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.

Let L be any class of languages, L' be a class of languages which is closed under λ-free homomorphisms, and Σ be any alphabet. In this paper, we show that if the following statement (1) holds, then the statement (2) holds. (1) For any language L in L over Σ, there exist an alphabet of k pairs of matching parentheses Xk, Dyck reduction Red over Xk, and a language L1 in L' over ΣXk such that L=Red(L1)Σ*. (2) For any language L in L over Σ, there exist an alphabet Γ including Σ, a homomorphism h : Γ*Σ*, a Dyck language D over Γ, and a language L2 in L' over Γ such that L=h(DL2). We also give an application of this result.

This paper studies stabilization of timed discrete event systems with forcible events. We present an algorithm for computing the region of weak attraction for legal states.

A 2.4 GHz band direct sequence (DS) spread spectrum (SS) radio frequency modem with a wide bandwidth of 26 MHz in half-duplex system has been newly developed using the small size (832 mm) and highly-efficient (-57 dBm) elastic type of surface acoustic wave (SAW) convolver. The size of SS modem is 905011 mm and the weight is 75 g. The power consumption of SS modem is 1.5 W and data rate is 206 kbps with 63 chips of PN code. Electrical characteristics measurements were made to evaluate the SS modem performance.

We are working on an algorithm to optimize the logic circuits that can be realized on the super fine-grain parallel processing architecture. As a part of this work, we have developed an inverter reduction algorithm. This algorithm is based on modeling logic circuits as dynamical systems. We implement the algorithm in the PARTHENON system, which is the high level synthesis system developed in NTT's laboratories, and evaluate it using ISCAS85 benchmarks. We also compare the results with both the existing algorithm of PARTHENON and the algorithm of Jain and Bryant.

We have developed and operated a newly conceived multiprobe scanning force microscope (SFM) using microfabricated piezoelectric cantilevers. An array of piezoelectric microcantilevers with a piezoelectric ZnO layer on an SiO2 film makes it possible to build a multiprobe SFM system. Multiprobe SFMs are required for the application of SFM to the probe lithography and high density data storage. Each cantilever probe of multiprobe system should have a detector for sensing of its own deflection and an actuator for positioning of its tip. The piezoelectric cantilever can detect its own vibration amplitude by measuring the piezoelectric current, and it can also drive its tip by applying a voltage to the piezoelectric layer. Therefore, the piezoelectric cantilever is suitable for each cantilever of the array in the multiprobe SFM. We have verified the applicability of the piezoelectric cantilever to each lever of the array by characterizing the sensitivities of the deflection sensing and actuation. The ZnO piezoelectric cantilever with the length of 125 µm works as the z scanner with the sensitivity of 20 nm/V. We have also fabricated an experimental piezoelectric microcantilever array with ten cantilevers. We have constructed parallel operation SFM system with two cantilevers of the fabricated array and successfully obtained parallel images of 1 µm pitch grating in constant height mode.

Many efforts are currently underway to design wideband mobile communication systems. In this letter, we clarify the received signal level characteristics for wideband mobile radio channels in line-of-sight (LOS) microcells. We conduct several urban-area field experiments to measure the received signal levels for various receiver bandwidths from 300 kHz to 30 MHz and the power delay profile. The experimental results show that the fading depth of the received signal decreases as the normalized rms delay spread, defined as the product of receiver bandwidth and rms delay spread, increases. These results are useful in designing wideband microcell systems for urban areas.

A thermally controlled magnetization actuator (TCMA) is proposed for micro-mechanical relays. It is actuated by changing the local magnetization of the structure by remote heating using a laser beam. It is fabricated by nickel surface micromachining (a fabrication technique using nickel electroplating). The optical power of the laser diode used to drive the TCMA is about 30 mW. The switching time of the microrelay was experimentally measured to be 10 ms, the same as that of a conventional mechanical relay. The contact force was calculated to be 20 µN, which can be improved by increasing the size of the TCMA.

Competition in some telecommunication services has emerged in Japan since deregulation of telecommunication markets in 1985. Demand forecasting methods which take into account competition and investment plan based on it should be studied. There are many forecasting and network planning methods, but most of them do not take into account competition. Thus, in this paper, the competitive Bass model, attraction model, regression model and entropy model are discussed as forecasting methods which can be used under competitive environment. Most of the existing planning methods have treated costs and interest rates as deterministic values, but in fact they are not deterministic. Thus, we show a method which represents undefined factors by fuzzy numbers with triangular membership functions.

The Virtual Path (VP) concept is one of the versatile features of ATM/B-ISDN. Using the VP concept, a bundle of virtual circuits can be grouped together between any two switching nodes in the network. Further, the VP bandwidth and routing can be dynamic. Building on this idea, a dynamically reconfigurable, dynamic call routing wide area (backbone) broadband network concept is proposed. Specifically, this provides dynamism at two levels: at the VP level and at the connection level. For an incoming connection request, at most two logical virtual path connections (VPCs) are allowed between the origin and the destination; these logical VPCs are defined by setting virtual paths links (VPLs) which are, in turn, physically mapped to the transmission network. Based on the traffic pattern during the day, the bandwidth of such VPCs and their routing, as well as call routing, changes so that the maximum number of connection requests can be granted while maintaining acceptable quality of service (QoS) for various services. Within this framework, we present a mathematical model for network design (dimensioning) taking into account the variation of traffic during the day in a heterogeneous multi-service environment. We present computational results for various cost parameter values to show the effectiveness of such networks compared to static-VP based networks in terms of network cost.

This paper presents a novel approach to a soft-output equalizer, which makes a symbol-by-symbol soft-decision based on a posteriori probabilities (APP's) criterion in the presence of intersymbol interference. The authors propose a soft-output Viterbi equalizer (SOVE) employing expanded memory length in a trellis of the Viterbi algorithm with small arithmetic complexity. The proposed equalizer gives suboptimum soft-decision closer to that of a equalizer with the maximum a posteriori probabilities (MAP) algorithm than the conventional SOVE.

A joint estimator for carrier phase, symbol timing, and data sequence is proposed. This fully digital scheme is systematically derived from the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) theory. The simulation and the analytical results demonstrate that the scheme is asymptotical to the optimum in AWGN channel.

The purpose of our study is to develop an intelligent adaptive instruction system that manages intelligently the learner's estimated knowledge structure and optimizes the selection of problems according to his/her knowledge structures. The system adopts the dynamic problems of high school physics as a material of study, and is intended to operate on a UNIX Work Station. For these purposes, the system is composed of three parts, 1) interface part, 2) problem solving expert part, and 3) optimization expert system part for problem selection. The main feature of our system is that both knowledge structures of learner and teacher are represented by structural graph, and the problem selection process is controlled by the relationship between the learner's knowledge structure and the teacher's knowledge structure. In our system the relationship between these two knowledge structures is handled in the optimization expert system part for problem selection. In this paper the theory of the optimization expert system part for problem selection is described, and the effectiveness of this part is clarified through a simulation experiment of the originally defined matching coefficient.

This paper proposes the concept of information retrieval for fine arts database system on the fuzzy set theory, especially concerning to sensitive impression and location data. The authors have already reported several important formulations about the data structure and information retrieval models based on the fuzzy set theory for multimedia database. The fuzzy models of the information retrieval are implemented in the fine arts database system, which has the following features: (1) The procedure of information retrieval is formulated in the fuzzy set theory; (2) This database can treat multimedia data such as document data, sensitive impression, location information, and imagedata. (3) It is possible to retrieve the stored data based on sensitive impression and the location data such as "joyful pictures which have a mountain in the center and there is a tree in the right"; (4) Users can input impression words as a retrieval condition, and estimate their grades such as "low," "medium," and "high"; (5) For the result of information retrieval, the satisfaction grade is calculated based on fuzzy retrieval model; and (6) The stored data are about 400 fine arts paintings which are inserted by the textbook of fine arts currently used at the junior high school and high school in Japan. These features of this system give an effects of the fine arts education, and should be useful for information retrieval of fine arts. The results of this study will become increasingly important in connection with development of multimedia technology.

Two methods of the second step of the elliptic curve method for factoring are known. One is the standard method that is similar to the second step of the p-1 method, and the other is the Brent method that is based on the "birthday paradox." In this paper, we propose a revised standard method and a revised Brent method. On an average, the revised standard method is the most efficient, the standard method is the second efficient, the revised Brent method is the third and the Brent method is the fourth. If the largest prime factor on the order of an elliptic curve is congruent to 1 modulo 3, then the revised Brent method becomes more efficient than the standard method. By applying these methods to unsolved problems in the Cunningham project, we found 18 new prime factors. The largest prime factor among them was 43-digits.

This paper presents a method of multiple fault diagnosis in sequential circuits by input-sequence pairs having sensitizing input pairs. We, first, introduce an input-sequence pair having sensitizing input pairs to diagnose multiple faults in a sequential circuit represented by a combinational array model. We call such input-sequence pair the sensitizing sequence pair in this paper. Next, we describe a diagnostic method for multiple faults in sequential circuits by the sensitizing sequence pair. From a relation between a sensitizing path generated by a sensitizing sequence pair and a subcircuit, the proposed method deduces the suspected faults for the subcircuits, one by one, based on the responses observed at primary outputs without probing any internal line. Experimental results show that our diagnostic method identifies fault locations within small numbers of suspected faults.

The storage utilizations of existing similar key search files based on B+-tree and extensible hashing were under 70% and should be improved. A similar key search file based on extensible hashing with partial expansion and that on linear hashing with partial expansion are proposed. Computer simulations on about 230 thousand English words show that the storage utilizations of the files with 32 expansive steps are about 97%.

Laser module fabricated with silicon platform technology is very attractive for low-cost modules. The technology enables passive optical alignment of an LD to an optical fiber. Our marker design for passive alignment allows positioning accuracy within 1 µm of LD. However, coupling efficiency is a key issue because that by conventional butt coupling scheme is low with about 10 dB coupling loss. We investigated optical coupling characteristics in various types of coupling scheme: conventional flat end fibers, cone fibers, integrated GRIN rod lenses on the platform and the coupling with new-type LDs integrated with spot size transformer. Improvement of coupling efficiency with 3 dB and 7.5 dB compared to flat-end fiber is achieved by using the cone fiber and the GRIN rod lens, respectively, although 1-dB coupling tolerances for alignment deteriorated with these schemes. We obtained high efficient coupling with 3.5 dB coupling loss and wide alignment tolerance of 2.3 µm simultaneously with a new-type LD integrated with spot size transformer owing to its expanded spot size characteristics.

In this paper, we apply the method of relating learning to hypothesis testing [6] to study average generalization performance of concept learning from noisy random training examples. A striking aspect of the method is that a learning problem with a so-called ill-disposed learning algorithm can equivalently be reduced to a simple one, and for this simple problem, even though a direct and exact calculation of the learning curves might still be impossible, a thorough empirical study can easily be performed. One of the main advantages of using the illdisposed algorithm is that it well models lower quality learning in real situations, and hence the result can provide useful implications as far as reliable generalization is concerned. We provide empirical formulas for the learning curves by simple functions of the noise rate and the sample size from a thorough empirical study, which smoothly incorporates the results from noise-free analysis and are quite accurate and adequate for practical applications when the noise rate is relatively small. The resulting learning curve bounds are directly related to the number of system weights and are not pessimistic in practice, and apply to learning settings not necessarily within the Bayesian framework.

In this paper, we propose a new transaction numbering scheme and a new validation scheme for controlling transactions optimistically in client-server architectural mobile distributed database systems (MDDBSs). In the system, mobile units (MUs) request transaction-related services, e.g., concurrency control, commit process, then the mobile support stations (MSSs) provide the required services. The mobile computing environment makes it very difficult for each MU to assign unique transaction number to transactions since it is allowed to move in communication disconnected states. Besides, validating transactions numbered by the previous transaction numbering scheme could wait indefinitely in the case of data transfer delay. Thus, we propose a new transaction numbering scheme called datatransfer time oriented transaction numbering scheme (DATTO) ,in which we can remove waiting time for validation by determining validation-start time with data-transfer completion time. However, if the previous validation scheme for the static environment is directly applied transactions numbered by DATTO, undesirable results could occur in abnormal cases due to latency on the wireless communication. Thus, we also propose a new validation scheme, called commit-order oriented validation (COOV) ,which is always able to produce correct results by applying backward validation to the abnormal cases.