We previously proposed a robust hybrid edge detector which relaxes the trade off between robustess against noise and accurate localization of the edges. This hybrid detector separates the tasks of localization and noise suppresion between two sub-detectors. In this paper, we present an extension to this hybrid detector to determine its optimal parameters, independently of the scene. This extension defines a probabilistic cost function using for criteria the probability of missing an edge buried in noise and the probability of detecting false edges. The optimization of this cost function allows the automatic selection of the parameters of the hybrid edge detector given the height of the minimum edge to be detected and the variance of the noise, σ2n. The results were applied to the 2D case and the performance of the adaptive hybrid detector was compared to other detectors.

A lot of optimum filters have been proposed for an image restoration problem. Parametric filter, such as Parametric Wiener Filter, Parametric Projection Filter, or Parametric Partial Projection Filter, is often used because it requires to calculate a generalized inverse of one operator. These optimum filters are formed by a degradation operator, a covariance operator of noise, and one of original images. In practice, these operators are estimated based on empirical knowledge. Unfortunately, it happens that such operators differ from the true ones. In this paper, we show the unified formulae of inducing them to clarify their common properties. Moreover, we investigate their properties for perturbation of a degradation operator, a covariance operator of noise, and one of original images. Some numerical examples follow to confirm that our description is valid.

This study was conducted to assess the relationship between fatigue and pupillary responses. Pupillary responses, ECG and blood pressure were measured for 24 hours every 30 min in 8 subjects. A questionnaire was used to rate subjective feeling of fatigue. Twenty-four hours were divided equally into four 6-hour blocks. Subjective feeling of fatigue increased markedly in the fourth block, and the difference in subjective fatigue between fourth and first blocks was significant. Of nine pupillary responses, the pupil diameter was found to decrease with time. With respect to the function of the autonomic nervous system such as heart rate, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, only heart rate was found to be sensitive to the increased subjective feeling of fatigue. A significant difference was found in the mean pupil diameter and mean heart rate between the last and first blocks. This result indicates that pupil diameter is related to fatigue and can be used to assess fatigue. Possible implications for fatigue assessment are discussed.

A model for estimating the bending loss of 1.3 µm zero-dispersion single-mode fibers at 1.58 µm from the value at 1.55 µm is investigated experimentally and theoretically. An approximated equation for estimating the bending loss ratio of 1.58 µm to 1.55 µm is proposed, which provides good agreement with the experimental results.

We have been studying on subthreshold characteristics of SOI (Silicon-On-Insulator) MOSFET's in terms of substrate bias dependence using a one-dimensional subthreshold device simulator based on Poisson equation in an SOI multilayer structure for estimating structural parameters of real devices. Here, we consider the quantum mechanical effects in the electron inversion layer of thin SOI MOSFET's, such as the two-dimensionally quantized electron states and transports, with a self-consistent solver of Poisson and Schrodinger equations and a mobility model by the relaxation time approximation. From results of simulations, we found a significant difference between this model and the classical model and concluded that the quantum mechanical effects need to be considered in analizing thin-film SOI devices.

This paper presents a discrete-time multiple short-time Fourier transform (MSTFT) suitable for a time-frequency analysis and synthesis of discrete-time nonstationary signals. An overcomplete set of multiple windows in used for a frame constitution in l2 (Z) so that higher quality signal analysis and perfect reconstruction of the signal are achieved. A design method for a prototype window is given where the window can satisfy regularity condition and have a flexible, good time and frequency characteristic under constraint of the uncertainty principle. A dual frame is constructed using the prototype windows in the framework of a frame operator method. Efficient implementation structures for the MSTFT and its inverse transform appropriate for real time numerical processing is presented. Simulation results are given to illustrate the effectiveness for design of the MSTFT. The performance advantages as a new signal analysis tool are demonstrated with an experimental signal.

The interworking between high speed networks is receiving more attention recently. Among them, Frame Relay/Asynchronous Transfer Mode (FR/ATM) interworking is foreseen in the near future to provide seamless service across geographic areas. In the heterogeneous network interworking environment, an interworking function facility called the interworking unit (IWU) is generally interposed between these networks to perform the essential protocol conversion. As an intermediate network component, IWU will have great influence on network performance in terms of data latency. The performance issues of IWU are identified and addressed in this paper. These issues include frame processing schemes, frame shaping schemes, and cell processing schemes. The cell processing performance issues are further investigated via simulation experiments. Connectionless (CL) data service is also expected to be one of the most important applications for FR/ATM interworking. Some alternative methods for providing CL service over FR and ATM are described. We propose an enhanced protocol stack in the IWU to interoperate with the ATM network which uses the direct method to provide CL service. To proveide VPN service, we propose a feasible VPN communication structure based on the FR and ATM network interworking.

We have developed a management agent that adapts the delegation concept to achieve efficient network management. In conventional delegation architecture, a network management operator details management operations in an operation-script that describes management operation flow and such network management functions as event management and path tracing. The operator sends this script to agents to execute. In our delegation architecture, the operator sends only a script skeleton describing management operation flow alone; management functions are built into the agents in the form of fuction objects. This helps keep management traffic low. Each function object is designed by utilizing three operational objects: enhanced, primitive, and communication. Each enhanced operational object (EOO) provides a script skeleton with an individual network management function. A primitive operational object (POO) provides an EOO with managed object (MO) access functions. A communication operational object (COO) provides an EOO with a mechanism for accessing the functions of other remote EOOs. We have tested our design by applying it to a path tracing application, and we have measured the total data transfer size between a manager and an agent and the amount of memory usage in our agent's running environment. Evaluation of our implementation suggests that our design can be applied such network management functions as connection establishment and release, fault isolation, and service provisioning.

The stable marriage problem is one of the basic problems proposed in 1962. In this paper, we consider a distributed stable marriage problem. This problem is applicable to cooperative works of autonomous robots in distributed environments. We show a Gale-Shapley based protocol to obtain stable matching and introduce autonomous mechanism for exchanging partners, called divorce process, in distributed environments. We report some interesting results of matching games by computer simulation.

Dynamic Term Rewriting Calculus is a new computation model proposed by the authors for the purpose of formal description and verification of algorithms treating Term Rewriting Systems. The computation of DTRC is basically term rewriting. The characteristic features of DTRC are dynamic change of rewriting rules during computation and hierarchical declaration of not only function symbols and variables but also rewriting rules. These features allow us to program metacomputation of TRSs in DTRC, that is , we can implement in DTRC in a natural way those algorithms which manipulate term rewriting systems as well as those procedures which verify such algorithms. In this paper, we give a formal description of DTRC. We then show some results on confluence property of DTRC.

This paper describes the design, fabrication, and performance of a GaAs FET linearizer with a large source inductance, focusing mainly on (a) a mechanism of positive gain and negative phase deviations for input power, (b) stability considerations, and (c) a dependence on load impedance. In addition, in an application to the linearized amplifier, it is shown that an improvement can be achieved for adjacent channel leakage power (ACP) and third order intermodulation distortion (IM3) with the use of the linearizer.

This paper proposes a prediction method for non-stationary time series data with time varying parameters. A modular structured type neural network is newly introduced for the purpose of grasping the changing property of time varying parameters. This modular structured neural network is constructed by the hierarchical combination of each neural network (NNT: Neural Network for Prediction of Time Series Data) and a neural network (NNW: Neural Network for Prediction of Weights). Next, we propose a reasonable method for determination of the length of the local stationary section by using the additive learning ability of neural networks. Finally, the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method are confirmed through simulation and actual experiments.

An algorithm for extracting fundamental frequencies from duet sounds is proposed. The algorithm is based on an acoustical feature that the temporal fluctuation patterns in frequency an power are similar for harmonic components composing a sound for a single musical note played on a single instrument with a single active vibrating source. The algorithm is applied to the sounds of 153 combinations of pair-notes played by a flute duet and a violin duet. Experimental results show that the zone-wize correct identification rate by pitch name are 98% for the flute duet and 95% for the violin duet in the best cases.

In this paper we describe a method, which allows the likelihood normalization technique, widely used for speaker verification, to be implemented in a text-independent speaker identification system. The essence of this method is to apply likelihood normalization at frame level instead of, as it is usually done, at utterance level. Every frame of the test utterance is inputed to all the reference models in parallel. In this procedure, for each frame, likelihoods from all the models are available, hence they can be normalized at every frame. A special kind of likelihood normalization, called Weighting Models Rank, is also experimented. We have implemented these techniques in speaker identification system based on VQ-distortion codebooks or Gaussian Mixture Models. Evaluation results showed that the frame level likelihood normalization technique gives higher speaker identification rates than the standard accumulated likelihood approach.

We introduce two probabilistic algorithms to determine the motion parameters of a planar shape without knowing a priori the point-to-point correspondences. If the target is limited to rigid objects, an Euclidean transformation can be expressed as a linear equation with six parameters, i.e. two translational parameters and four rotational parameters (the axis of rotation and the rotational speed about the axis). These parameters can be determined by applying the randomized Hough transform. One remarkable feature of our algorithms is that the calculations of the translation and rotation parameters are performed by using points randomly selected from two image frames that are acquired at different times. The estimation of rotation parameters is done using one of two approaches, which we call the triangle search and the polygon search algorithms respectively. Both methods focus on the intersection points of a boundary of the 2D shape and the circles whose centers are located at the shape's centroid and whose radii are generated randomly. The triangle search algorithm randomly selects three different intersection points in each image, such that they form congruent triangles, and then estimates the rotation parameter using these two triangles. However, the polygon search algorithm employs all the intersection points in each image, i.e. all the intersection points in the two image frames form two polygons, and then estimates the rotation parameter with aid of the vertices of these two polygons.

A sequence of nonnegative integers s=(S1, s2, , sn) is a score sequence of an r-tournament if, for some positive integer r, ther is a directed graph with vertices v1, v2, , vn such that deg+(vj)=sj and deg-(vj)=r(n-1) -sj for each j=1, 2, , n. The score sequence problem of an r-tournament is: Given some positive integer r and a sequence of nonnegative integers, determine whether it is a score sequence of an r-tournament or not. In this paper, we consider several variations of the score sequence problem of an r-tournament, and give efficient algorithms.

In this paper, a simple frame synchronization system for M-ary/SS communication systems is proposed, and synchronization performance and the resulting bit error rate performance are analyzed. The frame synchronization system uses racing counters and framing chips which are added to spreading sequences. M-ary/SS communication systems can improve bit error rate performance under the condition in which there is an additive white gaussian noise. Synchronization of M-ary/SS communication systems is difficult, however, because M-ary/SS communication systems have several spreading sequences. The authors proposed the simple frame synchronization system which uses only one chip in the spreading sequence as a framing signal. This system needs a long time for initial acquisition as the frame length is longer. The proposed system in this paper can make initial acquisition time short by increasing the number of framing chips. The proposed system corresponds to the conventional system when the number of framing chips is l. As the result, it is shown that several framing chips contribute to decrease the initial acquisition time. Moreover, the frame synchronization system can be applied to asynchronous M-ary/SSMA system when different framing chip pattern is assigned to each user.

In this paper, we propose a camera calibration method that estimates both intrinsic parameters (perspective and distortion) and extrinsic parameters (rotational and translational). All camera parameters can be determined from one or more images of planar pattern consists of parallelogramatic grid points. As far as the pattern can be visible, the relative relations between camera and patterns are arbitrary. So, we have only to prepare a pattern, and take one or more images changing the relative relation between camera and the pattern, arbitrarily; neither solid object of ground truth nor precise z-stage are required. Moreover, constraint conditions that are imposed on rotational parameters are explicitly satisfied; no intermediate parameter that connected several actual camera parameters are used. Taking account of the conflicting fact that the amount of distortion is small in the neighborhood of the image center, and that small image has poor clues of 3-D information, we adopt iterative procedure. The best parameters are searched changing the size and number of parallelograms selected from grid points. The procedure of the iteration is as follows: The perspective parameters are estimated from the shape of parallelogram by nonlinear optimizations. The rotational parameters are calculated from the shape of parallelogram. The translational parameters are estimated from the size of parallelogram by least squares method. Then, the distortion parameters are estimated using all grid points by least squares method. The computer simulation demonstrates the efficiency of the proposed method. And the results of the implementation using real images are also shown.

To make the model-based coding a practical method, new signal processing techniques other than fully-automatic image recognition should be studied. Also after having realized the model-based coding, another new signal processing technique to improve the performance of the model-based coding should be studied. Moreover non-coding functions related to the model-based coding can be embedded as additional features. The authors are studying the interactive model-based coding in order to achieve its practical realization, improve its performance and extend related non-coding functions. We have already proposed the basic concept of interactive model-based coding and presented an eyeglasses processing for a facial image with glasses to remove the frame for improving the model-based coding performance. In this paper, we focus on the 3-D motion detection algorithm in the interactive model-based coding. Previous works were mainly based on iterative methods to solve non-linear equations. A new motion detection algorithm is developed for interactive model-based coding. It is linear because the interactive operation generates more information and the environment of the applications limits the range of parameters. The depth parameter is first obtained by the fact that a line segment is invariant as to 3-D space transformation. Relation of distance between two points is utilized. The number of conditions is larger than that of the unknown variables, which allows to use least square method for obtaining stable solutions in the environment of the applications. Experiments are carried out using the proposed motion detection method and input noise problems are removed. Synthesized wireframe modified by eight parameters provides smooth and natural motion.

The estimation of model parameter is essentially important for an MRF image model to work well. Because the maximum likelihood estimate (MLE), which is statistically optimal, is too difficult to implement, the conventional estimates such as the maximum pseudo-likelihood estimate (MPLE), the coding method estimate (CME), and the least-squares estimate (LSE) are all based on the (conditional) pixel probabilities for simplicity. However, the conventional pixel-based estimators are not very satisfactorily accurate, especially when the interactions of pixels are strong. We therefore propose two window-based estimators to improve the estimation accuracy: the adjoining-conditional-window (ACW) scheme and the separated-conditional-window (SCW) scheme. The replacement of the pixel probabilities by the joint probabilities of window pixels was inspired by the fact that the pixels in an image present information in a joint way and hence the more pixels we deal with the joint probabilities of, the more accurate the estimate should be. The window-based estimators include the pixel-based ones as special cases. We present respectively the relationship between the MLE and each of the two window-based estimates. Through the relationships we provide a unified view that the conventional pixel-based estimates and our window-based estimates all approximate the MLE. The accuracy of all the estimates can be described by two types of superiority: the cross-scheme superiority that an ACW estimate is more accurate than the SCW estimate with the same window size, and the in-scheme superiority that an ACW (or SCW) estimate more accurate than another ACW (or SCW) estimate which uses smaller window size. The experimental results showed the two types of superiority and particularly the significant improvement in estimation accuracy due to using window probabilities instead of pixel probabilities.