Recently, with the explosive growth of communication technologies, group oriented services such as teleconferencing and multi-player games are increasing. Access to information is controlled through secret communication using a group key shared among members, so efficient updating of group keys is vital to maintaining secrecy of large and dynamic groups. In this paper, we employ (2,4)-tree as a key tree, which is a height balanced tree, to reduce the number of key updates caused by joins or leaves of members. Specifically, we use the CBT (Core Based Tree) to determine the network configuration of the group members to reflect that onto the structure of the key tree. This allows for more efficient updates of group keys when splitting or merging of subgroups occurs by network failure or recovery.

In 2002, Hwang and Yeh showed that Peyravian-Zunic's password authentication schemes are not secure and proposed an improvement by using the server public key. Since applying the server public key results in the additional burden, we propose secure password authentication schemes without using the server public key in this paper.

One of the most important issues in spontaneous speech recognition is how to cope with the degradation of recognition accuracy due to speaking rate fluctuation within an utterance. This paper proposes an acoustic model for adjusting mixture weights and transition probabilities of the HMM for each frame according to the local speaking rate. The proposed model is implemented along with variants and conventional models using the Bayesian network framework. The proposed model has a hidden variable representing variation of the "mode" of the speaking rate, and its value controls the parameters of the underlying HMM. Model training and maximum probability assignment of the variables are conducted using the EM/GEM and inference algorithms for the Bayesian networks. Utterances from meetings and lectures are used for evaluation where the Bayesian network-based acoustic models are used to rescore the likelihood of the N-best lists. In the experiments, the proposed model indicated consistently higher performance than conventional HMMs and regression HMMs using the same speaking rate information.

Estimating the parameters of a statistical distribution from measured sample values forms an essential part of many signal processing tasks. K-distribution has been proven to be an appropriate model for characterising the amplitude of sea clutter. In this paper, a new method for estimating the parameters of K-Distribution is proposed. The method greatly lowers the computational requirement and variance of parameter estimates when compared with the existing non-maximum likelihood methods.

This paper presents a new template matching method based on marker-controlled watershed segmentation (TMCWS). It is applied to recognize numbers on special metal plates in production lines where traditional image recognition methods do not work well. TMCWS is a shape based matching method that uses different pattern images and their corresponding marker images as probes to explore a gradient space of an unknown image to determine which pattern best matches a target object in it. Different from other matching algorithms, TMCWS firstly creates a marker image for each pattern, and then takes both the pattern image and its corresponding marker image as a template window and shifts this window across a gradient space pixel by pixel to do a search. At each position, the marker image is used to try to extract the contour of the target object with the help of marker-controlled watershed segmentation, and the pattern image is employed to evaluate the extracted shape in each trial. All of the pattern images and their corresponding marker images are tried and the pattern that best matches the target object is the recognition result. TMCWS contains shape extraction procedures and it is a high-level template matching method. Experiments are performed with this method on nearly 400 images of metal plates and the test results show its effectiveness in recognizing numbers in noisy images.

A deniable authentication protocol is used to identify the source of a received message for a receiver, but the receiver is unable to prove to a third party the source of the received message. Recently, Fan et al. proposed a deniable authentication protocol based on Diffie-Hellman algorithm. In this paper, we show that Fan et al.'s protocol does not possess the deniable property as they claimed. A cheating receiver can prove the source of the received message to a third party. In addition, we also present a modification of Fan et al.'s protocol to overcome the security flaw.

The block-based fast transmission scheme, which is one of typical stored video delivery schemes, is reasonable in terms of its bandwidth efficiency and tolerance to the delay jitter, etc. However, it causes packet loss because of its burst data transmission method. Thus, we propose a slotted multicast scheme for MPEG video based on the block transmission scheme to maintain a higher quality and to include time constraints. We define two delivery units, the "GoPs Group" and the "Frame Type," on the basis of the MPEG characteristics with periodical NACK feedback from the clients. The former is tolerant to burst packet loss, and the latter gives priority to important frames. Our block multicast has two phases: a "Transmission Phase" and a "Retransmission Phase." In the former, a server multicasts a block, and in the latter, a server retransmits lost packets using multicast according to the proper delivery unit. We evaluate our proposal from some viewpoints with a computer simulation. We also measure the quality of the video reflected the result of a computer simulation. From these results, we confirm performance effectiveness of our proposal.

To improve the DS-CDMA signal transmission performance in a frequency-selective fading channel, the frequency-domain equalization (FDE) can be applied, in which simple one-tap equalization is carried out on each subcarrier component obtained by fast Fourier transform (FFT). Equalization weights for joint FDE and antenna diversity combining based on maximal ratio combining (MRC), zero-forcing (ZF), and minimum mean square error (MMSE) are derived. The conditional bit error rate (BER) is derived for the given set of channel gains in a frequency-selective multipath fading channel. The theoretical average BER performance is evaluated by Monte-Carlo numerical computation method using the derived conditional BER and is confirmed by computer simulation. Performance comparison between DS- and multi-carrier (MC)-CDMA both using FDE is also presented.

In this letter, we address the problem of how to measure the link quality in terms of signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) in rapidly time varying channels which are due to fast variation of the interference or the bursty nature of the traffic. We propose a new SIR estimation approach for the TD-CDMA system, that is based on a pre-selection tentative decision device which discards and selects the estimated symbol on the basis of MAP ratio. The simulation results show that the proposed SIR estimator works and is superior to other known estimators in rapidly time varying channels.

In this paper we propose an inter-block evaluation method to further reduce evaluation numbers in GA-based image halftoning technique. We design the algorithm to avoid noise in the fitness function by evolving all image blocks concurrently, exploiting the inter-block correlation, and sharing information between neighbor image blocks. The effectiveness of the method when the population and image block size are reduced, and the configuration of selection and genetic operators are investigated in detail. Simulation results show that the proposed method can remarkably reduce the entire evaluation numbers to generate high quality bi-level halftone images by suppressing noise around block boundaries.

Recently, there have been a number of studies on wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems designed to increase transmission capacity and flexibility. This has in turn made it necessary to design the optical loss for optical fiber networks over a wide wavelength range. However, there is no general optical loss design method that allows us to employ for an optical fiber network over a wide wavelength range. In this paper, we propose a novel optical loss design and estimation method based on multiple regression analysis and statistical loss design technology for designing new optical fiber networks and for upgrading those that have already been installed. We show that the method can be used for highly accurate optical loss design and estimation from the O- to the L-band (1260 nm to 1625 nm), except for the E-band, by using easily obtainable optical loss values at wavelengths of 1310 and 1550 nm, which are usually used for communication. Moreover, we also show that the accuracy of our proposed method can be improved by selecting proper additional predictor wavelengths.

Direct manipulation by hand is an intuitive and simple way of positioning objects in an immersive virtual environment. However, this technique is not suitable for making precise adjustments to virtual objects in an immersive environment because it is difficult to hold a hand unsupported in midair and to then release an object at a fixed point. We therefore propose an alternative technique using a virtual 3D gearbox widget that we have designed, which enables users to adjust values precisely. We tested the technique in a usability study along with the use of hand manipulation and a slider. The results showed that the gearbox was the best of the three techniques for precise adjustment of small targets, in terms of both performance data and subject preference.

The PN triangle method has a great significance in processing tessellation at the hardware level without software assistance. Despite its significance, however, the conventional PN triangle method has certain defects such as inefficient GE operation and degradation of visual quality. Because the method tessellates a curved surface according to the user-defined fixed LOD (Level Of Detail). In this paper, we propose adaptive tessellation of PN triangles using minimum-artifact edge linking. Through this method, higher efficiency of tessellation and better quality of scene are obtained by adaptivity and minimum-artifact edge linking, respectively. This paper also presents a hardware architecture of a PN triangle method using adaptive LOD, which is not a burden for overall 3D graphics hardware.

In this paper, we evaluate the performance of single- and multi-antenna multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) downlink (base station to mobile terminal) systems in single- and multi-cell environments. We first propose a minimum mean square error (MMSE) filter with a Gaussian approximation for a single input single output (SISO) MC-CDMA downlink system. Then, we apply it to a SIMO (single input multiple output) system with a conventional turbo coding. Furthermore, we compare the performance of SISO (11) and SIMO (12) MC-CDMA systems with that of a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) (22) system employing space-time turbo coded modulation (STTuCM) in a multi-cell environment with 7 cells by computer simulation. Based on the computer simulation results, it is found that the considered MIMO system can achieve twofold capacity with the same transmission power in the multi-cell environment.

Sensor networks, in which a large number of sensor nodes are connected with each other through communication networks, are potential to provide extensive new applications with various research and technical challenges and attracting much attention all over the world. In this paper we describe information and signal processing for sensor networks with emphasis on the concepts of collaboration and fusion as one of the most important issues for the sensor networks. We also review some basic aspects of sensor networks in terms of their features and the network architecture.

In this paper, an experimental result of complex refractive index of soda-lime glass at 30-GHz obtained by transmission method is presented at first. Secondly, a simple empirical formula of complex refractive index of soda-lime glass over frequency range from 0.1-GHz to 1000-GHz is derived using the present experimental result together with data previously reported in literatures by various researchers.

In this paper, we provide explicit representations of average weight and stopping set distributions and asymptotic expressions of their exponent for detailedly represented irregular LDPC code ensembles. Further we present numerical examples which compare a detailedly represented irregular LDPC code ensemble with a conventional one with respect to both of weight and stopping set distributions.

A full-duplex radio-on-fiber (ROF) transport system based on optical single sideband (SSB) modulation, wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) and optical add-drop multiplexing techniques is proposed and demonstrated. A 1.5-dB RF power degradation due to the chromatic dispersion was achieved by employing optical SSB modulation scheme in the system, in which resulting in low bit error rate (BER) and third order intermodulation distortion to carrier ratio (IMD3/C) values. Such a proposed full-duplex ROF transport system is suitable for the long-haul microwave optical link.

This paper reviews process, device and circuit technologies of high-density flash memories, whose market has grown explosively as bridge media. In this memory, programming throughput as well as low bit costs is critical issue. To meet the requirements, we have developed multi-level AG (Assist Gate)-AND type flash memory with small effective cell size and 10 MB/s programming throughput. We clarify three challenges to the multilevel flash memory in terms of operation method, high reliability for data retention, and high-speed multilevel programming. Future trends of high-density flash memories are also discussed.

A novel signal enhancement scheme using the rotation of signal subspace (RSS) and Toeplitz matrix approximation (TMA) methods to enhance the performance of an adaptive antenna array in multirate DS/CDMA systems is proposed. The basis of RSS is to find a transformation matrix in order to recover the desired complex array covariance matrix from a sampled complex array covariance matrix which is contaminated by an interference-plus-noise component, which is the total noise. Also, the objective of TMA is to change the output matrix of RSS into a matrix having the theoretical properties of a total noise-free signal. Consequently, the proposed signal enhancement scheme using RSS and TMA methods can greatly improve the performance of an adaptive antenna array by reducing the undesired total noise effect from the sampled complex array covariance matrix of the pre-correlation received signal vector that is used to calculate a weight vector of an adaptive antenna array. It is shown through various simulation results that the system performance using the proposed signal enhancement scheme is much superior to that of the conventional method.