails where the image is shrunken for display is convenient, rather than displaying the file name of the file.
Conventionally, however, no device has been proposed to display a thumbnail image based on data in accordance with a 3D image format.

Image display device and method for displaying thumbnail based on three-dimensional image data


A surface mount connector includes a pair of electrical contacts spaced from each other a predetermined distance. Each contact includes a substantially flat base portion having upper and lower surfaces, the lower surface being suitable for soldering to a pad or land on a printed circuit board (PCB). Each contact is provided with an integrally-formed conductor-engaging portion extending from a base portion in a direction substantially normal to the base portion. Electrically non-conductive tape is secured to the upper surfaces of the spaced base portions for maintaining the contacts spaced at a set or predetermined distance from each other. The contacts each including member for physically and electrically engaging another insulated conductor so that the connector can physically and electrically engage and secure two separate insulated or clad conductors while maintaining them electrically isolated.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to surface mount connectors and, more specifically, to a surface mount connector for electrically isolating two insulated conductors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Manufactures want to be able to use zipcord and attach the same to a printed circuit board (PCB), zipcords being inexpensive cables of two insulated wires bonded together along their length. To make a functional surface mount zipcord connector several technical problems need to be solved. The connector needs to be capable of piercing the insulation and make good connection with both internal wires or conductors while causing damage to a minimum number of wire strands. The connector also needs to provide strain relieve to hold the wire securely. Additionally, the connector needs to be capable of being mounted on a PCB easily and crimped in one action. Preferably, such connectors do not require preparation of the zipcord prior to termination.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,680,235 is for an "Electrical Connector" for terminating a conductor and includes opposing ears that form barbs that are suitable for piercing the insulation and making contact with a central conductor. However, this patent teaches a connector for a single conductor, not a zipcord and there is no suggestion that the electrical connector can or should be surface mounted.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,188 to Reul is for a "Solderable Electrical Connection Element with a Solder Deposit". The patent teaches attachment of conducting track or metal conductors by means of a soldered joint that can be made using a solder deposit.
An "Insulation Displacement Connector (IDC)" is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,833,045 and 7,955,116 to Bishop. These patents are designed to connect one or more insulated wires to a component such as a printed circuit board. However, the receptacle for each of the wires is separated by a surface 22 that would prevent its use with a standard zipcord without first splitting the cord into two individual conductors. These patents disclose a plurality of generally standard IDC connectors arranged in tandem to receive as few or as many individual conductors.

Surface mount connector for electrically isolating two insulated conductors


Apertures in a definite shape having a definite width and length are provided on one surface of a plate material having a definite thickness. One end of the apertures is connected with the other surface of the plate material and at the same time, is opened. Another end of the apertures is connected with the plate material on one surface and is also opened toward the other surface of a culture substrate. The plate material is closely contacted to one surface of the culture substrate for allocating nerve cells and observing growth of the neurites. Then, the cell suspension is supplied to the apertures. The cells in the suspension are allocated on the culture substrate in response to the apertures by centrifugation or spontaneous sedimentation. The plate material is then withdrawn.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for artificially allocating (arranging or orienting) cells, at a specific zone on the surface of a substrate, which express their functions by such allocating, for example, cells in the nervous system, liver, kidney, etc., thereby to reconstruct an in vivo order outside the living body, i.e., in vitro, and a device therefor. The present invention also relates to a method for inputting and outputting in vitro the functions expressed by the cells allocated by the method for allocating and then cultured and an apparatus therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it has been made possible to culture cells in the nervous system, liver, kidney, etc. in a dissociated state in vitro, due to the progress of cell culture techniques. However, these cells express their function in their order. For example, neurons are connected with each other in vital tissues to form circuits, whereby the function of information processing is expressed. Accordingly, if .these cells are allocated and cultured in vitro, it would be possible to artificially prepare biological devices having various functions.
In order to make the cells in these tissues dissociate in vitro for incubation of these cells, however, the cell order possessed in the tissues is destroyed. As the result, a problem occurs that their functions are lost, although it is possible to culture the cells.
On the other hand, it is possible to culture cells without disconnecting the cells as they are in the tissues withdrawn from the living body. However, the respective cells in the tissues cannot be identified. After all, it has been difficult to express the function desired to be utilized. For example, while it has been wished to utilize input and output signals at a specific neural circuit in the nerve tissue, the neurons for constructing the neural circuit could not be specified so that it has been impossible to utilize the desired input and output signals.
As one method for allocating specific cells once dissociated on the surface of the same culture substrate and reconstructing the allocating in order to eliminate problems, a machine for sorting cells one by one comprising a combination of a cell sorter and an apparatus for stepping operation of a culture dish has been provided for practical use. However, the machine requires as many repetitions of the sorting operation as the number of the cells to be sorted. In addition, when one cell was plated on the surface of the culture substrate, the next cell would then be put on the surface of the culture substrate so that it was difficult to arrange many cells rapidly in a simple manner.
Another method comprises providing a multicompartment chamber on a culture substrate having narrow grooves on its surface, introducing a suspension of neurons via one chamber, precipitating and adhering the cells onto the culture substrate at a specific position, and culturing the culture substrate to perform elongation of neurites via the groove (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 74, No. 10, pp. 4516-4519, 1977 and Science, Vol. 244, pp. 585-587, 1989). According to this method, however, there is a danger that the multicompartment chamber might inhibit physically and biologically the elongation of neurites and expression of the functions. The method involves an additional drawback that interaction of the cells cannot be observed upon incubation so that the relationship between cells connected with each other cannot be specified.
Furthermore, in order to reconstruct the order of cells in vivo and utilize their functions, the system should be kept sterile and needless to say, the cells should not be damaged. Simple operation makes maintenance of sterility easy and rapid processing results in no damage of the cell activity during the processing. From a practical viewpoint, these are important factors which should not be underrated.

Method for allocating cells and cell allocation device


Described are an apparatus, computer program product, and associated methods for shaped waveform acoustic interrogation of substances and materials to determine one or more properties of the materials or substances. In some embodiments, a shaped waveform is formed by summing two or more different waveforms and an acoustic wave is generated according to the shaped waveform. The acoustic wave is transmitted by one or more transmitting transducers through the substance or material and received by one or more receiving transducers. The shaped waveform acoustic wave can have a duration or a period that is less than about 20 μs and can comprise predetermined frequency content. Characteristics of the shaped waveform acoustic wave, as received at the receiving transducer(s), including characteristics such as amplitude, frequency, time of flight, etc., can be associated with said one or more properties of the substance or material to provide for real-time monitoring of these properties.

It can be helpful in many applications to determine the amount and/or composition of various components and/or phases of multiphase substances and materials. One example of an application is multiphase metering of fluids. Components of a multiphase fluid often do not appear in the same phase of the fluid. Determining the amount and/or phase of each component without first separating the components or phases, as is presently the standard practice, can generate major cost savings. Eliminating equipment and unit processes, such as separators, especially for high pressures or large flow rates, can lead to significant cost reduction opportunity in both capital expenditure and operating cost.
Magnetic flow meters, Coriolis meters, Venturi meters, and differential pressure devices may measure total flow accurately, but are incapable of three-phase measurements. Gamma ray meters may also be used for this purpose, but a radioactive source, typically Cs-137, may be required, having associated safety and other regulatory issues. Acoustic tomography using either sound transmission or a Doppler type of measurement has been examined, where high frequency (˜1 MHz or above) ultrasonic transducer pairs are arranged along the circumference of a pipe through which a multiphase fluid is flowing. This allows the measurement of gas content in a horizontal plane. Such systems are complicated, computationally intensive, error prone and impractical for regular use.
Doppler measurements may be used if the gas density is not too high. The complexity is readily appreciated by examining the multiphase regimes. As mentioned above, conventional ultrasonic measurements use frequencies greater than several hundreds of kilohertz to more typically in the Megahertz range. A sound wavelength for a 1 MHz frequency is, for instance, 1.5 mm in water and slightly lower in oil. This wavelength is of the same order of magnitude as that of the gas bubbles; therefore, the signal is strongly scattered making measurements complicated. Individual bubbles can affect the measurement, and it is not possible to integrate the results for an accurate gas volume fraction, and the like. Therefore, a need exists for a simple, inexpensive apparatus for performing multi-phase measurements, e.g., three-phase measurements.

Apparatus and method for shaped waveform interrogation


A silicon carbide semiconductor device includes a silicon carbide layer, an insulating layer, a Schottky electrode, and a reaction region. The silicon carbide layer includes a p type region in contact with a first main surface and an n type region in contact with the p type region and the first main surface. The insulating layer has a third main surface, a fourth main surface, and a side wall surface connecting the third main surface and the fourth main surface, and is in contact with the first main surface at the fourth main surface. The Schottky electrode is in contact with the first main surface and the side wall surface. The reaction region is in contact with the insulating layer, the Schottky electrode, and the p type region. The reaction region contains an element constituting the Schottky electrode, an element constituting the insulating layer, silicon, and carbon.

In recent years, in order to achieve high breakdown voltage, low loss, and utilization under a high temperature environment of semiconductor devices such as a Schottky barrier diode (hereafter referred to as an SBD), silicon carbide has begun to be adopted as a material for a semiconductor device. Silicon carbide is a wide band gap semiconductor having a band gap larger than that of silicon, which has been conventionally widely used as a material for semiconductor devices. Hence, by adopting silicon carbide as a material for a semiconductor device, the semiconductor device can have a high breakdown voltage, reduced on-resistance, and the like. Further, the semiconductor device thus adopting silicon carbide as its material has characteristics less deteriorated even under a high temperature environment than those of a semiconductor device adopting silicon as its material, advantageously.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 3-185870 (PTD 1) describes an SBD made of silicon, having an insulating film with a taper formed on an n type layer, and an electrode film in contact with the taper portion and the n type layer. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 3-185870 also describes that, when the insulating film is formed to be tapered, it is easy to alleviate an electric field, but it is difficult to obtain a high breakdown voltage.
Further, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2-151067 (PTD 2) discloses a junction barrier Schottky diode (hereafter referred to as a JBS) made of silicon, having PN junctions selectively provided in contact with a barrier metal. The JBS is formed to prevent depletion layers formed by adjacent PN junctions from coupling with each other and interrupting a forward current at the time of forward bias, and is configured such that the depletion layers formed by the adjacent PN junctions couple with each other and interrupt a reverse leakage current at the time of reverse bias.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-101039 (PTD 3) describes an SBD made of silicon carbide, having an insulating film, an electrode, a field plate which is in contact with a surface of the insulating film and is electrically connected with the electrode, an edge termination layer, a RESURF layer, and a guard ring layer. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-101039 describes that, by forming the guard ring layer having a low impurity concentration comparable to that of the RESURF layer around the RESURF layer, the guard ring can serve to suppress a reduction in breakdown voltage when the impurity concentration of the RESURF layer is higher than an optimum value.


A radial power divider-combiner is disclosed. The divider-combiner includes a divider and a combiner. An input signal is provided to a transmission antenna that radiates the input signal inside the divider. Within the divider, the input signal is divided into a plurality of individual signals. The individual signals are received by receiving antennas and provided to respective amplifiers. The amplifiers amplify the respective individual signals by a desired amplification factor. The amplified individual signals are provided to a plurality of transmitting antennas within the combiner. Inside the combiner, the amplified individual signals are combined to form an output signal that is received by a receiving antenna in the combiner.

Solid-state power-amplifier modules (SSPAs) have a variety of uses. For example, SSPAs may be used in satellites to amplify severely attenuated ground transmissions to a level suitable for processing in the satellite. SSPAs may also be used to perform the necessary amplification for signals transmitted to other satellites in a crosslink application, or to the earth for reception by ground based receivers. SSPAs are also suitable for ground-based RF applications requiring high output power.
Typical SSPAs achieve signal output levels of more than 10 watts. Because a single amplifier chip cannot achieve this level of power without incurring excessive size and power consumption, modem SSPA designs typically use a radial splitting and combining architecture in which the signal is divided into a number of individual parts. Each individual part is then amplified by a respective amplifier. The outputs of the amplifiers are then combined into a single output that achieves the desired overall signal amplification.
Additionally, a typical power-combiner, such as the in-phase Wilkinson combiner or the 90-degree branch-line hybrid, in which a number of binary combiners are cascaded, becomes very lossy and cumbersome when the number of combined amplifiers becomes large. For example, to combine eight amplifiers using a conventional, binary microstrip branch-line hybrid at Ka-band (˜26.5 GHz), the combiner microstrip trace tends to be about six inches long and its loss tends to exceed 3 dB. It should be understood that a 3-dB insertion loss means that half of the RF power output is lost. Such losses are unacceptable for most applications.
To overcome these loss and size problems, many approaches, including the stripline radial combiner, oversized coaxial waveguide combiner, and quasi-optical combiner, have been investigated. The stripline radial combiner, using multi-section impedance transformers and isolation resistors, still suffers excessive loss at Ka-band, mainly because of the extremely thin substrate (<10 mil) required at Ka-band. The coaxial waveguide approach uses oversized coaxial cable, which introduces moding problems and, consequently, is useful only at low frequencies. The quasi-optical combiner uses hard waveguide feed horns at both the input and output to split and combine the power. The field distribution of a regular feed horn is not uniform, however, with more energy concentrated near the beam center. To make field distribution uniform, these waveguide feed horns require sophisticated dielectric loading and, consequently, become very large and cumbersome.
It would be desirable, therefore, if there were available low-loss, low-cost, radial power divider/combiners that could be used in designing high-frequency (e.g., Ka-band) SSPAs.


A method and apparatus for increasing the processing speed or decreasing circuit complexity (or both) of a digital image processor by eliminating the conventional multiplication operation from the RGB to YUV and YUV to RGB transforms having NTSC compatible equation coefficients. In particular, the change of color-basis matrix for converting RGB data to obtain YUV data is factored into a scale factor and a coefficient matrix. The coefficient matrix contains coefficients such that its product with the RGB input vector can be performed using only seven binary additions and five shift operations. This process effectively removes the conventional multiplication operations from the RGB to YUV conversion. The scale factor is conveniently absorbed into the quantization of the YUV data before transmission. The quantization process includes a multiplication already and the two multiplication steps are folded into one step. Therefore, the absorption of the scale factor into the quantization step does not increase the processing time because no multiplication steps are added. This process of factoring the transform matrix is also applied to the inverse transform process. In the inverse transform process the change of color-basis matrix for converting YUV data to RGB data is such that its implementation reduced to five addition steps and two shift steps, again effectively eliminating the conventional multiplication operations. Also, the diagonal matrix is absorbed into the descaling process so that no multiplication steps are added to the inverse transform process.

The display and transmission of visual images is increasingly important for modern communications. In particular, it is important for modern computer driven displays to receive, transmit, and display sequences of images in rapid succession such as is shown in movies. The quality of the visual display can be improved by representing the visual images in a digital format. Generally, a visual image can be represented by dividing the image into sufficiently small picture elements, called pixels, and assigning to each pixel a color and a value representing the intensity of the color for the pixel. For example, a typical 8 inch by 10 inch visual image may be divided into a two dimensional array of 768 by 1024 pixels wherein each pixel is further divided into 3 subpixels. The three subpixels are each associated with one of the three primary colors red, green, or blue. Each subpixel is assigned a digital value corresponding to the intensity level for the color of the subpixel. The subpixels are small enough such that the human eye does not resolve each subpixel. Rather, the image presented by a pixel to the viewer is some combination of the three colors associated with each subpixel weighted by the intensity value for each subpixel color. As a result, the visual image is represented by three two dimensional matrices of intensity values.
This digital image represents a high quality image because the pixels are small. However, as the pixel gets smaller, there are more pixels for the same size image and more intensity values to store, manipulate, and transmit. The fact that more pixels requires more data also results in a reduction in the ability to transmit images because the amount of data for each image transmitted is so large. As a result, various efforts have been made to transform RGB data into another form of data which can be transmitted and stored efficiently and which can also be re-transformed back into RGB data for display. The new form of data most often chosen relates the RGB data to a luminance value and two chrominance values. In particular, the luminance value represents the intensity of a pixel on a grey scale which provides an accurate representation of the image to a monochrome display. The luminance value is obtained by weighting each intensity value of the RGB data and combining them. For example, the National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) standard luminance value Y=0.299R+0.587G+0.114B, wherein R is the red intensity value, G is the green intensity value, and B is the blue intensity value. The two chrominance values convey information which describes how the colors differ from monochrome. For example, the NTSC values are U=Y-B and V=Y-R. The RGB to YUV transform compacts most of the visual intensity information into the luminance variable. This effect is similar to viewing a color image on a monochrome monitor in that the viewer understands a significant portion of the image but does not understand it all. This effect is useful for reducing the amount of data representing the image because the YUV data can be digitally filtered and coded such that much of the chrominance data can be discarded and replaced with code values while the filtered and coded YUV data is still an accurate representation of the digitized image.
The Ensuing digital filtering eliminates unneeded data typically includes block transformations of each of the separate YUV components using a technique such as discrete cosine transforms (DCT). That is, each of the YUV components are subdivided into blocks of data which is then filtered. The output of the DCT filter is then further compressed through a coding technique. In addition to the DCT filter, the blocks of DCT output data are subsampled (typically 2-to-1 or 4-to-1) in the horizontal or vertical (or both) directions. Generally, not all the DCT output data is subsampled, but rather only the DCT output from the chrominance components are subsampled. The DCT output from the luminance component is generally left intact because it contains most of the image data.
The basic problem with the RGB to YUV transform is that even though the YUV form of the data can be conveniently filtered and compacted, transforming the RGB data into the YUV form requires several multiplications, additions and/or subtractions. This is a problem because each multiplication, addition or subtraction requires time for a computer processor to implement. Processing multiple operations for each pixel and processing thousands of pixels per image requires a significant amount of processor time. This amount of processor time can be large enough to degrade the rate at which sequential images can be displayed. One prior art solution to this problem is to replace the multiplication operations with look up tables. This may increase the speed of the RGB to YUV transformation because look up tables may reduce the time required for multiplication operations which often are much slower than additions or subtractions. Multiplications are often slower than additions or subtractions because multiplications in the binary number system are typically a series of bit shift and add operations so that the time for each multiplication is a multiple of an add operation. Also, special purpose multiplication hardware is much more complex than special purpose fixed point addition, subtraction and shift hardware. Even though a look up table decreases the number multiplication operations, the look up table itself is not very fast. Moreover, many computer processors are very efficient in using the time between multiplication steps when performing many multiplications because of the pipelined structure of the processor. When look up tables are used in conjunction with computer processors, the pipelined structure can be disrupted and the overall efficiency of processing the RGB to YUV transform decreased even though the individual look up table operation is faster than the multiplication operation. Therefore, look up tables have not been very successful in increasing the speed of the RGB to YUV transform.
Another prior art technique for reducing the number of multiplications in an RGB to YUV transform is to rearrange the coefficients in the equations such that the multiplications are by factors of two. This is efficient because multiplication by a factor of two in a binary number system merely means bit shifting a number which is very fast. For example, if Y=0.25R+0.5G+0.25B, then the product of 0.25 and R can be achieved by bit shifting R two places to the right rather than actually multiplying the numbers. This bit shift operation significantly improves the speed of the RGB to YUV transformation by minimizing the multiplication time without changing the hardware. The problem with this technique is that the NTSC coefficients are chosen based on the sensitivity of the human eye. The human eye does not react equally to each of the three primary colors nor in proportion to the intensity of the three primary colors. This means that significantly changing the transform coefficients changes the effectiveness of the luminance variable. Such a color space change of variables may be significantly less effective for compression.

Digital image processor for color image transmission

International Business Machines Corporation


In one embodiment, a clean gas supply mechanism includes a supply path having an upstream end provided with a gas intake port, and a downstream end connected to a treatment chamber. The supply path is provided therein with a fan, and a filter disposed upstream of the fan. A return path branches from the supply path at a first position downstream of the fan and upstream of the treatment chamber and is connected to the supply path at a second position downstream of the filter and upstream of the fan. A switching mechanism selectively switches between a first state where the clean gas flows into the treatment chamber, and a second state where the clean gas returns to the supply path through the return path.

In semiconductor device fabricating processes, semiconductor wafers (hereinafter referred to simply as "wafers") are subjected to a cleaning treatment using, for example, a chemical liquid and a rinsing liquid. The cleaning treatment typically includes, for example, a chemical liquid treatment step, a deionized water (DIW) rinsing step, and a drying step performed in this order. Prior to, or in the beginnings of, the drying step, DIW on the wafer is substituted by isopropyl alcohol (IPA). To prevent generation of watermarks, humidity in the treatment chamber is reduced before performing the drying step. To create a low-humidity environment in the treatment chamber, low-humidity high-cleanliness air called clean dry air (CDA) is supplied into the treatment chamber (see JP2007263485A).
Producing the CDA (hereinafter referred to as "dry air") costs high. Thus, in the chemical liquid treatment step and the rinsing step in which the low-humidity environment is not required, clean air is supplied into the treatment chamber using a fan filter unit (FFU) disposed on a ceiling of the treatment chamber. Only in the drying step that requires the low-humidity environment, the dry air is supplied into the treatment chamber.
As is well known, the FFU draws air from outside the treatment chamber (air in a clean room) to form an airflow by using a fan, and filters the air by a filter provided in an airflow path to produce clean air.
If the FFU fan is stopped while the dry air is being supplied, it takes a long time for the flow of the clean air supplied from the FFU to be steadily formed in the treatment chamber, after the fan is restarted. From this viewpoint, preferably, the FFU fan is not stopped. As described in JP2007263485A, however, while the dry air is being supplied to the treatment chamber, the clean air having humidity higher than that of dry air should not be supplied into the treatment chamber. Therefore, if the FFU fan is always kept operated, a blocking damper disposed in the FFU airflow path is closed. In order to prevent increase of the internal pressure in the airflow path upstream of the blocking damper at this time, air in the airflow path is discarded from an air vent opening disposed upstream of the fan. If the filter is disposed upstream of the fan, fresh air always flows through the filter, which shortens a service life of the filter.

Liquid treatment apparatus including return path and switching mechanism


An inkjet printer includes: (a) a head unit having ejecting portions and operable to eject a plurality of kinds of inks through the ejecting portions; (b) a discharger for discharging the inks through the ejecting portions; and (c) a communication controller. The discharger includes: (b-1) a cap selectively placeable in a contact state in which the cap is held in contact with the head unit, and in a separate state in which the cap is separated from the head unit; (b-2) a suction pump; and (b-3) a connector connecting the cap and the suction pump. The cap defines therein ink storage chambers in which the respective kinds of inks are to be stored. The connector includes passage definers defining respective discharge passages each communicating the corresponding ink storage chamber and a chamber of the suction pump. The communication controller allows communication between at least two of the ink storage chambers when the cap is placed in the separate state, and inhibits the communication between the at least two ink storage chambers when the cap is placed in the contact state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet printer equipped with an ink discharger which is operable to discharge an waste ink from a head unit of the inkjet printer.
2. Discussion of Related Art
An inkjet printer, using an inkjet principle, is easily adapted to meet a demand for a high gradation or colorization, owing to simplicity of the principle. Thus, the inkjet printer is easily arranged to perform not only a monochrome printing operation but also a full-color printing operation, by employing an ink head unit coping with a plurality of different color inks. Such an inkjet printer could suffer clogging of nozzles of an ink head unit with a thickened or dried ink sticking to or accumulated in the nozzles. There is known an inkjet printer equipped with a waste ink discharger which is operable to discharge the ink through the nozzles at a predetermined cycle or as needed, for recovering an ink ejection performance of the head unit. The waste ink discharging operation is carried out, for example, by sucking the ink through the nozzles.
As the ink commonly used in the inkjet printer, there are a pigment ink and a dye ink. The pigment ink is dried or solidified easier than the dye ink. In the inkjet printer equipped with the conventional ink discharger, the pigment ink and the dye ink are sucked through respective receiver caps as the conventional ink discharger which are arranged to cover a nozzle opening surface of the head unit, for sucking the inks through the nozzles. That is, the pigment ink and the dye ink are discharged independently of each other.
Since the pigment ink is easily dried and solidified, the pigment ink could be easily solidified in the receiver cap and/or in a tube connected to the receiver cap, thereby making it difficult to sufficiently generate a suction pressure for sucking the waste inks. In view of such a problem, there is proposed an arrangement, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,422 (or corresponding to JP-2001-253095A), in which a pigment-ink receiver cap is arranged to receive the dye ink as well as the pigment ink, so that a mixture of the inks which is hardly dried and solidified is sucked by a suction pump connected to the receiver cap, so as to be discharged toward a chamber of the suction pump. In this arrangement, the pigment-ink receiver cap is arranged to first receive the pigment ink and then receive the dye ink, thereby requiring movement of one of the receiver cap and the head unit relative to the other, after receipt of the pigment ink and before receipt of the dye ink. Thus, the arrangement requires a large length of time for receiving the inks.

Inkjet printer including discharger with cap


A light bulb changing tool is provided which consists of an elongated pipe to be held by one hand of a person. An annular head is connected to an upper end of the pipe. A finger clamp assembly is carried within the annular head. A handle is slidable within a lower end of the pipe and is depressible by another hand of the person. A structure is coupled to the handle within the pipe for operating the finger clamp assembly. The finger clamp assembly can grip a light bulb to install and remove the light bulb from a lighting fixture at an elevated position from a floor. A guide assembly having a suction cup for also gripping the light bulb is carried within the finger clamp assembly to center and stabilize the light bulb within the clamp assembly.

The instant invention relates generally to light bulb removing devices and more specifically it relates to a light bulb changing tool.
Numerous light bulb removers have been provided in prior art that are adapted to install and remove electrical lamps from lighting fixtures by people standing on floors beneath the lighting fixtures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,085 to Unger; U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,835 to Unger et al. and U.S. Pat. Des. 297,499 to Whitney all are illustrative of such prior art. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.


A delivery server comprises: a reception unit configured to receive sets of meter indication data of a plurality of gas meters; a storage device configured to store the respective sets of meter indication data; a gas usage calculating unit configured to calculate a gas usage on a basis of comparison between corresponding sets of meter indication data; a first rate-of-change calculating unit configured to calculate a rate of change in a past gas usage consumed in each of a plurality of supply facilities on a basis of comparison between a plurality of gas usages in a time of earlier than a meter indication date of the received sets of meter indication data by a predetermined period of time; and a prediction unit configured to modify the gas usage in accordance with the rate of change and predict the modified gas usage as a prospective gas usage to be consumed.

It is known that supply of LP gas is based on imports from gas producing countries and domestic production as a by-product in the course of producing petroleum products. Petroleum refining terminals and import terminals for storing LP gas carried from gas producing countries by tankers are respectively referred to as primary terminals. LP gas is loaded into domestic vessels and/or tank trucks in the primary terminals and is shipped to secondary terminals located on the coast or inland as hub terminals for LP gas transportation. Further, LP gas carried to the secondary terminals is transported to LP gas filling stations in various locations, i.e., delivery branches, and is then injected into gas cylinders (gas canisters) in the delivery branches.
The gas cylinders, filled with LP gas in the respective filling stations, are delivered to customers' places such as residential houses, apartment houses and work places by deliverymen. Empty gas cylinders in the customers' places are replaced with full gas cylinders, and are brought back to the respective filling stations. In each filling station, a fixed delivery area is assigned to each deliveryman as an area of which he/she is in charge. Each deliveryman is given delivery tickets to be delivered to customers' places within his/her responsible delivery area in 2 to 10 days.
The delivery tickets are created by a delivery manager. First, the amount of LP gas remaining in each gas cylinder is predicted based on a past gas usage history of each customer, a meter indication of a gas meter in each customer's place, a delivery history and so forth, and the next delivery due date of each gas cylinder is determined. The number of gas cylinders to be delivered in 2 to 10 days is determined by accumulating the number of gas cylinders of all the customers within the delivery area of which each deliveryman is in charge.
In replacing a gas cylinder based on a delivery ticket, a deliveryman fills in the respective items of the delivery ticket including a replacement date, a meter indication on the date, a cylinder number and a safety inspection. When a daily delivery work is finished, delivery tickets are handed in to the delivery manager. The delivery manager checks if each delivery ticket returned to him/her includes incomplete items, and then, stores each checked delivery ticket as data for calculating the next delivery due date. Under the aforementioned mechanism, a system for enhancing efficiency in delivery of a gas cylinder has been proposed (see PTL 1).
As disclosed in PTL 1, the system for enhancing efficiency in delivery of a gas cylinder has conventionally existed, but has had a problem that prospective gas demand could not have been predicted with better accuracy.

Gas demand prediction system and gas demand prediction method


A wheel support for a bicycle and a bicycle are disclosed. The wheel support includes a first end and a second end. The first end is configured to support the bicycle, and the second end is configured to be tamper evident and to support a wheel. The bicycle includes a frame, a wheel, and the wheel support.

The present disclosure relates to a bicycle and/or a wheel support for a bicycle.
Many bicycles have a quick release assembly for securing a hub of a wheel to a wheel support of the bicycle. However, the quick release assembly can accidentally release or fail if the bicycle is subjected to a jarring force such as that occurring when the bicycle wheel encounters a pot hole or a bump on the road. Typically, the wheel support includes a safety retention device for holding the hub in the wheel support even if the quick release assembly accidentally releases or fails.
Sometimes the safety retention device on the wheel support is tampered with (i.e., completely or substantially removed by grinding, filing, sanding and so forth) so that quick release assembly can release the wheel from the wheel support more rapidly. For example, this often happens in the case when the bicycle is resold and the previous owner forgets to tell the subsequent owner that the bicycle has been altered by the removal of the safety retention device(s). Thus, the rider often does not realize that someone has tampered with the safety retention device of the wheel support. Without the retention device, if the quick release assembly inadvertently or accidentally releases or fails, then the wheel can separate from the wheel support, which can cause substantially injury or even death to the rider.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a wheel support that is tamper evident.