A segmenting section divides an input image into a plurality of segments. A hierarchizing section determines classes of the respective segments according to a predetermined criterion, and produces a class identification signal indicating the classes of the respective segments. A coding section encodes the segmented image signal into code data while changing the value of a coding control parameter for each of the segments in accordance with the class identification signal. Examples of the coding control parameter are a coding time interval and precision of quantization.

Image coding apparatus with segment classification and segmentation-type motion prediction circuit

The present invention is directed to provide a method and system for targeting individuals and providing a reference to a discussion in a discussion forum. A method is described herein that allows a user of an integrated discussion forum interface to initiate the generation of a direct, navigable reference to a thread or message in the discussion forum to one or more targeted individuals. By generating a direct, navigable reference to the thread or message, the system may advantageously facilitate the directed solicitation of targeted individuals while leveraging the accessibility, reusability, and available knowledge base of a traditional public forum.

System for targeting specific users to discussion threads

The present invention relates to multiprocessing systems in which signals or processes are scheduled in order of their priority level. The invention is based on batch-wise acceptance and scheduling of job signals, and utilizes at least one delay queue (20) for temporarily storing job signals to the processing system before they are accepted for scheduling. The processing system further comprises circuitry (25) for batch-wise insertion of the temporarily stored job signals into the job scheduler (30) of the multiprocessing system. In this way, the utilization of the parallel processing units (45A-D) is increased and the number of changes between different priority levels in the multiprocessing system is minimized.

Batch-wise handling of signals in a processing system

The invention is directed towards a multiprocessing system (10) having multiple processing units (34A-D). According to the invention, for at least one of the processing units in the multiprocessing system, a first job signal is assigned to the processing unit for speculative execution of a corresponding first job, and a further job signal is assigned to the processing unit for speculative execution of a corresponding further job. The speculative execution of said further job is initiated when the processing unit has completed execution of the first job. If desirable, even more job signals may be assigned to the processing unit for speculative execution. In this way, multiple job signals are assigned to the processing units (34A-D) of the processing system, and the processing units are allowed to execute a plurality of jobs speculatively while waiting for commit priority. By assigning multiple job signals for speculative execution by one or more processing units, the effects of variations in execution time between jobs are neutralized, and the overall performance of the processing system is substantially improved.

Multiple job signals per processing unit in a multiprocessing system

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To generate and update a correction coefficient DB for estimating travel time and congestion information easily with high precision by providing a function which automatically generates a correction coefficient by making use of measurement information from an on-vehicle machine SOLUTION: A traffic information estimating device 16 consists of a travel time estimation part 160, a congestion information estimation part 161, and a map DB 162 The travel time and congestion information are estimated in real time (normally at intervals of five minutes) by utilizing a map data base of the map DB 162, information from a beacon 11, an AVI system 12 or a vehicle sensor 13 received through an information communication part 14, or a data base of the correction coefficient DB 15 The estimation result is sent to an on-vehicle machine mounted vehicle 10 through the information communication part 14 and beacon 11 Furthermore, the correction coefficient DB 15 is a data base used by a travel time estimation part 160 of the traffic information estimating device 16 and updated when a new data base is generated by a correction coefficient generation part 171

Method and device for estimating travel time and congestion information

PURPOSE:To provide a shading corrected signal, from which a defect is removed, by combining a forward time sequential signal and a backward time sequential signal provided by executing cyclic digital high-pass filtering to both the time sequential forward and backward detecting signals. CONSTITUTION:At a signal processor 7 for defect extraction, a digital detecting signal 11 is inputted to a signal copy transmission module 12 and transmitted to forward and backward time sequential cyclic digital high-pass filter modules 13 and 14 and first-stage and second-stage differentiated signal preparation modules 15 and 16, and arithmetic is respectively executed. At the outputs of the differentiated signal preparation modules 15 and 16, those outputs are mutiplied for each signal corresponding to the same picture element number by a multiplication module 17 and respectively transmitted to a decision module 18. Corresponding to the positive/negative state of the signal from the multiplication module 17, any one signal is selected for each picture element and transmitted to a binarizing module 19 as an output signal 20 after shading correction, and the defect is extracted.

Signal processing method

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem in a knowledge management system, wherein when fixedly defining the specialized field of the contributor of an article, the specialized field does not necessarily match the contributed article contents, and necessary information cannot be browsed if there is mismatching. SOLUTION: The specialized field of the contributor is grasped, on the basis of a browsed number of the article of the contributor or an estimation value by a third party. Visualization display by a matrix is performed so as to enable easy grasp of the specialized field. COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Information processing apparatus and information processing method

PURPOSE:To obtain the data prediction device equipped with a high-precision correcting means by providing the correcting means which corrects a predicted value of next data by using an index smoothing method, and adaptively updating the weight of the index smoothing method. CONSTITUTION:A 1st predicted value found by a prediction means 31 is inputted to the correcting means 32, which corrects the 1st predicted value by using the index smoothing means to obtain a 2nd predicted value. A rolling condition setting device 20 decides whether or not this predicted value is equal to a desired value, chances rolling conditions when their difference is still large, and sends the changed rolling conditions to the data prediction device 30 again. Once the second predicted value matching the desired value is obtained, the rolling conditions are set in a rolling process 10. Thus, the correcting means makes corrections by using the weight which is updated adaptively in sequence to make the sufficient corrections following variation of a system even if the actual system has the variation.

Data prediction device

PURPOSE:To execute the parallel processing at a high speed, while improving the information processing quantity per unit time by executing an information exchange through a communication means to a data processing part of an adjacent line or row unit. CONSTITUTION:Data processing parts are arrayed like a matrix, and the data processing parts of its line or row unit are connected in parallel through input data storage parts FM0 - FMY and data buses B1 - BY. In this input data storage part, input data is stored as divided data having no relation to each other at every data processing part of a line or row unit, and at the time of processing them by each data processing part of a line or row unit, an information exchange is executed between the data processing parts of the other line or row through a communication means. In such a way, architecture suitable for parallel conversion can be constructed, and a data processing speed and the processing information quantity per unit time can be improved.

Data parallel processing system

PURPOSE:To generalize a flip-flop in use and to reduce the scale of hardware by using only a data input and a clock input as inputs of the flip-flop and setting an initial state without resetting respective flip-flops. CONSTITUTION:Flip-flops(FFs) 11-1n whose number is equal to the largest degree (r) of a generating polynomial are cascaded in order through exclusive OR(EX-OR) circuits 20-2r-1, a gate circuit 4 is provided, and its output is input ted to the EX-OR circuits of the respective stages as a substitute for the output of the FF 1r of the final state. Namely, the gate circuit 4 inputs the output of the FF 1r of the final stage and a control signal to generate its output. This control signal has bit width equal to the largest degree of the generating polynomial and its output start point of time is coincident with the input start point of time of an operand signal. Consequently, the clear function of the flip-flops is not necessary and fast CRC check operation is enabled.

Danki Riyouichi

Papers

Signal processing method

Information processing apparatus and information processing method

Data prediction device

Data parallel processing system

Crc check circuit