Instruction issue queue is a key component which extracts instruction level parallelism (ILP) in modern out-of-order microprocessors. In order to exploit ILP for improving processor performance, instruction queue size should be increased. However, it is difficult to increase the size, since instruction queue is implemented by a content addressable memory (CAM) whose power and delay are much large. This paper introduces a low power and scalable instruction queue that replaces the CAM with a RAM. In this queue, instructions are explicitly woken up. Evaluation results show that the proposed instruction queue decreases processor performance by only 1.9% on average. Furthermore, the total energy consumption is reduced by 54% on average.

This letter presents a race-free mixed serial-parallel comparison (RFMSPC) scheme which uses both serial and parallel CAMs in a match line. A self-reset search line scheme for the serial CAM is proposed to avoid the timing race problem and additional timing penalties. Various 32 entry CAMs are designed using 90 nm 1.2 V CMOS process to verify the proposed RFMSPC scheme. It shows that the RFMSPC saves power consumption by 40%, 53% and 63% at the cost of a 4%, 6% and 16% increase in search time according to 1, 2, and 4 serial CAM bits in a match line.

Optimal saving in TCAM search power can be achieved with the combined strategy of both hardware-based techniques and a power friendly TCAM configuration. This letter proposes that a conditional precharging hardware scheme is used with a power aware TCAM configuration. In the traffic simulation results, the proposed scheme conservatively saved 72% of energy with unbiased traffic compared to no energy saving schemes for a sample design of 51272 TCAM block.

This paper shows the effectiveness of a cinematographic camera for controlling 3D video by measuring its effects on viewers with several typical camera works. 3D free-viewpoint video allows us to set its virtual camera on arbitrary positions and postures in 3D space. However, there have been neither investigations on adaptability nor on dependencies between the camera parameters of the virtual camera (i.e., positions, postures, and transitions) nor the impressions of viewers. Although camera works on 3D video based on expertise seems important for making intuitively understandable video, it has not yet been considered. When applying camera works to 3D video using the planning techniques proposed in previous research, generating ideal output video is difficult because it may include defects due to image resolution limitation, calculation errors, or occlusions as well as others caused by positioning errors of the virtual camera in the planning process. Therefore, we conducted an experiment with 29 subjects with camera-worked 3D videos created using simple annotation and planning techniques to determine the virtual camera parameters. The first point of the experiment examines the effects of defects on viewer impressions. To measure such impressions, we conducted a semantic differential (SD) test. Comparisons between ground truth and 3D videos with planned camera works show that the present defects of camera work do not significantly affect viewers. The experiment's second point examines whether the cameras controlled by planning and annotations affected the subjects with intentional direction. For this purpose, we conducted a factor analysis for the SD test answers whose results indicate that the proposed virtual camera control, which exploits annotation and planning techniques, allows us to realize camera working direction on 3D video.

We present a novel training method for recognizing traffic sign symbols. The symbol images captured by a car-mounted camera suffer from various forms of image degradation. To cope with degradations, similarly degraded images should be used as training data. Our method artificially generates such training data from original templates of traffic sign symbols. Degradation models and a GA-based algorithm that simulates actual captured images are established. The proposed method enables us to obtain training data of all categories without exhaustively collecting them. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method for traffic sign symbol recognition.

Ag and Pd electrical contact pairs are separated at constant separating speeds (5, 10 and 20 mm/s) in a DC 42 V/8.4 A resistive circuit. The motion of the breaking arc is observed with a high-speed video camera. For Ag contacts, the motion of the breaking arc becomes stable at a certain critical gap at separating speeds of 10 mm/s and 20 mm/s, and the breaking arc moves extensively at the separating speed of 5 mm/s. For Pd contacts, the breaking arc moves extensively regardless of the separating speed. These results are attributed to the following causes. For Ag contacts, the difference in the motion of arc spots at each separating speed is changed by the difference in the total energy input to the contacts. For Pd contacts, the temperature of the contact surfaces is kept high because of the lower thermal conductivity of Pd than Ag.

In order to reconstruct 3-D Euclidean shape by the Tomasi-Kanade factorization, one needs to specify an affine camera model such as orthographic, weak perspective, and paraperspective. We present a new method that does not require any such specific models. We show that a minimal requirement for an affine camera to mimic perspective projection leads to a unique camera model, called symmetric affine camera, which has two free functions. We determine their values from input images by linear computation and demonstrate by experiments that an appropriate camera model is automatically selected.

Distributed Video Coding (DVC), based on the theorems proposed by Slepian-Wolf and Wyner-Ziv, is attracting attention as a new paradigm for video compression. Some of the DVC systems use intra-frame compression based on discrete cosine transform (DCT). Unfortunately, conventional DVC systems have low affinity with DCT. In this paper, we propose a wavelet-based DVC scheme that utilizs current JPEG 2000 standard. Accordingly, the scheme has scalability with regard to resolution and quality. In addition, we propose two methods to increase the coding gain of the new DVC scheme. One is the introduction of a Gray code, and the other method involves optimum quantization. An interesting point is that though our proposed method uses Gray code, it still achieves quality scalability. Tests confirmed that the PSNR is increased about 5 [dB] by the two methods, and the PSNR of the new scheme (with methods) is about 1.5-3 [dB] higher than that of conventional JPEG 2000.

This paper presents a novel optimized real-time Huffman encoder using a pipelined data path based on CAM technology and a parallel code-word-table optimizer. The exploitation of CAM technology enables fast parallel search of the code word table. At the same time, the code word table is optimized according to the frequency of received input symbols and is up-dated in real-time. Since these two functions work in parallel, the proposed architecture realizes fast parallel encoding and keeps a constantly high compression ratio. Evaluation results for the JPEG application show that the proposed architecture can achieve up to 28% smaller encoded picture sizes than the conventional architectures. The obtained encoding time can be reduced by 95% in comparison to a conventional SRAM-based architecture, which is suitable even for the latest end-user-devices requiring fast frame-rates. Furthermore, the proposed architecture provides the only encoder that can simultaneously realize small compressed data size and fast processing speed.

This paper presents a scalable FPGA/ASIC implementation architecture for high-speed parallel table-lookup-coding using multi-ported content addressable memory, aiming at facilitating effective table-lookup-coding solutions. The multi-ported CAM adopts a Flexible Multi-ported Content Addressable Memory (FMCAM) technology, which represents an effective parallel processing architecture and was previously reported in [1]. To achieve a high-speed parallel table-lookup-coding solution, FMCAM is improved by additional schemes for a single search mode and counting value setting mode, so that it permits fast parallel table-lookup-coding operations. Evaluation results for Huffman encoding within the JPEG application show that a synthesized semi-custom ASIC implementation of the proposed architecture can already reduce the required clock-cycle number by 93% in comparison to a conventional DSP. Furthermore, the performance per area unit, measured in MOPS/mm2, can be improved by a factor of 3.8 in comparison to parallel operated DSPs. Consequently, the proposed architecture is very suitable for FPGA/ASIC implementation, and is a promising solution for small area integrated realization of real-time table-lookup-coding applications.

This paper describes a novel TCAM architecture designed for enhancing the soft-error immunity. An associated embedded DRAM and ECC circuits are placed next to TCAM macro to implement a unique methodology of recovering upset bits due to soft errors. The proposed configuration allows an improvement of soft-error immunity by 6 orders of magnitude compared with the conventional TCAM. We also propose a novel testing methodology of the soft-error rate with a fast parallel multi-bit test. In addition, the proposed architecture resolves the critical problem of the look-up table maintenance of TCAM. The design techniques reported in this paper are especially attractive for realizing soft-error immune, high-performance TCAM chips.

We have developed a stereoscopic large LED display with parallax barrier for use by the general public and stereoscopic cameras to show real world images in 3D. This paper aims to analyze stereoscopic camera separation and convergence angle to make the most use of a field of interest and the reproducible space provided by the large stereoscopic LED display. We describe the principle of a stereoscopic LED display with a parallax barrier and its reproducible space that is determined by the allowable range of disparity to fuse stereoscopic images. By using a model of stereoscopic imaging and display process, we introduce the formulas of the reproduced positions on our developed stereoscopic LED display. Furthermore, we analyze relationships between the stereoscopic camera separation, the convergence angle, the area of a field of interest, and the depth range of the reproduced space. The results show there are four categories in camera configurations: there are three kinds of camera configurations that have different characteristics and one configuration that is not recommended. Category A configuration reproduces a wide area of the field of interest in a long range of depth. Category B functions as a reduction of the field of interest. Category C functions as a magnification of the field of interest. In Category D, a narrow area of the field is reproduced in a short range of depth. In particular, for use by stereoscopic LED display with a rather low resolution, Category A and Category C are recommended because they fully use the reproducible positions.

A set of three optical filters was designed and a camera system was developed using these filters in order to capture high-fidelity colors within the gamut of vision. Photographs of a number of highly saturated colors and a combination of the Macbeth chart and 18 pieces of clothing samples of various colors were taken. A 39 matrix was used to convert the camera output signals into XYZ tristimulus data. The tristimulus values of the colors were compared with those of the images captured by the camera. The average color difference, ΔE, for these samples were found to be 2.16 and 1.18, respectively.

Breaking arcs occurring between silver electrical contacts are observed in DC42 V resistive circuit using a high-speed camera. The motion and current densities of the cathode and anode spot regions are investigated for different interrupt currents (I=7 A, 10 A and 14 A). Results indicate that the arc length at which the motion of arc spots becomes stable depends on the interrupt current, and the current densities of the cathode spot region are almost constant immediately before arc extinction for each interrupt current.

Road traffic incidents analysis has shown that a third of them occurs without any conflict which indicates problems with road following. In this paper a driving safety assistance system is introduced, whose aim is to prevent the driver drifting off or running off the road. The road following system is based on a frontal on-board monocular camera. In order to get a high degree of reliability and robustness, an original combination of three different algorithms is performed. Low level results from the first two algorithms are used to compute a reliability indicator and to update a high level model through the third algorithm using Kalman filtering. Searching areas of the road sides for the next image are also updated. Experimental results show the reliability and the robustness of this original association of three different algorithms. Various road situations are addressed, including roads with high curvature. A multi-lanes extension is also presented.

This paper proposes a calibration method for catadioptric camera systems consisting of a mirror whose reflecting surface is the surface of revolution and a perspective camera as typified by HyperOmni Vision. The proposed method is based on conventional camera calibration and mirror posture estimation. Many methods for camera calibration have been proposed and during the last decade, methods for catadioptric camera calibration have also been proposed. The main problem with catadioptric camera calibration is that the degree of freedom of mirror posture is limited or the accuracy of the estimated parameters is inadequate due to nonlinear optimization. On the other hand, our method can estimate five degrees of freedom of mirror posture and is free from the volatility of nonlinear optimization. The mirror posture has five degrees of freedom, because the mirror surface has a surface of revolution. Our method uses the mirror boundary and can estimate up to four mirror postures. We apply an extrinsic parameter calibration method based on conic fitting for this estimation method. Because an estimate of the mirror posture is not unique, we also propose a selection method for finding the best one. By using the conic-based analytical method we can avoid the initial value problem arising from nonlinear optimization. We conducted experiments on synthesized images and real images to evaluate the performance of our method, and discuss its accuracy.

Recently, researches and developments for measuring and modeling of the human body have been receiving much attention. Our aim is to reconstruct an accurate shape of a human foot from multiple camera images, which can capture dynamic behavior of the object. In this paper, a foot-shape database is used for accurate reconstruction of human foot. By using Principal Component Analysis, the foot shape can be represented with new meaningful variables. The dimensionality of the data is also reduced. Thus, the shape of object can be recovered efficiently, even though the object is partially occluded in some input views. To demonstrate the proposed method, two kinds of experiments are presented: reconstruction of human foot in a virtual reality environment with CG multi-camera images, and in real world with eight CCD cameras. In the experiments, the reconstructed shape error with our method is around 2 mm in average, while the error is more than 4 mm with conventional volume intersection method.

We report on the design and experimental results of a fix-tuned Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) mixer for Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) band 8 (385-500 GHz) receivers. Nb-based SIS junctions of a current density of 10 kA/cm2 and one micrometer size (fabricated with a two-step lift-off process) are employed to accomplish the ALMA receiver specification, which requires wide frequency coverage as well as low noise temperature. A parallel-connected twin-junction (PCTJ) is designed to resonate at the band center to tune out the junction geometric capacitance. A waveguide-microstrip probe is optimized to have nearly frequency-independent impedance at the probe's feed point, thereby making it easy to match the low-impedance PCTJ over a wide frequency band. The RF embedding impedance is retrieved by fitting the measured pumped I-V curves to confirm good matching between PCTJ and signal source. We demonstrate here a minimum double-sideband receiver noise temperature of 3 times of quantum limits for an intermediate-frequency range of 4-8 GHz. The mixers were measured in band 8 cartridge with a sideband separation scheme. Single-sideband receiver noise below ALMA specification was achieved over the whole band.

A false lock free delay-locked loop(DLL) achieving a wide frequency operation and a fine timing resolution is presented. A novel false lock detection technique is proposed to solve the trade-off between a wide frequency range and false locks. This technique enables a fine timing resolution even at a high frequency. In addition, the duty cycle of the input clock is not required to be 50%. This technique is applied to the DLLs in analog front-end LSIs of digital camera systems, with a range of 465 MHz (16) and a timing resolution of 9(40 stages).

In this paper, we propose a novel virtual display system for a real object surface by using a video projector, so that the viewer can feel as if digital images are printed on the real surface with arbitrary shape. This system consists of an uncalibrated camera and video projector connected to a same PC and creates a virtual object by rendering 2D contents preserved beforehand onto a white object in a real world via a projector. For geometry registration between the rendered image and the object surface correctly, we regard the object surface as a set of a number of small rectangular regions and perform geometry registration by calculating homographies between the projector image plane and the each divided regions. By using such a homography-based method, we can avoid calibration of a camera and a projector that is necessary in a conventional method. In this system, we perform following two processes. First of all, we acquire the status of the object surface from images which capture the scene that color-coded checker patterns are projected on it and generate image rendered on it without distortion by calculating homographies. After once the projection image is generated, the rendered image can be updated if the object surface moves, or refined when it is stationary by observing the object surface. By this second process, the system always offers more accurate display. In implementation, we demonstrate our system in various conditions. This system enables it to project them as if it is printed on a real paper surface of a book. By using this system, we expect the realization of a virtual museum or other industrial application.