To overcome the problem of narrow viewing angle in active matrix liquid crystal displasy(LCDs) in the twisted nematic mode(TN mode), we have proposed a new LCD mode using a bend-alignment cell with an optical compensator. In this new mode, we have successfully obtained a black state with almost no leakage over a wide viewing angle range with very fast response. We describe the fundamental principle and design rule of the optical compensator and discuss the properties obtained in theoretical and experimental term.

Because the match phase in OPS5-type production systems requires most of the system's execution time and memory accesses, we proposed hash-based parallel production systems, CPPS (Clustered Parallel Production Systems), based on the RETE algorithm for distributed memory parallel computers, or multicomputers to reduce such a bottleneck. CPPS was effective in speeding up the match phase, but still left room for optimizations. In this paper, we introduce software cache techniques to memory nodes in the CPPS as one of the optimizations, and implement it on a multicomputer, nCUBE2. The benchmark results show that the CPPS with the software cache is about 2-fold faster than the original, and more than 7-fold faster than the simple hash method proposed by Acharya et al. for a large scale problem. The speed-up can be attributed to decreased communication costs.

This paper proposes new algorithms for diagnosing (detection, identification and location) baseline multistage interconnection networks (MIN) as one of the basic units in a massively parallel system. This is accomplished in the presence of single and multiple faults under a new fault model. This model referred to as the geometric fault model, considers defective crossing connections which are located between adjacent stages, internally to the MIN (therefore, a fault corresponds to a physical bridge fault between two connections). It is shown that this type of fault affects the correct geometry of the network, thus requiring a different testing approach than previous methods. Initially, an algorithm which detects the presence of bridge faults (both in the single and multiple fault cases), is presented. For a single bridge fault, the proposed algorithm locates the fault except in an unique pathological case under which it is logically impossible to differentiate between two equivalent locations of the fault (however, the switching element affected by this fault is uniquely located). The proposed algorithm requires log2 N test vectors to diagnose the MIN as fault free (where N is the number of input lines to the MIN). For fully diagnosing a single bridge fault, this algorithm requires at most 2 log2 N tests and terminates when multiple bridge faults are detected. Subsequently, an algorithm which locates all bridge faults is given. The number of required test vectors is O(N). Fault location of each bridge fault is accomplished in terms of the two lines in the bridge and the numbers of the stages between which it occurs. Illustrative examples are given.

We develop a simulation environment for designing and examining a neural network model at the network level. The aim of our research is to enable researchers investigating neural network connective models to save time by being equipped with a graphical user interface and database of the network models. This environment consists of three parts: (1) the kernel of the simulation system, (2) NNDBMS (Neural Networks DataBase Management System), and (3) a system for displaying simulation results in various ways.

The objective of this paper is to find a parametric representation for the vocal-tract log-area function that is directly and simply related to basic acoustic characteristics of the human vocal-tract. The importance of this representation is associated with the solution of the articulatory-to-acoustic inverse problem, where a simple mapping from the articulatory space onto the acoustic space can be very useful. The method is as follows: Firstly, given a corpus of log-area functions, a parametric model is derived following a factor analysis technique. After that, the articulatory space, defined by the parametric model, is filled with approximately uniformly distributed points, and the corresponding first three formant frequencies are calculated. These formants define an acoustic space onto which the articulatory space maps. In the next step, an independent component analysis technique is used to determine acoustic and articulatory coordinate systems whose components are as independent as possible. Finally, using singular value decomposition, acoustic and articulatory coordinate systems are rotated so that each of the first three components of the articulatory space has major influence on one, and only one, component of the acoustic space. An example showing how the proposed model can be applied to the solution of the articulatory-to-acoustic inverse problem is given at the end of the paper.

This paper discusses a massively parallel interconnection scheme for multithreaded architecture and introduces a new class of direct interconnection networks called the hierarchical Multidimensional Directed Cycles Ensemble (hMDCE). Its suitability for massively parallel systems is discussed. The network is evolved from the Multidimensional Directed Cycles Ensemble (MDCE) network, where each node is substituted by lower-level sub-networks. The new network addresses some serious problems caused by the increasing scale of parallel systems, such as longer latency, limited throughput and high implementation cost. This paper first introduces the MDCE network and then presents and examines in detail the hierarchical MDCE network. Bisection bandwidth of hMDCE is considerably reduced from its ancestor MDCE and the network performs significantly higher throughput and lower latency under some practical implementation constraints. The gate count and delay time of the compiled circuit for the routing function are insignificant. These results reveal that the hMDCE network is an important candidate for massively parallel systems interconnection.

A mesh spiral network (MSnet) and a mesh random (MRnet) are proposed. The MSnet consists of the 2-D torus and bypass links that keep the degree at six. The MRnet consists of the 2-D torus and random bypass links that keep the degree at six. The diameter and the average distance are calculated by using a computer program. The cost of the MSnet is slightly higher than that of the de Bruijn graph, and is about the same as the Star graph. The cost of the MRnet is better than that of the de Bruijn graph. The MSnet is proven to be maximally fault-tolerant. The upper bound of the MRnet size is also discussed.

This paper proposes a new duplication redundancy technology, 2 Transistors for 1.5 Gates, that is capable of automatic defect tolerance, so making large, high-resolution, color TFT-LCD panel fabrication both easy and economical. This redundancy technology with automatic defect tolerant capability has a low hardware overhead and is very capable of compensating for open circuit defects in a large active-matrix panel. This technology was confirmed by fabricating a 9.5-inch color TFT-LCD panel with 640480 pixels(960960 dots). This panel showed excellent display performance and produced pictures without defects. The yield improvement effect of this technology was also confirmed by calculation based on the Boltzmann statistics model. Consequently, this technology is clearly seen to have a yield improvement effect equal to defect density reduction of about one order, compared to non redundancy. This technology drastically reduces dot and line defects, enabling fabrication of large, high-resolution, color TFT-LCD panels at a relatively low cost.

We propose a new QOS routing algorithm for finding a path that guarantees several quality of service (QOS) parameters requested by users, for ATM networks. It is known that a routing problem is NP-complete, if the number of additive QOS parameters, such as delay and cost, are more than or equal to two. Although a number of heuristic algorithms have been proposed recently to solve this problem, the appropriate choice of routing algorithms is still an open issue. In this paper, we propose a new heuristic routing algorithm, while being compliant with PNNI routing and signaling specification in the ATM Forum. The performance of algorithms is evaluated by simulation with a various network topologies and loading scenarios. This simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme improves the performance while reducing computational complexity.

For reducing requirement of large memory and minimizing computation complexity in a large-vocabulary continuous speech recognition system, speech segmentation plays an important role in speech recognition systems. In this paper, we formulate the speech segmentation as a two-phase problem. Phase 1 (frame labeling) involves labeling frames of speech data. Frames are classified into three types: (1) silence, (2) consonant and (3) vowel according to two segmentation features. In phase 2 (syllabic unit segmentation) we apply the concept of transition states to segment continuous speech data into syllabic units based on the labeled frames. The novel class of hyperrectangular composite neural networks (HRCNNs) is used to cluster frames. The HRCNNs integrate the rule-based approach and neural network paradigms, therefore, this special hybrid system may neutralize the disadvantages of each alternative. The parameters of the trained HRCNNs are utilized to extract both crisp and fuzzy classification rules. In our experiments, a database containing continuous reading-rate Mandarin speech recorded from newscast was utilized to illustrate the performance of the proposed speaker independent speech segmentation system. The effectiveness of the proposed segmentation system is confirmed by the experimental results.

This paper presents a binary neural network approach for link activation problems in multihop radio networks. The goal of the NP-complete problems is to find a conflict-free link activation schedule with the minimum number of time slots for specified communication requirements. The neural network is composed of NM binary neurons for scheduling N links in M time slots. The energy functions and the motion equations are newly defined with heuristic methods. The simulation results through 14 instances with up to 419 links show that the neural network not only surpasses the best existing neural network in terms of the convergence rate and the computation time, but also can solve large scale instances within a constant number of iteration steps.

Physical optics(PO) and the aperture field integration method (AFIM) give accurate and similar field patterns near the first few sidelobes of reflector antennas. It is widely accepted that the use of AFIM is restricted to norrower angles than PO. In this paper, uniform equivalent edge currents of PO and AFIM are compared analytically and their equivalence in high frequency in discussed. It is asymptotically verified that the patterns by AFIM are almost identical to PO fields in the full 360angular region, provided that AFIM uses the equivalent surface currents consisting of two components, that is, the geometrical optics(GO) reflected fields from the reflector and the incident fields from the feed source, the latter of which are often neglected. Slightly weaker equivalence is predicted for cross polarization patterns. Numerical comparison of PO and AFIM confirms all these results, the equivalence holds not only for large but also for a very small refiector of the order of one wavelength diameter.

Multistage Interconnection Networks (MIN) with multiple outlets are networks which can support higher bandwidth than those of nonblocking networks by passing multiple packets to the same destination. Fault recovery mechanisms are proposed for two of such networks (TBSF/PBSF) with the best use of their inherent fault tolerant capability. With these mechanisms, on-the-fly fault recovery is possible for multiple faults on switching elements. For the link fault, the networks are reconfigured after fault diagnosis, and the network is available with some performance degradation. The bandwidth degradation under multiple faults on link/element is analyzed with both theoretical models and simulation. Through the analysis, F-PBSF shows high fault tolerance under high traffic load and low reliability by using 3 or more banyan networks.

A new multi-functional card with a display, sounder and input keys, and related communication equipment, including a microwave base station and a contactless surface reader/writer, have been developed to perform the functions of positioning, paging, returning a message and identity certification. We confirmed that a prototype subsystem was capable of providing a simple and automatic call forwarding service. The multi-functional card as an ID card and a personal data terminal, and its subsystem can provide new personal services for a multimedia office.

A hierarchical relaxation method is presented for detecting local features in moving images. The relaxation processes are performed on the temporal-spatial pyramid, which is a multi-resolution data structure for the moving images. The accurate and high speed edge detection can be obtained by using infomation in the neighboring frames as well as the processed results in the higher layers of the pyramid.

A simple algorithm is proposed for representing nonseparable functions by equivalent separable functions. In this algorithm, functions are first represented by computational graphs, which are directed graphs representing the computational process of the functions. Then, the vertices of the computational graphs are searched in preorder or postorder, and the transformation to separable forms is performed at the places where it is necessary. By this repetition of the transformation, nonseparable functions are represented by separable functions automatically. The proposed algorithm will be useful in various fields of science and engineering because funcutions of one variable are easy to deal with.

In estimating the performances of Distributed control Dynamic Channel Assignment (DDCA) strategies in sector cell layout systems, we find that sector cell layout systems with DDCA achieved a large system capacity. Moreover, we also indicate the problem, which is the increase of occurrences of cochannel interference, raised by using DDCA in sector cell layout systems. The new channel assignment algorithm, which is called Channel Searching on Direction of Sector (CSDS), is proposed to cope with the problem. CSDS assigns nominal channels to each sector according to their direction so that the same frequency channel tends to be used in sectors having the same direction. We show, by simulations, that CSDS is an adequate algorithm for sector cell layout systems because it significantly improves performance on co-channel interference while only slightly decreasing system capacity.

Reduction of the complexity of the NLMS algorithm has recceived attention in the area of adaptive filtering. A processing cost reduction method, in which the component of the weight vector is updated when the absolute value of the sample is greater than or equal to an arbitrary threshold level, has been proposed. The convergence analysis of the processing cost reduction method with white Gaussian data has been derived. However, a convergence analysis of this method with correlated Gaussian data, which is important for an actual application, is not studied. In this paper, we derive the convergence cheracteristics of the processing cost reduction method with correlated Gaussian data. From the analytical results, it is shown that the range of the gain constant to insure convergence is independent of the correlation of input samples. Also, it is shown that the misadjustment is independent of the correlation of input samples. Moreover, it is shown that the convergence rate is a function of the threshold level and the eigenvalues of the covariance matrix of input samples as well as the gain constant.

As the rise of the Internet greatly affects the construction of networks in the coming era of multimedia, we try to find the factors of development and problems of the Internet. Furthermore, we give light to the requirements on networks based on multimedia applications tailored to each homes. As a result of those two analyses, we point out that the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) type Internet utilizing ATM technology, which makes up for the drawbacks of information management function of the Internet, is promising. Furthermore, we point out that intelligence, which provides the network with the information management and information search functions, is necessary to be introduced into networks. So we propose a network function model, which will realize such functions.

Signal Transition Graphs (STG'S) [1] are Petrinets [2], which were introduced to represent a behavior of asynchronous circuits. To derive logic functions from an STG, the reachability graph should be constructed. In the verification of STG's some method based on Occurrence nets (OCN) and its prefix, called unfollding, has been proposed [3], [4]. OCN's can represent both causality and concurrency between two nodes by net stryctyre. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm to derive a logic function by generating sub-state space of a given STG using the structural properties of OCN. The proposed algorithm can be seem as a parallel algorithm for deriving a logic function.