In a video-coding and video-decoding device, motion-compensated interframe prediction is achieved by determining motion vectors of respective pixels according to representative motion vectors with weighting, and determining accurate motion vectors between video frames, dividing each frame into areas optimal to an objective figure, size and location and performing effective encoding and decoding of the motion vectors. According to the invention a motion-compensated interframe predicting portion generates a predicted video-frame by varying codable area according to a reference video-frame received from a frame memory portion and an input video frame and obtains side-information. A motion vector searching portion searches a motion vector. An effective-area selecting portion selects a valid or invalid mask depending upon a position of a processable object, divides a processable area of the input video frame into suitable areas, a variable-area predicted-frame generating portion generates a predicted frame by affine transformation and translational displacement. An area-diving pattern deciding portion outputs side-information such as the predicted image, motion vectors and divided areas, a side-information coding portion encodes an additional motion vector as a difference from an average basic-motion vector or predictively encodes a motion vector from a median value of three neighboring motion-vectors. A difference between the input video-frame and the predicted video-frame from the predicting portion is encoded, transferred and stored.

The recent progress of high-speed digital signal processing systems with advances in LSI technology and development of video processing technique has meet an increasing interest for more effective usage of video information. In the field of telecommunications, construction and development of digital networks that is represented by ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network) have realized video communications services such as videophones, video conferencing services, video data base services and so on. Furthermore, the spread of mobile communications networks with advances in digital information technology has increased users' need to realize mobile video communications services.
It is impractical to handle video information because the video information generally contains a very large amount of information. However, it is possible to reduce the amount of video information by reducing redundancy of the video information. High efficient video compression techniques are particularly important to the mobile communications networks that have a small amount of transmission line capacity. By this reason, international organizations ITU-T and ISO/IEC have energetically work to settle international standards on video coding methods for encoding video signal at a very low bit-rate.
A video signal contains time-sequential information such as a change of motion in picture and spatial information concerning a content of one frame (video frame or video field; both will be hereinafter called a frame), each of them has a redundancy. A motion compensative interframe prediction with orthogonal transform encoding method that has been preferably used is such that the temporal redundancy of information is first reduced through the interframe prediction with motion compensation. According to the principle of the motion compensative interframe prediction encoding method, the motion compensative interframe predicting portion prepares predicted value of an input video signal from an already encoded signal stored in a frame memory and outputs a difference between the predicted value and the input video signal as a prediction error signal. A prediction error signal encoding portion encodes the prediction error signal by orthogonal transforming method to further reduce spatial redundancy of the information. The encoded prediction error signal is locally decoded, then stored in the frame memory and is used for prediction of a proceeding frame.
In very low bit-rate video encoding, it is necessary to represent a video-signal with a very small amount of information. An amount of information allocated to the orthogonal transform encoding (i.e. prediction error encoding), therefore, is considerably limited. Accordingly, it is very important to improve the efficiency of the interframe prediction by using an interframe prediction method that can more correctly predict a change of a video signal with time.
In the latest years, many studies have been made on interframe prediction methods using affine transformation and bilinear transformation. While the motion compensative interframe prediction method represents a movement contained in a video as a translational motion by using a motion vector per unit-area, the method using the affine transformation and bilinear transformation can more accurately represent a movement in a video, i.e., with increased prediction efficiency since it can represent movement, rotation, enlargement and deformation.
An interframe predicting portion of the conventional video-coding device comprises a frame memory portion for storing already coded video signals, a motion vector detecting portion for determining a representative motion vector per unit area from a difference between an input video signal and a video signal read from the frame memory portion, a motion vector interpolating portion for determining a motion vector per pixel from the representative motion vector and a pixel value predicting portion for preparing a predicted video signal from a video signal read from the frame memory portion by using the motion vector per pixel.
The operation of the above-mentioned interframe predicting portion is as follows:
The frame memory portion stores already coded video signals as reference video frames for interframe prediction. The motion vector detecting portion receives an input video-frame signal to be encoded and reads a reference video frame stored in the frame memory. The motion vector detecting portion divides the coding video frame into unit-areas and scans the reference video frame to find an area most similar to a current coding unit-area. A displacement of a unit-area of the coding video-frame from the area found in the reference video frame is outputted as a motion vector. The motion vector is a representative motion vector representing a interframe displacement of a representative point within a unit-area (usually, a center of the unit-area). The relationship between a representative point and a vector searched unit-area are specified. In searching a similar area in a reference video frame, a sum of differential absolute values or a square-sum of differential values of each pixel in a unit-area is used as a scale of similarity. Furthermore, a center portion of the unit-area may be weighted by multiplying a differential pixel value at the center portion of the unit-area by a large coefficient and a differential pixel value at the periphery thereof by a small coefficient prior to summation so as to more accurately determine a displacement of the representative point.
The representative motion vector is transferred to the motion vector interpolating portion which in turn determines motion vectors for respective pixels using the received representative motion vectors. For affine transformation, a motion vector for each pixel existing within a triangle area surrounded by three neighboring representative points (hereinafter called transformable unit-area) is determined by solving an affine transformation expression from the representative motion vectors of the respective representative points. For bilinear transformation, a motion vector for each pixel existing within a quadrangular area surrounded by four neighboring representative points (hereinafter called transformable unit-area) is determined by solving a bilinear transformation expression from the representative motion vectors of the respective representative points. For a transformation unit-area being quadrangular or rectangular, it is equivalent that a motion vector value of each representative point is distributed in a vertical direction and a horizontal direction in proportion to an a distance between a remarked pixel and a representative point.
The pixel value predicting portion receives the (remarked) pixel motion vectors inputted pixel by pixel and, considering the motion vectors to be a displacement of the remarked pixel from its corresponding position in the reference frame, reads a pixel value at the corresponding position from the frame memory as a predicted value of the remarked pixel to compose a predicted frame. If the pixel value indicates a position in the reference frame, where no pixel exists, e.g., the pixel motion vector (displacement) is a decimal fraction, a neighboring pixel value in the reference frame is read-out from the frame memory and a predicted value of the remarked pixel is determined as an interpolating value according to a known bilinear interpolation method.
In a simplified structure of an interframe predicting portion of a conventional video-decoding device using affine and bilinear transformation method, the interframe predicting portion of the conventional decoding device comprises a frame memory portion for storing already decoded video signals, a motion-vector interpolating portion for determining a motion vector of each pixel from a representative motion vector inputted for each unit-area, a pixel value predicting portion for preparing a predicted video signal from a video signal read from a frame memory by using the pixel motion vectors.
The conventional video coding and decoding devices may show an excellent performance if an entire area surrounded by representative points can be represented by the same parameters of affine transformation and bilinear transformation. However, in the case of positions of the representative points being different from changes between video frames, e.g., positions and movement of an object, representative motion vectors of the representative points represent different movements of different frame object resulting in that a motion vector of a pixel, obtained from the representative motion vector, can not represent an adequate displacement of the pixel. Consequently, the conventional art device in this case may suffer a considerably decreased efficiency of interframe prediction, i.e., coding efficiency.
Video communication services, e.g., videophones and video conferencing have been realized over high-speed digital communication networks such as ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network).
Recently, with the spread of radio transmission networks represented by PHS (Personal Handyphone System), progress of data modulation/demodulation techniques for PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) and advance of image compressing techniques, there have been increasing demands for video communication services over lower bit-rate transmission lines.
Video communication services like video telephones and a video conferencing system must transmit a very large amount of information over limited transmission lines. Accordingly, it is necessary to reduce an amount of information by compressing and to encode the video information in view of transmission speed and costs of usable transmission lines.
As well known, H.261, MPEG-1 (Moving Picture Coding Expert Group) and MPEG-2 are internationally established standard coding methods for compressing video information. In addition, MPEG-4 is now promoted to be standardized a method for coding at a very low bit-rate of not more than 64 kbps.
The standardized video-coding methods adopt a hybrid video coding method performing interframe prediction coding in combination with intraframe prediction coding.
The interframe prediction coding is to generate a predictive video-frame from a reference video-frame and encode a difference of the predictive frame from a current video-frame to reduce an amount of codes to be transmitted. This enables using effective use of transmission lines.
The interframe predictive coding is known as be a block-matching method, an affine transformation method and a warping prediction method. A conventional video-coding and video-decoding device using the affine transformation will be described as follows:
The operation of the conventional video-coding device is first explained below.
It is assumed that a reference video frame usable for producing a predictive video-frame is stored in a frame memory portion in a normal operating condition of the conventional video-coding device for conducting the motion-compensated interframe predictive coding.
An input video frame enters into a subtracting portion and a motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion. The motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion determines a predictive motion from the reference video-frame stored in the frame memory portion and the input video-frame and outputs a predicted video-frame to the subtracting portion.
The subtracting portion subtracts from the input video-frame the predicted video-frame entered by the motion-compensated interframe predicting portion and outputs the subtraction result, i.e., predicted error information to a video coding portion.
The video coding portion spatially transforms the input predicted-error-information, e.g., by using DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform), quantizes the transformed information and outputs coded video-information. At the same time, the coded video-information outputted from the video coding portion is locally decoded by a video-decoding portion and is then transferred to the adder portion.
The adder portion adds the predicted video-information outputted from the video-decoding portion to the predicted error-information outputted from the motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion to form a new reference video-frame which is then transferred to the frame memory portion.
The frame memory portion stores therein the new reference video-frame outputted from the adding portion. This new reference video-frame is given to the motion-compensated interframe predicting portion when encoding a succeeding input video-frame.
The video coding device outputs a series of coded video information (predicted error information) and a series of coded side-information by repeating the above-mentioned sequence of operations.
The operation of the conventional video-decoding device is now described below.
It is assumed that a reference video-frame usable for producing a predictive video-frame is stored in a frame memory portion in a normal operating condition of the conventional video-coding device for conducting the motion-compensated interframe predictive coding. Coded video-information inputted into the video-decoding device enters into a video-decoding portion which decodes the coded-video information by performing the same operations as the video-decoding portion of the video-coding device and outputs the obtained differential video-frame to an adder portion.
Coded side-information inputted into the video-decoding device enters into a motion-compensated interframe predicting portion.
The motion-compensated interframe predicting portion decodes the received coded side-information and obtains motion vectors, then it produces a predicted video-frame by using the obtained motion vectors and a reference video-frame read from the frame memory portion and transfers the produced predicted video-frame to an adder portion.
The adder portion obtains an output video-frame by adding the differential video-frame from the video-decoding portion to the predicted video-frame from the motion-compensated interframe predicting portion. The output video-frame is outputted from the video-decoding device and at the same time is transferred to the frame memory.
The frame memory stores therein the video-frame inputted from the adder portion as a new reference video-frame that will be used by the motion-compensated interframe predicting portion when decoding a proceeding video-frame.
The video decoding device realizes outputting a series of decoded video-frames by repeating the above-mentioned sequential operations.
The operation of a motion-compensated interframe predicting portion in a video-coding device and a video-decoding device and prior arts applied therein will be described below.
An exemplified structure of a motion-compensated interframe predicting portion and its operation will be first described as follows:
The motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion comprises a motion-vector searching portion, a fixed-area predicted-frame generating portion and a motion-vector coding portion.
The motion-vector searching portion searches motion vectors in an input video-frame and a reference video-frame read from a frame memory and outputs the detected motion-vectors to the fixed-area-size predicted-frame generating portion.
When searching motion vectors, the motion-vector searching portion searches a motion vector of a control grid point by previously weighting a center pixel of a processable area and outputs a motion vector of each control grid point to the fixed-area-size predicted-frame generating portion.
According to the conventional method, a processable area has a fixed size with control grid points set one for 16 or 8 pixels.
The fixed-area-size predicted-frame generating portion performs interframe prediction on each processable area having a fixed size (generally in a rectangular block of 16.times.16 pixels) by using motion vectors inputted from the motion vector searching portion and a preceding video-frame read from the frame memory portion.
The interframe prediction is realized by determining affine parameters from positions of three vertex points of each objective triangular area, performing affine transformation on every pixel existing within the triangular area and repeating the same processing on all processable triangular areas to produce a predicted video-frame.
The produced predicted video-frame is transferred to the before-described subtracting portion and adder portion. The motion vectors are transferred to the motion vector coding portion.
The motion vector coding portion encodes the motion vectors received from the fixed-area predicted-frame generating portion and outputs them as coded side-information.
The motion-vector coding device encodes the motion vectors by the following method:
Motion vectors are generally encoded not directly but by predictive method. Namely, a predictive value of each codable objective motion vector is determined and a difference between the predicted value and the motion vector value is encoded. By doing so, the efficiency of coding can be improved with a saved amount of information.
The most simple method of determining a predicted value is such that just coded vector value is adopted as a predicted value of a proceeding motion-vector. According to this method, differences of two successive neighboring motion vectors are encoded in turn. By reason of a high correlation between motion vectors, it is possible to effectively encode motion vectors particularly in the case when neighboring motion vectors have similar values. This prediction coding method is adopted in a motion-vector coding method defined by ITU-T Recommendation H.261.
Another method is to determine a predicted value from a plurality of motion vectors including a just-preceding vector. In this case, a prediction value is determined by using values of three motion-vectors which are located, respectively, left, just above and above right from a coding objective motion-vector. The prediction value may be a mean value or a median of three values of the three neighboring motion-vectors. In comparison with the predicting method using only just-preceding motion vector this method can use a wider range of correlation, i.e., higher correlation of motion vectors, attaining a further improved coding efficiency. The video coding system defined by the ITU-T Recommendation H.263 adopts the prediction method for coding predicted a motion vector by using a median of the three motion-vector values, which is well known to be more effective.
The structure and operation of a motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion of a conventional video-decoding device will now described as follows:
The motion-compensated interframe predicting portion is composed of a fixed-area-size predicted-frame generating portion and a motion-vector coding portion.
Coded side-information inputted into the motion-compensated interframe predicting portion is transferred to the motion-vector coding portion which in turn decodes the received coded side-information, obtains motion vectors and outputs the motion vectors to the fixed-area-size predicted-frame generating portion.
The fixed-area-size predicted-frame generating portion performs interframe prediction processing by using the motion vectors received from the motion vector decoding portion and a reference video-frame received from the frame memory portion.
Interframe prediction is to determine affine parameters from positions of three vertices of an objective triangular area and motion vectors and then to perform affine transformation of all pixels within the triangular area by using the determined affine parameters. This processing is repeated on all objective triangular areas to generate a predicted video-frame.
The fixed-area-size predicted-frame generating portion outputs the obtained predicted video-frame to an adder portion.
Some kinds of methods used for motion-compensated interframe prediction in the above-mentioned video-coding and video-decoding devices will be described below.
A motion vector searching method is as follows:
A so-called "pixel-matching" method that weights generally a center pixel in a processable area is used for determining a motion vector of a control grid point. The processable area is composed of 21 pixels for instance each in X-direction and Y-direction. The pixel matching is such that an area of a reference frame, which matches with the processable area of a current frame is determined by calculation and then motion vectors are determined as displacement values in X-direction and Y-direction. In matching calculation, a difference between the processable area of the current video-frame and the matched area of the reference frame processable is multiplied by a weighting coefficient. By doing so, motion vectors are searched putting a weight on a center pixel in the processable area.
Motion vectors at control grid points located at the periphery of a video-frame are set as follows:
Motion vectors at quadrangular control grid points: PA1 Motion vectors at the top and bottom control grid points: PA1 Motion vectors at the left-side and right-side control-grid points: PA1 (1) a video coding device comprising frame memory means for storing already encoded video signals, motion vector detecting means for determining a representative motion vector per unit-area from a difference between an input video signal and a video signal read from the frame memory means, motion vector interpolating means for determining a motion vector per pixel from the representative motion vector, pixel value predicting means for preparing a predicted video signal from a video signal read from the frame memory means by using the motion vector per pixel, wherein weighting coefficient control means for instructing the vector interpolating means to weight a representative motion vector is provided for determining a weighting coefficient for each representative motion vector determined by the motion vector detecting means and instructing the motion vector interpolating means to weight each representative motion vector; PA1 (2) a video-coding device as defined in item (1), characterized in that the weighting coefficient control means selects one of previously prepared patterns of weighting coefficients for representative vectors and instructs the motion vector interpolating means; PA1 (3) a video-coding device as defined in any one of items (1) and (2), characterized in that the weight coefficient control means determines a vector weighting coefficient according to a direction of each representative motion vector; and PA1 (4) a video-coding device as defined in any one of items (1) and (2), characterized in that the weighting coefficient control means determines a vector weighting coefficient according to a vector value of each representative motion vector. PA1 (5) a video decoding device comprising frame memory means for storing already decoded video signals, vector interpolating means for determining a motion vector per pixel from a representative motion vector inputted per unit area, pixel value predicting means for preparing a predicted video signal from a video signal read from the frame memory means by using the motion vector per pixel, wherein weighting coefficient control means for instructing the vector interpolating means to weight a representative motion vector is provided for determining a weighting coefficient for each representative motion vector instructing the motion vector interpolating means to weight each representative motion vector; PA1 (6) a video-decoding device as defined in item (5), characterized in that the weighting coefficient control means selects one of previously prepared patterns of weighting coefficients for representative vectors and instructs the motion vector interpolating means; and PA1 (7) a video-decoding device as defined in any one of items (5) and (6), characterized in that motion vector converting means is provided for determining a motion vector for a skipped frame from a representative motion vector inputted for a unit area of encoded image frame (screenful) and an interpolating video signal corresponding to an image frame thinned-out without having been encoded is prepared. PA1 (8) A video coding device, which is used for encoding predicted-error information representing a difference between an input video-frame and a predicted video-frame obtained by performing motion-compensated interframe prediction, and whose motion-compensated interframe predicting portion is provided with a variable-area predicted-frame generating portion for dividing a processable area of a video-frame into suitable areas according to motion vectors and a reference video-frame and generating a predicted frame by using affine transformation and an area-dividing pattern deciding portion for controlling dividing of a processable area and outputting a predicted video-frame and side-information such as motion vector information and area-dividing information; PA1 (9) A video-coding device, which is used for encoding predicted-error information representing a difference between an input video-frame and a predicted video-frame obtained by performing motion-compensated interframe prediction, and whose motion-compensated interframe predicting portion is provided with a variable-area predicted-frame generating portion for generating a predicted video-frame by translational displacement of a processable area and dividing a processable area of a video-frame into suitable areas according to motion vectors and a reference video-frame and generating a predicted frame by using affine transformation and an area-dividing pattern deciding portion for controlling dividing of a processable area and outputting a predicted video-frame and side-information such as motion vector information and area dividing information; PA1 (10) A video coding device, which is used for encoding predicted-error information determined as a difference between an input video-frame and an predicted video-frame obtained by executing motion-compensated interframe prediction, and whose motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion is provided with an effective-area selecting portion for selecting a valid processing mask or a invalid processing mask depending upon location of an objective area in a video-frame when searching a motion vector; PA1 (11) A video coding device, which has the same construction as defined in any one of (8) and (9) above and used for encoding predicted-error information determined as a difference between an input video-frame and an predicted video-frame obtained by executing motion-compensated interframe prediction, and whose motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion is further provided with an effective-area selecting portion for selecting a valid processing mask or a invalid processing mask depending upon location of an objective area in a video-frame when searching a motion vector; PA1 (12) A video coding device, which is used for encoding predicted error information determined as a difference between an input video-frame and an predicted video-frame obtained by executing motion-compensated interframe prediction, and whose motion-vector coding portion is provided with a side-information coding portion for encoding an additional motion vector as a difference from a mean of four basic motion-vectors; PA1 (13) A video coding device, which has the same construction as defined in any one of (8) and (9) above and wherein the motion-vector coding portion of the area-dividing pattern deciding portion is further provided with a side-information coding portion for encoding an additional motion vector as a difference from a mean of four basic motion-vectors; PA1 (14) A video coding device, which is used for encoding predicted error information determined as a difference between an input video-frame and an predicted video-frame obtained by executing motion-compensated interframe prediction, wherein a motion-vector coding portion is provided with a side-information coding portion for encoding an additional motion vector positioned between two basic motion-vectors as a difference from a mean of the two basic motion-vectors and encoding a center additional motion-vector as a difference from a mean of four basic motion-vectors; PA1 (15) A video coding device, which has the same construction as defined in any one of (8) and (9) above, wherein the motion-vector coding portion of the area-dividing pattern deciding portion is further provided with a side-information coding portion for encoding an additional motion vector positioned between two basic motion-vectors as a difference from a mean of the two basic motion-vectors and encoding a center additional motion-vector as a difference from a mean of four basic motion-vectors; PA1 (16) A video coding device, which is used for encoding predicted error information determined as a difference between an input video-frame and an predicted video-frame obtained by executing motion-compensated interframe prediction, and whose motion-vector coding portion is provided with a side-information coding portion for encoding an objective motion-vector value by prediction from values of three motion-vectors which are already encoded basic or additional motion-vectors existing at the left-side, the just upper-side and the upper right-side of the object motion vector; PA1 (17) A video coding device, which has the same construction as defined in (16) above, and whose motion-vector coding portion determines a mean of the three motion vectors as a predicted value of the objective motion-vector and encodes a difference between the objective motion-vector and the predicted value; PA1 (18) A video coding device, which has the same construction as defined in (16) above, and whose motion-vector coding portion determines a median of the three motion vectors as a predicted value of the objective motion-vector and encodes a difference between the objective motion-vector and the predicted value; PA1 (19) A video coding device, which has the same construction as defined in any one of (8) and (9) above, and whose area-dividing pattern deciding portion is further provided with the motion-vector coding portion defined in any one of (16), (17) and (18) above; PA1 (20) A video coding device, which has the same construction as defined in any one of (8), (9), (11), (13), (15) and (19) above, and whose motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion is further provided with an area-dividing pattern deciding portion for instructing kinds of dividing patterns of all areas to the variable-area predicted-frame generating portion, adopting an area-dividing pattern minimizing a predicted-error (error information value), outputting motion-vectors and area-dividing information to side-information coding portion and outputting a predicted video-frame; PA1 (21) A video coding device, which has the same construction as defined in any one of (8), (9), (11), (13), (15) and (19) above, and whose motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion is further provided with an area-dividing deciding portion which instructs the variable-area predicted-frame generating portion to divide an area into two small areas as an initial setting and/or make prediction by translational displacement, instructs the variable-area predicted-frame generating portion to more finely divide the area again if a predicted error (error information value) of a predicted-frame generated with the initial setting exceeds a preset threshold value, and which deciding portion outputs motion-vectors and area-dividing information to the side-information coding portion when the prediction error (error information value) became smaller than the preset threshold value, and also outputs a predicted video-frame; PA1 (22) A video decoding device, which has the same construction as defined in any one of (8), (9), (11), (20) and (21) above and is further provided with a subtracting portion whereto the input video frame and the predicted video-frame from the motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion are transferred, a video coding portion for encoding an error (differential) video-frame from the subtracting portion according to an instruction of the coding control portion, a video encoding portion for decoding a coded video frame from the video coding portion, an adder portion for adding a predicted video-frame from the motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion to a decoded video-frame from the video decoding portion and a frame memory for storing a reference video-frame from the adder portion and outputting stored information to the motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion; PA1 (23) A video decoding device, which is used for reproducing a video-frame from a coded side-information inputted from a video-coding device and a reference video-frame inputted from a frame memory, wherein a motion- compensated interframe-predicting portion for generating and outputting a predicted video-frame by changing a codable area-size is provided with a side-information decoding portion for decoding coded side-information from the video coding device and obtaining thereby motion-vectors and area-dividing information and a variable-area predicted video-frame generating portion for generating a predicted video-frame by using motion vectors and area dividing information from the side-information decoding portion and a reference video-frame from the frame memory; PA1 (24) A video decoding device, which is used for reproducing a video-frame from a coded side-information inputted from a video-coding device and a reference video-frame inputted from a frame memory, and which is further provided with a side-information decoding portion for decoding four basic motion-vectors contained in the side-information before decoding motion-vectors and for decoding additional motion-vectors representing a difference from a mean of the basic vectors; PA1 (25) A video decoding device, which has the same construction as defined in (16) above and whose side-information decoding portion decodes four basic motion-vectors contained in the side-information before decoding motion-vectors and for decoding additional motion-vectors representing a difference from a mean of the basic vectors; PA1 (26) A video decoding device, which is used for reproducing a video-frame from a coded side-information inputted from a video-coding device and a reference video-frame inputted from a frame memory, wherein a side-information decoding portion is provided for decoding four basic motion-vectors contained in the side-information before decoding motion-vectors and for decoding an additional motion-vector positioned between two basic motion-vectors as a difference from an obtained mean of the two basic motion-vectors and decoding a center additional motion-vector as a difference from an obtained mean of four basic motion-vectors; PA1 (27) A video decoding device, which has the same construction as defined in (16) above, and wherein a side-information decoding portion decodes four basic motion-vectors contained in the side-information before decoding motion-vectors and decodes an additional motion-vector positioned between two basic motion-vectors as a difference from an obtained mean of the two basic motion-vectors and decoding a center additional motion-vector as a difference from an obtained mean of four basic motion-vectors. PA1 (28) A video decoding device, which is used for reproducing a video-frame from a coded side-information inputted from a video-coding device and a reference video-frame inputted from a frame memory, and which is provided with a side-information decoding portion which decodes a objective motion-vector value by prediction from values of three motion-vectors which are already decoded basic or additional motion-vectors existing at the left-side, the just upper-side and the upper right-side of the object motion vector; PA1 (29) A video decoding device, which has the same construction as defined in (28) above, and whose side-information decoding portion determines a mean of the three motion-vectors as a predicted value of the objective motion-vector and obtains a motion-vector value of the decoded-object by adding the decoded difference value to the predicted value; PA1 (30) A video decoding device, which has the same construction as defined in (28) above, and whose side-information decoding portion determines a median of the three motion vectors as a predicted value of the objective motion-vector and obtains a decoded objective motion-vector value by adding the decoded difference value to the predicted value; PA1 (31) A video decoding device, which as defined in (23), and whose the side-information decoding portion is further provided with the motion-vector decoding system as defined in any one of (28), (29) and (30) above; PA1 (32) A video decoding device, which has the same construction as defined in any one of (23), (25), (27) and (31) above, and which is further provided with a video decoding portion for decoding a coded video-information inputted from a video coding device and outputting the decoded video-information, an adder portion for adding a decoded video-frame inputted from the video decoding portion to a predicted video-frame inputted from the motion-compensated interframe predicting portion and outputting an obtained video-frame as an output video-frame and a memory frame for storing a video-frame from the adder portion and for outputting said stored video-frame as a reference video-frame to the frame inputted from the motion-compensated interframe predicting portion. PA1 (33) a video coding device using adaptive motion-compensated interframe prediction, which comprises a predicting portion for generating a plurality of predictive images of small variable-size areas by applying different predicting methods to each of the small variable-size areas in the process of the motion-compensated interframe prediction and outputting the generated predictive images, an area prediction deciding portion for determining an adaptive area size and an adaptive prediction method according to a plurality of the predictive images received from the predicting portion and outputting side-information composed of area-information, prediction-mode information, motion-vectors and so on, and a side-information coding potion for encoding the side-information outputted from the area prediction deciding portion; PA1 (34) a video coding device using adaptive motion-compensated interframe prediction, which comprises a predicting portion for generating a plurality of predictive images of respective unit areas or further-divided subareas by applying different predicting methods to each of the unit areas or each of the subareas in the process of the motion-compensated interframe prediction and then outputting the the generated predictive images, an area prediction deciding portion for determining an area-information indicating whether the predicted images received from the predicting portion are unit-area images or subarea images and prediction methods applied to the respective predicted images and outputting side-information including area-information, prediction mode information, motion-vectors and the like, and a side-information coding portion for encoding the side-information received from the area prediction deciding portion; PA1 (35) a video coding device using adaptive motion-compensated interframe prediction, which comprises a predicting portion for generating a plurality of predictive images of respective variable-size small areas by using a block-displacement (overlapped motion-compensative) predicting method, an affine transform predicting method, bilinear transform predicting method and a background predicting method, etc. in the process of the motion-compensated interframe prediction and then outputting the generated predictive images, an area prediction deciding portion for determining an adaptive area area-size and an adaptive prediction method from the predictive images received from the predicting portion and outputting side-information including area-information, prediction mode information and motion-vectors, etc., and a side-information coding portion for encoding the side-information received from the area prediction deciding portion; PA1 (36) a video coding device using adaptive motion-compensated interframe prediction, which is provided with a predicting portion for diagonally dividing each encodable unit-area into two or four subareas, producing a predictive image for each subarea by affine transformation in the process of the motion-compensated interframe prediction and outputting the produced predicted images; PA1 (37) a video coding device using adaptive motion-compensated interframe prediction, which has the same functions as defined in any one of items (33), (34) and (35), and is provided with a predicting portion for diagonally dividing each encodable unit-area into two or four subareas, producing a predictive image for each subarea by affine transformation in the process of the motion-compensated interframe prediction and outputting the produced predicted images; PA1 (38) a video decoding device using adaptive motion-compensated interframe prediction, which comprises a side-information decoding portion for decoding coded side-information including area-information, prediction mode information and motion-vectors, etc. and outputting the decoded side-information, a predicting portion for generating a plurality of predictive images of small variable-size areas by applying different predicting methods to each of the small variable-size areas in the process of the motion-compensated interframe prediction and outputting the generated predictive images; and an area-prediction-mode selecting portion for generating an adaptive predictive image from a plurality of the predictive images received from the predicting portion according to the information received from the side-information decoding portion; PA1 (39) a video decoding device using adaptive motion-compensated interframe prediction, which comprises a side-information decoding potion for decoding coded side-information including area-information, prediction mode information and motion-vectors, etc. and outputting the decoded side-information, a predicting portion for generating a plurality of predictive images of respective decodable unit-areas or further-divided subareas by applying different predicting methods to each of the unit areas or each of the subareas in the process of the motion-compensated interframe prediction and then outputting the generated predictive images, and an area-prediction-mode selecting portion for generating an adaptive predictive image from a plurality of the predictive images received from the predicting portion according to the information received from the side-information decoding portion; PA1 (40) a video decoding device using adaptive motion-compensated interframe prediction, which comprises a side-information decoding potion for decoding coded side-information including area-information, prediction mode information and motion-vectors, etc. and outputting the decoded side-information; a predicting portion for generating a plurality of predictive images of respective decodable unit-area or further divided subareas by using a block-displacement (overlapped motion-compensative) predicting method, an affine transform predicting method, bilinear transform predicting method and a background predicting method, etc. in the process of the motion-compensated interframe compensated interframe prediction and then outputting the the generated predictive images, and an area-prediction-mode selecting portion for generating an adaptive predictive image from a plurality of the predictive images received from the predicting portion according to the information received from the side-information decoding portion; PA1 (41) a video decoding device using adaptive motion-compensated interframe prediction, which is provided with a predicting portion for diagonally dividing each decodable unit-area into two or four subareas, producing a predictive image for each subarea by affine transformation in the process of the motion-compensated interframe prediction and outputting the produced predicted images; and PA1 (42) a video decoding device using adaptive motion-compensated interframe prediction, which has the same functions as defined in any one of items (39) and (40) and is provided with a predicting portion for diagonally dividing each decodable unit-area into two or four subareas, producing a predictive image for each subarea by affine transformation in the process of the motion-compensated interframe prediction and then out a predictive image and outputting the produced predicted images.
X- and Y-components of each vector are set both at 0. PA2 An X-component is determined as an X-component of a motion vector detected at a control grid point one inside from an objective control grid point. A Y-component is set at 0. PA2 An X-component of each motion vector is set at 0.
A Y-component is determined as a Y-component of a motion vector detected at a control grid point one inside from an objective control grid point.
The affine transformation is described as follows:
The affine transformation is conducted by representing a map from a video-frame to another video-frame by using six parameters.
The affine transformation is conducted, for the sake of simplifying calculation of affine parameters, usually on a triangular area.
Motion vectors of control grid points A, B, C and D of the current video-frame are detected at corresponding control grid points A', B', C' and D' of a reference video-frame.
Three of four control grid points are first selected and an area is divided to determine affine parameters. For example, the area on the current video-frame is divided into two triangles ABC and BCD on the current video-frame and a corresponding area on the reference video-frame is divided into two angles A'B'C' and B'C'D'.
On the triangles into which the area is divided, affine parameters are determined from vertex positions of each triangle (vertex positions of one triangle and motion vectors of the other may be used).
A predictive video-frame is generated by mapping thereto all pixels of all triangular sub-areas according to the obtained affine parameters.
If a position of any referred pixel in the reference video-frame is not an integer, a predicted value is bilinearly interpolated to determine a pixel value of the predicted video-frame.
A predicted video-frame is generated by performing the above-mentioned processing operations.
The motion-compensated interframe prediction according to the above-mentioned prior art using affine transformation of a fixed area-size has such a drawback that the efficiency of motion prediction is decreased when an object to be mapped has an insufficient size or its periphery is divided by a plurality of areas to create a considerable difference between the object edge and the area dividing lines.
The motion-compensated interframe prediction with the affine transformation may be accompanied by geometrical distortion peculiar to the affine transformation, resulting in that the prediction efficiency is decreased with deterioration of the quality of coded video frames. The motion-compensated interframe prediction may have a considerable decrease of the prediction efficiency if an input video contains a motion of an objective area by a parallel displacement that can not correctly be represented.
High accuracy of setting motion vectors of control-grid points at the peripheral part of a video-frame may be impossible because they are set affinely from respective inside points of the control grid.
In the case of conducting affine transformation of a variable in size area, the number of control grid points must be increased and therefore the number of motion vectors is increased as compared with the conventional affine transformation of a fixed-size area. Accordingly, motion vectors must be encoded at a high efficiency.
In the affine transformation of the variable in size area, the number of control grid points varies with the size of a selected area, i.e., the number of motion vectors varies with the number of the control grid points. Consequently, motion vectors may be arranged dispersively in the video-frame. This makes it difficult to apply the conventional motion-vector coding method as it is. The coding efficiency is also decreased. It is necessary to use a highly efficient motion-vector coding system adapted to variable area-size affine transformation.
Another operation of a motion-compensated interframe predicting portion in a video-coding device and a video-decoding device and methods applied therein will be described below.
An exemplified structure of a motion-compensated interframe predicting portion and its operation will be first described as follows:
The motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion comprises a motion-vector searching portion, a predicted-frame generating portion and a motion-vector coding portion.
The motion-vector searching portion searches motion vectors in an input video-frame and a reference video-frame read from a frame memory portion and outputs the detected motion-vectors to the predicted frame generating portion.
The predicted frame generating portion generates a predictive image by using any one of prediction methods, i.e., block-displacement method, affine transformation method and bilinear transformation method, etc.
In the process of generating a predicted video-frame, side-information such as area-information and motion vectors can be obtained.
The generated predicted video-frame is transferred to the subtracting portion and the adder portion while the side-information is transferred to the side-information coding portion.
The side-information coding portion encodes the side-information received from the predicted-frame generating portion and outputs the coded side-information.
Another structure and another operation of the motion-compensated interframe-predicting portion of a conventional video-decoding device will now described as follows:
The motion-compensated interframe predicting portion is composed of a predicted-frame generating portion and side-information decoding portion.
Coded side-information inputted into the motion-compensated interframe predicting portion is transferred to the side-information decoding portion.
The side-information decoding portion decodes the received coded side-information, obtains decoded side-information including area-information and motion vectors, etc., and outputs the decoded side-information to the predicted-frame generating portion.
The predicted-frame generating portion performs interframe-prediction processing by using the side-information received from the side-information decoding portion and the reference video-frame received from the frame memory portion and outputs the produced predicted video-frame to the adder portion.
The prior art uses a fixed method for motion-compensated interframe prediction. Therefore, a conventional device using affine transformation area-size can not be adapted to the case when the number of codes can be more reduced in total by using the block displacement prediction.
The motion-compensated interframe prediction with the affine transformation may be not always performed with sufficient prediction efficiency depending on shape, size and position of the object to be mapped.

Video coding device and video decoding device with a motion compensated interframe prediction


In an existing pillow, when the user makes a return to on-the-back lying from on-the-side lying, a strain forms in a region associated with on-the-side lying, so that an elasticity-less material, such as chaff, pipes or the like cannot perfectly adjust the sinking of the pillow under the weight of the neck. The inventive pillow consists of a total three divisions, one for the neck and two for the head. Thus, even if the user moves from on-the-side lying to on-the-back lying, the head and neck enter the recesses in the three divisions, thus eliminating the possibility of a strain forming in a region associated with on-the side-lying. Minus surface fasteners are attached to the pillow back for the neck and the head, while plus surface fasteners are attached to the outer seams in the divisions for the neck and head; thus, the sinking rises as at by squeezing as at for center movement, and the problem of too much rising is solved by loosening as at for outer movement and fixing the plus and minus surface fasteners. If combined with my Japanese Utility Model Application No. 2001-002267 U and Japanese Patent No. 2001-333518 A and FIG. 19 (19, 28), this invention provides a pillow that adapts itself to the neck and head for all people in the world.

Viewed from the side, it can be observed that a recumbent person's body attains a posture that is O-shaped from the cranial bones and S-shaped from the cervical vertebrae to the tip of the spine. There is a support pillow that responds to this posture by having adjustable height. (Refer to Patent Document 1 and Utility Model 1) I, Osamu Nakasato, designed a pillow that not only the height but also the width can be adjusted. The pillow is intended to fit any size and shape of head and neck. (Refer to Patent Document 2 and Utility Model 2)
The pillow available to people today is filled with pipe or chaff. They are not resilient and cannot retain their original shape; one side of the pillow becomes dented after some time. A good pillow should keep its mound shape as a person shifts to different sleeping position. Mr. Kiyohisa Takahashi, president of the National Center of Neurology and Psychology in Japan, in an interview with Kyodo News Service Newspaper on Apr. 12, 2002 stated that "In Japan 1 out of 5 people have trouble sleeping." Uncomfortable pillow can be one of the causes of a person having difficulty sleeping. Mental stress, because of excessive thinking, among others can also contribute to people having restless sleep.
In the investigation of Japan Patent Office, it is determined that no one pillow with both adjustable height and width is available in the market as of Jul. 28, 2003.
[Patent Document 1]Patent Official Report 2873019(Clause 2, FIG. 1 and FIG. 2)[Utility Model Document 1]Utility Model Official Registration Report3011499 (Clause 2, FIG. 1 and FIG. 3)[Patent Document 2]Registration of Official Report of2003-093212 (Clause 1, FIG. 1)[Utility Model Document 2]Utility Model Official Report3081155 (Clause 1, FIG. 1)
The Neck-Head Support Pillow presented here satisfies the need of different types of people of varying sizes. One pillow can be adjusted to solve the problem of the 3081155 and 2003-093212 pillows patented to me, Osamu Nakasato. It offers support to the head and neck and contours to the shape and size of the neck and head of the person using it.


A method and apparatus for automatically focusing a camera that may rely upon ambient light for auto focusing and flash illumination for image capture. A correction factor may be determined that is based at least in part on a range between the camera and a desired subject. The camera focus may be adjusted in accordance with the correction factor prior to capturing a capture image using flash illumination.

In many instances, flash illumination of a subject is used to obtain a well-exposed image. However, as flash illumination typically has a very short flash duration, it may not be possible for a camera to auto focus properly during the flash discharge event, and hence the camera is typically auto focused prior to image capture using ambient light. If, however, the ambient light spectrum used for auto focus differs from the flash light spectrum that is used for image capture, the camera focus that is obtained during auto focus may not be entirely in focus for the captured image. A need exists, therefore, for structure and methods that permit a camera to be auto focused using ambient light or some spectral subset thereof, while also providing a proper focus under a flash spectrum or some spectral subset thereof, particularly when the ambient light spectrum that is used for auto focus differs from the flash spectrum that is used for image capture.


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, and a first transistor. The first transistor has a first gate on the semiconductor substrate, and a first lightly doped source/drain region within the semiconductor substrate to determine a first channel region beneath the first gate. A doping ratio determined as a concentration of the first lightly doped source/drain region divided by a concentration of the first channel region ranges from 1.0×1013 to 1.0×1017.

Performance of a semiconductor integrated circuit may depend on manufacturing processes to manufacture semiconductor devices in the semiconductor integrated circuit. Two neighboring semiconductor devices manufactured by a same process are supposed to have the same characteristics and/or behave in a same manner. Because of manufacturing process variations, however, characteristics and behaviors of the two semiconductor devices may not be the same.
Generally, a semiconductor integrated circuit requires high circuit performance and high density. Therefore, in the case of a semiconductor device, e.g. a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (or "MOSFET"), the technology for the forming a semiconductor integrated circuit has been scaled down to a sub-micron range as a result of the efforts to reduce the size of the MOSFET device. A lightly doped drain (or "LDD") structure is adopted in a MOSFET device to mitigate hot carriers injection (or "HCI") that adversely affects the reliability of the MOSFET device.
Random dopant fluctuation (or "RDF") resulting from the process of forming an LDD structure in a MOSFET device can alter the MOSFET device's properties, especially threshold voltage. Due to the variation of RDF, a mismatch between threshold voltages of the two transistors exists.

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.


Systems and methods to distribute power to individual power outlets are disclosed. A particular apparatus includes a memory having program code and a processor configured to access the memory and execute the program code to determine whether to allow power to be supplied to an individual power outlet. In one implementation, the determination is based on a current draw and a resistance reading associated with the power outlet.

Phantom loads, also known as vampire or standby power, refer to the energy drawn from an outlet by an appliance or gadget that is plugged in, but not in use. For example, a cellular phone charger consumes electricity even when it is not charging a phone. Many televisions and microwaves use more energy during the hours that they are not in use than they do when they are being used. In aggregate, these phantom loads add up to significant power loss and expense.

Selective power distribution to individual outlets

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed are a method and device for eliminating inter-cell interference, which are applicable to elimination of inter-cell interference cancellation. The method comprises: a first transceiving node obtains interference information of a potential interference cell, wherein the potential interference cell belongs to a second transceiving node, and the interference information of the potential interference cell comprises at least one of the following items: duplex mode information of the potential interference cell, multiple access technique information of the potential interference cell, a physical layer parameter of the potential interference cell in each of at least one first transmission resource pool, and resource allocation information of the potential interference cell in each of at least one second transmission resource pool; and the first transceiving node transmits the interference information of the potential interference cell to a first terminal device.

The fourth generation (4G) communication system adopts an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme, which does not support inter-cell interference suppression. Therefore, Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) is introduced. ICIC can only achieve good interference coordination in a system with a lighter load, and it is difficult to obtain a gain when the number of users is large and the system capacity is saturated. The fifth generation (5G) communication system will adopt an ultra-dense networking and network slicing scheme. Different network slices may use different time-frequency resources and have different transmission technologies (such as a duplex mode and a multiple access scheme) and different physical layer parameters (such as subcarrier spacing, frame structures, and common channel switches), and may be carried by different types of network nodes (such as 4G base stations, 5G base stations, relay stations, and device-to-device communication nodes). Therefore, in a scenario of ultra-dense networking, multiple cells corresponding to different network slices may overlap at one geographic location, causing inter-cell interference. How to cancel inter-cell interference in this scenario is an urgent technical problem to be solved.

Method and device for eliminating inter-cell interference

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


A reverse-acting rupture disc (10) having a laser-defined reversal initiation feature (16) is provided in the bulged section (12) of the disc. The reversal initiation feature comprises at least a first lased area (22) that has a reduced thickness relative to rest of the bulged section. A second lased area (24) may also be provided within the margins of the first lased area. The second lased area has a depth that is greater than the depth of the first lased area. A line of weakness (40) may be formed in the bulged section that functions to direct reversal of the bulged section toward a particular area of the disc, such as line-of-opening recess (56).

Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed toward reverse-buckling rupture discs having reversal initiation and deformation control features on the domed portions thereof formed by laser removal of metal from the disc. The reversal initiation and deformation control features provide for exceptional control over the opening characteristics of the disc, particularly the pressure at which disc reversal is initiated, the direction in which the reversal traverses the domed portion of the disc, and the shape formed by the petal upon rupture.
Description of the Prior Art
Reverse-acting rupture discs have been employed as safety devices in process equipment where relatively low overpressure conditions, such as 7 to 10 psig, and relatively high overpressure conditions, such as 600 psig, may be encountered. While it is conventional to employ reverse-buckling rupture discs for low pressure applications, it has been found difficult to provide narrow range burst pressure tolerances at low pressures. In order to achieve reliable disc rupture at low differential pressures, disc manufacturers have incorporated structures onto the disc to provide a weakened area at which dome reversal begins under pressure conditions much lower than those required if the dome had not been intentionally weakened.
Control of the progression of the reversal event has been shown to be desirable in facilitating optimization of opening characteristics—e.g. achieving full opening under low-energy conditions, and preventing fragmentation under high-energy conditions. In addition, with proper control the energy embodied in the reversal and opening event may be used to optimize flow characteristics of the opened rupture disc. It is thus desirable to embody such control in a rupture disc design.
Toward that end, reversal initiation features (RIFs) have been incorporated into the rupture disc design, typically in the center of the dome or offset slightly away or toward from the tooth side of the dome (with reference to the tooth structure of a disc support ring positioned adjacent to the disc), so that the reversal will proceed from the RIF across the dome in a fairly balanced manner, gathering energy until the tooth is engaged.
In the past, some rupture disc designs have accomplished reversal control by using score lines as RIF's. Another structure that has been utilized previously in reversal initiation and thus burst pressure control is a dimple or other indentation formed in the dome of the rupture disc. This indentation is strategically located in a position such that the domed part of the disc will fail first at the area of depression. U.S. Pat. No. 6,494,074 discloses discs bearing indentations in the domed portion and methods of creating the indentations through mechanical deformation of the dome.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,420 discloses the creation of a segment in the dome of the disc having an altered metallic grain structure. Particularly, during pre-bulging of the disc blank, a portion of what will become the domed area of the disc is deflected by a post. Following this initial deflection, the post is removed and the pre-bulged disc undergoes final bulging to form the finished rupture disc. During final bulging, the indentation previously formed during the pre-bulging step is returned to its initial position with respect to the remainder of the disc body prior to formation of the indentation by the deflection post. As a result, the convex and concave portions of the disc are smooth and free of projecting surfaces or depressions. The act of creating and reversing the indentation forms a work-hardened segment in the dome of the disc having a higher residual stress than the remainder of the final bulged section. Upon encountering an overpressure condition of sufficient magnitude, the bulged portion of the disc begins to reverse at this work-hardened segment. It was discovered that altering the grain structure of a portion of the dome is effective in providing a wide range of burst pressures for a given disc thickness, particularly when the disc is formed of 316 stainless steel. However, with different metals and metal alloys, the same breadth of burst pressure range is not always observed due to the inherent crystallographic characteristics of the material.
International Patent Application Publication WO 2008/155783 discloses the use of a laser to create a region of deformation initiation. In one embodiment, the region of deformation initiation is an indentation created by heating a portion of the disc's dome and permanent set by gravity, radiation pressure, punches or other techniques. Alternatively, the region of deformation initiation is made by modification of the crystalline metallurgic structure due to the thermal variation induced by laser radiation.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/331,611 describes creation of one or more non-rupturing "control scores" that together control reversal initiation. These "control scores" are positioned somewhere between the apex and the periphery of the dome, but do not proceed across the center of the dome, and are not designed to guide the deformation of the disk into an optimal shape both during and after the reversal and opening of the disc. These "control scores" are also differentiated from "rupture scores", they are intended to not be part of the opening of the disc.
A particular problem encountered on reverse acting rupture discs of a single-petal type is the formation of a "cup" shape by the petal after rupture in liquid opening situations. The energy released during the opening event is generally very much lower than that involved in a gas-only pressure relief situation, and is not always adequate to flatten the petal back against the outlet, instead leaving the petal in the cup shape formed during the reversal. This cup shape, in turn, leads to less-desirable flow values for the rupture disc. It is therefore desirable to include functionality within the disc features that can lead to flattening of the petal, even in low-energy opening events.

Rupture disc having laser-defined reversal initiation and deformation control features


A remote surgery supporting system and a method thereof produces a presentation of realism control data generated by realism control data generating means 101 from image data obtained from work environment data detecting means 104 and measurement data processing means 118 and from force and proximity data. While viewing this presentation, the surgical operator inputs actions through action command inputting means 114 and thereafter, diseased tissue manipulating means 102 executes a procedure on diseased part 125. The manipulation force of each surgical operator received from manipulation command generating means 103 and force reflection from the diseased part 125 are combined and presented to the action command inputting means 114. Thereby, a plurality of surgical operators can perform a surgerical operation while viewing the realism control data and sensing the manipulation force of other surgical operators and the force reflection from the diseased part. Thus, a master/slave type remote surgery supporting system which allows a plurality of surgical operators to perform a surgical operation which requires many degrees of freedom can be provided.

The present invention relates to a remote surgery supporting system and a method thereof, and more particularly, it relates to a remote surgery supporting system and a method which is suitable for supporting one or more surgical operators in performing a surgical treatment on the brain, nervous system, eyeballs or the like by remote-controlling surgical tools or therapeutic instruments using a manipulator having a high degree of freedom.
Hitherto, as a system for performing an operation on the cranial nerve or the like while observing data of measuring instruments which are visually reconstructed, there has been known a magnetic resonance monitoring treatment system by which the position of a catheter is automatically controlled by a positioning mechanism when a surgical operator inputs a position and instructs of the catheter while observing image MRI produced by as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei. 4-53533, for example.
Further, as a system for cerebral surgical works, there has been a puncturing manipulator for stereotaxy, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei. 3-121064, for example. As a system for performing surgery by way of remote control, there has been a system having a remote-controlled surgical manipulator in a double-piped probe, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei. 4-1146097, for example.
Further, there has been known a micro-handling system constructed so as to allocate degrees of freedom to turning and translation to a manipulator and a stage as disclosed in a collection of papers pp. 693-696 of the Symposium on Robotics Mechatoronics in 1993, The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers.
The system described in the above-mentioned Laid-open No. Hei. 4-53533 is supposed to be used for treatment mainly by means of a catheter and it is difficult to perform with it an operation which requires a direct manipulation of a diseased part with a highly sophisticated technical skill, such as removal of a tumor adhering on a blood capillary or nerve.
Furthermore, because an ultrasonic motor (piezoelectric element) is used for an actuator to operate in a static magnetic field, it is difficult to increase the compliance to enable treating of soft tissues.
It is also incomplete more or less in terms of the mode for supporting data because the modality thereof is only magnetic resonance, so that it is hard to understand changes in a shape of a cranial bone when a craniotomy is performed, and the measured contents only show shapes and no functional measurement is implemented and the measured and displayed contents show a 2-dimensional tomographic image which is not intuitional.
The system described in the above-mentioned Patent Laid-open No. Hei. 3-121064 is used for stereotaxy and is capable of performing only puncturing. However, there are many troubles of the cranial nerve which cannot be surgically treated well only by puncturing and which require a plurality of mechanisms having a greater degree of freedom in order to manipulate tissues of a diseased part. The above-mentioned system is unable to deal with such a case. Further, the disclosure describes nothing about other parts for controlling the puncturing manipulator.
The system disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Laid-open No. Hei. 4-146097 isolates the surgical operator completely from the patient, so that there will be difficulty in responding to an emergency and even if possible, it may be too late.
The system described in the collection of papers of the Symposium on Robotics Mechatoronics in 1993, The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, is constructed so that the work cannot be started unless an object is placed on the stage and is not suitable for actual surgical works.
Further, in all the examples described above, the master manipulator and the slave manipulator correspond in a relation of one-to-one to the end and no consideration is given to the enhancement of works and simplification of control attained by controlling a plurality of slave manipulators by one master manipulator and to the training function attained by controlling one slave manipulator by a plurality of master manipulators.
Still further all the known examples described above suppose tacitly that one surgical operator manipulates the system and describe nothing about a joint surgical work function performed by a plurality of surgical operators, the manipulation of one slave manipulator by a number of master manipulators, and the training function thereof.
In the known examples described above, the data has been obtained only for the use of the surgical operator at the end regardless of whether it occurs before or during the operation.
Furthermore, there is no function of giving a surgical simulation and so there could be no benefit from the result regardless whether the object of the surgery is an actual dummy vital tissue or a model in a computer.

Remote surgery support system and method thereof


A new and distinct Chrysanthemum plant cultivar is disclosed, characterized by yellow, decorative flowers that have a longevity of about 28 days. The plants have a free branching, mounding, spreading growth habit, and naturally bloom beginning the last two weeks of September.

The new cultivar 'GEDI THREE YKIS' is a product of an induced mutation of the parent Chrysanthemum plant variety 'GEDI TWO KIS' (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,996) using gamma ray treatent at a dose of 20 Gy. The new cultivar was discovered and selected by Dirk Pieters in a controlled environment in Oostniewkerke, Belgium, during the month of February 2002.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar 'GEDI THREE YKIS' by terminal cuttings and tissue culture was performed in Oxnard, Calif. and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations.

Chrysanthemum plant named ‘GEDI THREE YKIS’


A method of detection of faults on circuit boards comprising the steps of capturing an image (14) of each of a plurality of circuit boards (10) and dividing each of the captured images (14) into a plurality of image segments, each having an image characteristic value. One of the circuit boards 10 is selected for testing and each image segment is compared with corresponding image segments of each other circuit boards (10) to define a plurality of differential image characteristic values. The differential image characteristic values for each image segment are ranked from lowest to highest and an nth differential image characteristic value is selected. An overlay image comprising a representation of the selected differential image characteristic values is created and displayed over the selected circuit board.

During production of circuit boards, various circuit components are placed onto the board and then soldered in place. It is possible at various stages of the process for faults to occur in relation to some of these circuit components. For example, components may not be properly grasped by the machinery which places them on the circuit board and may therefore be missing. Components may also move from the correct position prior to or during soldering such that the components are not properly connected.
It is of course desirable to identify such faults. Visual inspection may be used to identify such issues, however when looking at a large number of components across many boards, it is possible that some faults may not be detected. The fact that a fault exists is likely to be detected by incorrect operation of the board but the process of testing and identifying faults from this paint can be time consuming.
The present invention relates to a method for identifying potential faults on circuit boards in a manner which is relatively quick and efficient.

Method of detection of faults on circuit boards


A method is described to maintain (including generate) an inventory of a system of a plurality of containers accessible by a computer system. At least one container is considered to determine whether the container is executable in at least one of a plurality of execution environments characterizing the computer system. Each execution environment is in the group comprising a native binary execution environment configured to execute native machine language instructions and a non-native execution environment configured to execute at least one program to process non-native machine language instructions to yield native machine language instructions. The inventory is maintained based on a result of the considering step. The inventory may be used to exercise control over what executables are allowed to execute on the computer system.

Control of a company's Information Technology (IT) enterprise configuration is valuable not only for logistical reasons, but also for regulatory reasons, including in the areas of enterprise security, regulatory compliance, and change management. A significant aspect of such configuration control may include, for example, controlling what code can run, controlling what parts of the software set are allowed to change under what circumstances, and observing and logging what modifications are made to the code of one or more systems in the enterprise.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A mounting box formed of polymeric material for mounting an electrical connector laterally to the cross tube of a trailer hitch with walls enclosing the body of the electrical connector receivable through a mounting wall opening with another opening receiving the cable of wires connected to the electrical connector. A pair of spaced apart slots formed in the mounting box through which an adjustable band clamp is received for encompassing the cross tube of the trailer hitch for rigidly securing the mounting box to the cross tube. Fastening holes are arranged about the first wall opening in a pattern that corresponds to different electrical connectors and different mounting positions of the electrical connector. A flap in the mounting wall permits the cable of a prewired electrical connector to be received within the mounting box.

For towing a trailer with a trailer hitch an electrical connector is carried by a towing vehicle for communication of brake and turn signals from the towing vehicle to a trailer. Typically, the electrical connector loosely hangs from a cable or is mounted to either the towing vehicle or the trailer hitch by a bracket. U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,219 discloses such a mounting bracket which presents the electrical connector as aligned with the longitudinal axis of the towing vehicle and in the direction of travel of the towing vehicle and exposes the electrical connector to wear and damage resulting from water, streams of mud, dirt and road debris thrown up from the tires of the towing vehicle.

Enclosures and mounting box for a trailer hitch electrical connector


Treatments fluids relating to the hydrolysis of water-hydrolysable materials are provided. In one embodiment, provided is a treatment fluid that comprises an aqueous liquid, a water-miscible solvent, and a water-hydrolysable material. Also provided is a hydrolysis retarder composition that comprises an aqueous liquid and a water-miscible solvent.

The present invention relates to water-hydrolysable materials and, more particularly, to treatment fluids and associated methods relating to the hydrolysis of water-hydrolysable materials.
Water-hydrolysable materials are commonly employed in subterranean operations. For instance, water-hydrolysable materials may be used in subterranean operations as fluid loss control particles, diverting agents, filter cake components, drilling fluid additives, cement additives, and the like. In some instances, the water-hydrolysable material may be in a mechanical form (e.g., plugs, sleeves, and the like). In another instance, the water-hydrolysable material may be capable of releasing a desirable degradation product, e.g., an acid, during its hydrolysis. The acid released by certain water-hydrolysable materials may be used to facilitate a reduction in viscosity of a fluid or to degrade a filter cake, as well as for numerous other functions in subterranean operations.
Inclusion of a water-hydrolysable material capable of releasing an acid in a gelled (and optionally crosslinked) treatment fluid may be used to facilitate a reduction in viscosity of such fluid. Generally, these water-hydrolysable materials likely will hydrolyze over time due to contact with water present in the fluid, thereby releasing an acid. Upon its hydrolysis, the acid will function, inter alia, to reduce the viscosity of the gelled (and optionally crosslinked) treatment fluid, for example, by breaking the crosslinks in the treatment fluid, reducing the pH of the treatment fluid sufficiently to reverse the crosslinks therein, and/or breaking down the backbone of the gelling agent present in the treatment fluid. Typically, the acid released by the water-hydrolysable materials may breakdown the gelling agents at temperatures above about 150° F.
Water-hydrolysable materials capable of releasing an acid also may be used in the degradation of acid-soluble materials present in a subterranean formation, such as those present in or adjacent to filter cakes. Filter cakes commonly may be formed by a fluid (e.g., a drill-in and servicing fluid) on the face of a portion of a subterranean formation, inter alia, to minimize damage to the permeability thereof. The filter cake often comprises an acid-soluble component (e.g., a calcium carbonate bridging agent) and a polymeric component (e.g., starch and xanthan). Before desirable fluids, such as hydrocarbons, may be produced, the filter cake generally is removed. To facilitate the degradation of the acid-soluble component, a water-hydrolysable material capable of releasing an acid may be utilized. Filter cakes also may be removed using an acid where the filter cake does not contain an acid-soluble component, for example, by degrading the underlying carbonate adjacent, if the filter cake is present in a carbonate formation.
In one instance, the filter cake may be contacted by a treatment fluid that comprises the water-hydrolysable material. The resultant acid should interact with the acid-soluble component of the filter cake and/or the underlying carbonate adjacent to the filter cake in such a way as to facilitate their degradation. In another instance, the water-hydrolysable material capable of releasing an acid may be included in the fluid (such as the drill-in and servicing fluid) that forms the filter cake, such that the filter cake further contains the water-hydrolysable material. Subsequent contact of the filter cake with an aqueous fluid hydrolyzes the water-hydrolysable material thereby releasing an acid that acts to degrade the acid soluble component of the filter cake. Among other components, the aqueous fluid may contain oxidizing agents or enzymes suitable to facilitate the degradation of the polymeric component of the filter cake.
Use of water-hydrolysable materials capable of releasing an acid may be problematic, for example, if the water-hydrolysable material hydrolyzes too slowly or too quickly. For example, where used to facilitate a reduction in viscosity of a treatment fluid, the treatment fluid may need to have a desired viscosity for a requisite duration to ensure a desirable well treatment. In some instances, as the temperature in the well bore increases, the hydrolysis rate of the water-hydrolysable material increases, which may lead to an untimely or undesired reduction in viscosity of the treatment fluid. One method used to reduce the hydrolysis rate of the water-hydrolysable material may be to encapsulate it in a slowly soluble coating that can delay the hydrolysis of the water-hydrolysable material and thus delay release of the resulting acid. However, encapsulation of the water-hydrolysable material may add undesired expense and complexity. Further, where the water-hydrolysable material has a relatively small particle size, e.g., less than about 200 microns, encapsulation may not be practicable. Also, while it is possible to "tune" the water-hydrolysable material through various methodologies (e.g., initial choice of material, choice of plasticizers, molecular weight of the material, etc.), these methods may not be sufficient to extend or decrease the degradation time appropriately and/or may not be economical.

Methods and compositions relating to the hydrolysis of water-hydrolysable materials


Techniques related to generating a virtual view of a scene from a position between positions of known input images for presentation to a viewer are discussed. Such techniques include applying a convolution mask that approximates an inverse of a linear combination of at least the horizontal and vertical convolution matrices representative of gradient detection in the input images to a virtual intermediate gradient image that is a combination of at least an interpolated virtual image at the position, an interpolated horizontal gradient map at the position, and an interpolated vertical gradient map at the position to generate a final virtual image for the position.

Arrays of cameras such as two or more linearly or grid aligned cameras are becoming increasingly common in a variety of device implementations such as tablet devices, smartphone devices, laptop devices, display devices, telepresence systems, and filmmaking and video production systems. In the context of a viewing experience generated by such camera arrays, intermediate virtual views between camera locations are generated and provided to a user for display.
It is an ongoing goal to render realistic virtual images at positions between captured cameras view efficiently and with minimal visual artifacts. Current techniques for rendering virtual views from multiple camera images include volumetric 3D reconstruction of a scene from the images and using 3D graphics rendering techniques to render virtual views. However, 3D reconstruction is computationally expensive and error prone, resulting in visual artifacts in the rendered image. Image-based rendering (IBR) techniques avoid explicit reconstruction of the 3D geometry and instead render the virtual view directly from captured images. For example, IBR interpolation may use two images and their pixel correspondence maps to warp the images to a desired position. Such techniques assume ground truth correspondence maps, disparity maps, or optical flow that are available for computer generated images and small offset of the virtual view from the original images. However, such assumptions are often not met in real life scenes with noisy disparity maps and larger camera offsets leading to undesirable image artifacts. Therefore, existing techniques have shortcomings with respect to computational difficulty and image artifacts, particularly in real life applications.
It may be advantageous to improve views of synthesized intermediate images for enhanced user experience. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present improvements have been needed. Such improvements may become critical as the desire to display such images or videos in camera array implementations and other contexts becomes more widespread.

Virtual view interpolation between camera views for immersive visual experience


A card wire has consecutive teeth spaced apart in the longitudinal direction by a pitch. The teeth are bounded in the longitudinal direction by a tooth face on a first side and by a tooth back on a second side. Looking downwards in the height direction of the card wire, the tooth face and the tooth back of consecutive teeth merge in a tooth base and, looking upwards in the height direction, form a tooth tip. The tooth depth is defined by the greatest distance, in the height direction of the card wire, from the tooth tip to the tooth base. The ratio of pitch to tooth depth is less than 1.1. An interspace, measured at right angles to a tangent to an inflection point between tooth back and tooth base, between this inflection point and the opposite tooth face is greater than a quarter of the pitch.

Carding machines, cards or carders are used to open (individualize) and align the fibres of a fibrous material, e.g. of wool, cotton, synthetic fibres or of a fibre blend, to homogenize them (for fleece production) and/or to parallelize them (for yarn production). The carding process may be used to produce a fibre mat from a fibrous material. The fibre mat consists of a loose collection of ordered individual fibres. A nonwoven, for example, may be produced from a fiber mat of this kind. During carding, the fibre mat is formed by removing the fibres, by way of a removal means, from a large carding roller, also known as the cylinder, and combining them.
The carding machine may have various carding rollers, each of which has teeth, serrations or spikes projecting outwards in approximately radial direction. The number and/or size and/or density of the teeth, serrations or spikes, as well as their shape and configuration, may vary.
Carding rollers are generally provided with all-steel card clothing. This consists of a profiled card wire wound under tension onto the carding roller in question. The card wire has a foot segment and a blade segment. The foot segment may have, for example, a rectangular or square cross section. In the operating position, the blade segment projects away from the foot segment approximately at right angles to the curved surface of the carding roller. The blade segment features a sawtooth profile for the formation of teeth or serrations. The card wire is wound, under longitudinal tension, around the curved surface of the carding roller, and the two ends are attached to the carding roller.
Known card wires exist in many different configurations, and special groups of card wires, each with specific geometric features, are proposed for different functions of the particular carding roller in the carding machine.
WO00/26450A1, WO2011/138322A1 and WO2013/037711A1 show card wires which are especially suitable for rollers generally known as workers, doffers or transfer rollers. In comparison with the total height of the card wire, the teeth of these card wires are typically punched relatively deep, with the tooth face leaning relatively far forwards towards the foot segment. The tooth face is the side of the tooth that makes direct contact with the fibres during carding. The cited publications show portions of the tooth face that lean even further towards the foot of the clothing in order to enhance the carding effect of the clothing. A portion of the tooth face which leans more strongly towards the foot of the clothing may be termed an undercut. An undercut of this kind may negatively influence the stability of the teeth, especially if consecutive teeth come closer together. WO2013/037711A1 accordingly proposes a special geometry for the tooth face, in particular in the undercut, as a refinement of WO00/26450A1.
If the card wires in the above-cited publications, but also card wires without an undercut for worker, doffer or transfer rollers, have a small tooth pitch compared with the tooth depth, they have the disadvantage that, near to the tooth base, fibers may jam in the tooth gap and, with time, cause the clothing to clog. Even if not many fibres are normally held in the lower section of the tooth gap (near the tooth base), an undesirable pile-up of fibres may occur rapidly once the first fibres have jammed.
The objective of this invention is to provide a card wire with which fibres jam less easily and clogging of the clothing is reduced.


MIG welding apparatus includes a torch body; a machine barrel extending forwardly of the torch body; a contact tip extending forwardly from the machine barrel; and a pair of gas supply tubes extending along and substantially parallel to the contact tip, enabling reduction in the weld prep angle to about three degrees.

By way of brief background, Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding employs a continuously fed wire electrode (consumable) and a shielding gas. Generally, the wire consumable is fed through a torch to the workpiece. The latter is connected by an earth lead which completes the circuit. The wire electrode is held at a potential above ground using a power source capable of supplying several hundred amps of current to produce an arc. When the wire consumable touches the workpiece, an arc is formed which melts localized metal of the workpiece and the wire, forming a molten pool which forms the weld. The shielding gas, usually an argon/CO.sub.2 mixture, is also supplied through the torch and protects the weld from oxidation and provides the desired arc characteristics.
Up until 1989, MIG welding in steam turbine diaphragms required 22.degree. weld prep angles in order for the traditional weld cone to access the bottom of the weld and to provide adequate gas shielding. In other words, the access groove required a 22.degree. angle to enable the welding torch to reach the weld area. Although a good quality weld resulted, this led to excessive weld material being deposited into the diaphragm, increasing the product's distortion, cycle and cost.
In 1989, an adjustable copper sheath was developed which extended from 1" to 8" beyond the original end of the cone. This configuration was developed in order to reduce the weld prep angle from 22.degree. to 11.degree.. This significantly reduced the weld volume and direct costs for each diaphragm, but still left substantial room for improvement.
A concept of narrow prep welding known as "Fine Line Welding" was recently introduced in connection with Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding. Although this technology would certainly reduce the distortion found in standard diaphragms, it has two qualities which make it inappropriate for diaphragm production use, namely, a) the machinery currently being used for this application is very delicate, still in the development stage and not rugged enough for the manufacturing environment and b) the material deposition rate is too low to be satisfactory for diaphragm structural welding. The development of a weld process that permitted even smaller weld prep angles consequently focused on modification of existing MIG welding techniques.
Weld distortion associated with traditional MIG welding apparatus has typically resulted in unfavorable:
1) Steam path dimensional deviations between before and after welding conditions; PA1 2) Circumferential shrinkage of the diaphragm halves leading to poor joint blade matching in subsequent finishing operations; PA1 3) Excessive manual deburring of steam path configuration which had been distorted due to welding; PA1 4) Weld splatter as a result of excess weld and weld buildups required for access to traditional sized preps; and PA1 5) Distortion of radial location of steam path sidewalls and setbacks to the trailing edges of the blades. PA1 1) Welding and cleaning of the structural and cover welds of the diaphragm, PA1 2) Welding of diaphragm appendage rings and outer ring buildups required to allow access to the traditional sized weld preps, PA1 3) Use of excess shielding gas and filler material in welding larger weld preps, PA1 4) Machining time for weld preps and appendage rings, PA1 5) Material costs for appendage rings.
Labor costs associated with MIG welding in the turbine environment are also high. Examples of operations which drive these costs in a steam turbine diaphragm welding application are,