The deblocking filter in H.264 is an efficient tool to reduce blocking artifact, but it also blurs the details or retains blocking artifact perceptible in some high-activity areas. In this paper, we improve the filtered pixel classification and filtering schemes used by the deblocking filter in H.264 to keep the sharpeness of real edges and minimize over-smoothing.

The Modified edge representation (MER) is the concept to be used in the line integral approximation for computing the surface radiation integrals of diffraction. The MER as applied to the physical optics (PO-MER), has remarkable accuracy in the surface-to-line integral reduction even for the curved surfaces and for sources very close to the scatterer. In the discussion of the mathematical foundation for this accuracy, the evaluation of the singularities in the integrand of the PO-MER line integration was left for further study.

This paper introduces a new approach to realize a multi-state operation on the microwave isolator using ferrite edge-mode. The voltage control of total transmission on the isolator is realized. The operation is based on the unique property of ferrite edge-mode and the variable resistance of PIN diodes. On the isolator, the frequency response is investigated both experimentally and numerically. The numerical analysis is performed by the FDTD method. Both numerical and experimental results have shown that the transmission between two ports can be totally controlled by the applied voltage for the diodes. The experimental results indicate that the transmission direction can be controlled at 11 GHz, and the isolation ratio can be controlled for more than 30 dB.

The Oblivious Transfer (OT), introduced by Rabin in 1981, has become an important and fundamental cryptography technique. An OT protocol should have two important characteristics: the sender's privacy and the chooser's privacy. The sender is a party who will deliver a secret to the chooser. The chooser is another party who acts as receiver to learn some information about the input from the sender. The chooser learns of certain information concerning the sender's input while the sender is not allowed to know what the chooser has learned. Moreover, the chooser cannot acquire any messages that he/she did not choose. Naor and Pinkas have recently proposed an efficient oblivious transfer protocol (EOT) that implementes 1-out-of-n protocol, but this EOT has a flaw: it cannot withstand "the same message attack." In this paper, we will improve Naor and Pinkas EOT and make it resistant to "the same message attack."

In this paper, we briefly describe situations that may cause HFN de-synchronization for ciphering applications in UMTS. Detection methods of HFN de-synchronization are discussed and the lower bound of the HFN de-synchronization perceptibility is derived. A supporting simulation result of the perceptibility is given. Then, an Automatic Recovery of HFN Synchronization (ARHS) algorithm is presented. The average lost PDU number of the ARHS algorithm is derived and supported by simulation results. The average lost SDU number is used as the figure of merit for HFN synchronization recovery procedures. Simulation results of the average lost SDU number show that the ARHS algorithm is quite effective to recover HFN synchronization after HFN de-synchronization situations happen.

Though there are intensive researches on off-line electronic cash (e-cash), the current computer network infrastructure sufficiently accepts on-line e-cash. The on-line means that the payment protocol involves with the bank, and the off-line means no involvement. For customers' privacy, the e-cash system should satisfy unlinkability, i.e., any pair of payments is unlinkable w.r.t. the sameness of the payer. In addition, for the convenience, exact payments, i.e., the payments with arbitrary amounts, should be also able to performed. In an existing off-line system with unlinkable exact payments, the customers need massive computations. On the other hand, an existing on-line system does not satisfy the efficiency and the perfect unlinkability simultaneously. This paper proposes an on-line system, where the efficiency and the perfect unlinkability are achieved simultaneously.

In this paper, we explicitly formulate the average weight and the stopping set distributions and their asymptotic exponents of two-edge type LDPC code ensembles. We also show some characteristics such as the symmetry and the conditions for zero of the weight distributions of two code ensembles. Further we investigate the relation between two code ensembles from the perspectives of the weight and stopping set distributions.

We present a design of knowledge circulation framework for quality of service (QoS) control of multimedia communication service (MCS). This framework aims to realizing user oriented and resource aware MCS by enabling effective placement of QoS control knowledge on the network. In this paper, we propose a conceptual design of the framework with knowledge-based multiagent system. In this framework, QoS control knowledge is actively circulated by getting on the agents. We implement a prototype of real-time bidirectional MCS (videoconference system) using this framework, and show initial experiment results using it to evaluate the effectiveness of the framework.

This paper describes a 3.5 V operation InGaP HBT MMIC power amplifier module for use in GSM/EDGE dual-mode, 900/1800/1900 MHz triple band handset applications. Conventional GSM amplifiers have a high linear gain of 40 dB or more to realize efficiency operation in large gain compression state exceeding at least 5 dB. On the other hand, an EDGE amplifier needs a linear operation to prevent signal distortion. This means that a high linear gain amplifier cannot be applied to the EDGE amplifier, because the high gain leads to the high noise power in the receive band (Rx-noise). In order to solve this problem, we have changed the linear gain of the amplifier between GSM and EDGE mode. In EDGE mode, the stage number of the amplifier changes from three to two. To reduce a high gain, the first stage transistors in the amplifier is bypassed through the diode switches. This newly proposed bypass circuit enables a high gain in GSM mode and a low gain in EDGE, thus allowing the amplifier to operate with high efficiency in both modes while satisfying the Rx-noise specification. In conclusion, with diode switches and a band select switch built on the MMIC, the module delivers a Pout of 35.5 dBm and a PAE of about 50% for GSM900, a 33.4 dBm Pout and a 45% PAE for GSM1800/1900. While satisfying an error vector magnitude (EVM) of less than 4% and a receive-band noise power of less than -85 dBm/100 kHz, the module also delivers a 29.5 dBm Pout and a PAE of over 25% for EDGE900, a 28.5 dBm Pout and a PAE of over 25% for EDGE1800/1900.

Mobile multimedia services such as TV-call or video streaming are gradually becoming popular in the 3rd generation mobile network (IMT-2000). Multimedia traffic is expected to continue increasing into the coming years, and IP technology is considered to be capable of efficiently transporting such huge volumes of multimedia traffic. Aimed at ALL-IP mobile networks, we are proposing the IP-based IMT Network Platform (IP2), which represents an evolution from IMT-2000. In this paper, we propose the Edge Intelligent Mobility Management Protocol (EIM) to enable IP mobility in future ALL-IP mobile networks to meet mobile operators' requirements. EIM employs the so-called network-controlled mobility management approach and conceals IP mobility from mobile nodes by processing user packet and mobility control at the edge node, access router. To verify feasibility and scalability, we have implemented EIM on our experimental system and conducted a series of tests. The results showed that processing delays for basic mobility operations are considerably small. It was also confirmed that the EIM is scalable regarding the increase of the number of mobile nodes and correspondent nodes.

With the occurrence of new applications such as Voice over IP (VoIP) and multimedia conference, there is an ongoing discussion about realizing QoS in the Internet today. Because of its potential scalability in support of QoS guarantees, the Differentiated Service (DiffServ) architecture with aggregate packet scheduling has recently attracted much attention in the networking community as a feasible solution for providing Internet QoS. Thus, it is important to understand delay bound of an individual flow in the DiffServ architecture in order to provide delay-sensitive applications. In this paper, we study, via both analysis and simulation, the deterministic bound on edge-to-edge delay of a flow in a DiffServ network domain with FIFO aggregation and a class-based Latency Rate (LR) server that provides guaranteed performance with rate reservation for a traffic class. We derive edge-to-edge delay bound for a single flow as a function of allocated service rate for a traffic class, token bucket parameters adopted for flows at the network ingress, and information about joining and leaving flows. We compare the obtained delay bound with previous works using analytic results, and then conduct simulation to confirm the results. The derived bound is less than that of previous studies in all cases.

A method to monitor the GaInP/GaAs HBT device structure including emitter ledge thickness is demonstrated in this paper. The base thickness and base doping density are obtained through base transit time and base sheet resistance measurements while the base transit time is measured through the cut-off frequency measurements at various bias points. A large size two-emitter HBT device is used to measure the ledge thickness. Emitter doping profile and collector doping profile are obtained by the large size HBT device through C-V measurements. An FATFET device formed by two emitters as drain and source terminals and the interconnect metal as the on-ledge Schottky gate between two emitters is used to measure the ledge thickness.

The Internet has become an important medium for effective marketing and efficient operations for many institutions. Visitors of a particular web site leave behind valuable information on their preferences, requirements, and demands regarding the offered products and/or services. Understanding these requirements online, i.e., during a particular visit, is both a difficult technical challenge and a tremendous business opportunity. Web sites that can provide effective online navigation suggestions to their visitors can exploit the potential inherent in the data such visits generate every day. However, identifying, collecting, and maintaining the necessary knowledge that navigation suggestions are based on is far from trivial. We propose a methodology for acquiring and maintaining this knowledge efficiently using data mart and web mining technology. Its effectiveness has been shown in an application for a bank's web site.

The (k + δ)-edge-connectivity augmentation problem for a specified set of vertices ((k + δ)ECA-SV) is defined as follows: "Given an undirected graph G =(V,E), a specified set of vertices Γ V, a subgraph G ′=(V,E ′) with λ(Γ;G ′) = k of G and a cost function c: E Z+ (nonnegative integers), find a set E* E - E ′of edges, each connecting distinct vertices of V, of minimum total cost such that λ(Γ;G″) k + δ for G"=(V,E ′∪E*)," where λ(Γ;G″) is the minimum value of the maximum number of edge disjoint paths between any pair of vertices in Γ of G". The paper proposes an O(Δ+|V||E|) time 2-approximation algorithm FSAR for (k + 1)ECA-SV with a restriction λ(V;G ′) = λ(Γ;G ′), where Δ is the time complexity of constructing a structural graph of a given graph G ′.

A new edge-coloring algorithm for bipartite graphs is presented. This algorithm, based on the framework of the O(m log d + (m/d) log (m/d) log d) algorithm by Makino-Takabatake-Fujishige and the O(m log m) one by Alon, finds an optimal edge-coloring of a bipartite graph with m edges and maximum degree d in O(m log d + (m/d) log (m/d)) time. This algorithm does not require elaborate data structures, which the best known O(m log d) algorithm due to Cole-Ost-Schirra depends on.

In this paper, we propose a proof scheme of shuffle, which is an honest verifier zero-knowledge proof of knowledge such as the protocols by Groth and Furukawa. Unlike the previous schemes proposed by Furukawa-Sako, Groth, and Furukawa, our scheme can be used as the shuffle of the elements encrypted by Paillier's encryption scheme, which has an additive homomorphic property in the message part. The ElGamal encryption scheme used in the previous schemes does not have this property.

The aim of this paper is to propose a modeling of corporate knowledge in cyberworlds. An enterprise is considered in the framework of multiagent methodology as a distributed computational system. The Agent-Oriented Abstraction paradigm was proposed earlier to describe in a fully generic way agents and societies of agents. In this paper, we are investigating the application of this paradigm to the abstract modeling of corporate knowledge, extending the scope of traditional knowledge management approaches. We show that such an abstraction mechanism leads to very practical applications for cyberworlds whether on the web or on any other medium. Our approach covers the broader possible scope of corporate knowledge, emphasizing the distributivity and autonomy of agents within cyber systems. This approach can be further used to better simulate and support knowledge management processes.

We have fabricated a multilayer structure for single flux quantum (SFQ) circuit application using a high-temperature superconductor (HTS). La0.2-Y0.9Ba1.9Cu3Ox (La-YBCO) base electrode layers were prepared by a dc or rf magnetron sputtering method. The reproducibility of film quality for dc-sputtered La-YBCO films was better than that for rf-sputtered films, and the dc sputtered films exhibited the average surface roughness Ra less than 1.0 nm and a Tc zero value of 88 K. By using the dc-sputtered La-YBCO films, a multilayer structure of SrSnO3/La-YBCO/SrSnO3/La-YBCO on MgO substrate with Ra below 2.0 nm was obtained. Interface-modified ramp-edge junctions with La0.2-Yb0.9Ba1.9Cu3Ox (La-YbBCO) counter electrodes have been fabricated by using this multilayer structure with dc-sputtered films. The fabricated junctions exhibited RSJ-type I-V characteristics with IcRn products of about 3 mV at 4.2 K. We also obtained a 1-σ Ic spread of 8% for a 1000-junction series-array. The sheet inductance values at 4.2 K for the base and counter electrodes on La-YBCO ground planes were 0.8 pH and 0.7 pH per square, respectively. Operation of several types of elementary SFQ circuits has been successfully demonstrated by using this multilayer structure.

An improved method for extracting translation equivalents from bilingual comparable corpora according to contextual similarity was developed. This method has two main features. First, a seed bilingual lexicon--which is used to bridge contexts in different languages--is adapted to the corpora from which translation equivalents are to be extracted. Second, the contextual similarity is evaluated by using a combination of similarity measures defined in opposite directions. An experiment using Wall Street Journal and Nihon Keizai Shimbun corpora, together with the EDR bilingual dictionary, demonstrated the effectiveness of the method; it produced lists of candidate translation equivalents with an accuracy of around 30% for frequently occurring unknown words. The method thus proved to be useful for improving the coverage of a bilingual lexicon.

This work describes a 2.4 GHz frequency synthesizer based on a delay-locked loop (DLL). Because the proposed frequency synthesizer is basically developed from a DLL, it has no jitter accumulation thereby resulting in a low close-in phase noise of -105 dBc/Hz. Although only 9 delay cells are used, the proposed delay cell reusing scheme realizes frequency multiplication factors greater than 240 and provides multiple frequency output with the resolution of phase detector (PD) comparison frequency. This architecture has been verified by implementing the synthesizer in a 0.18 µm CMOS technology.