Showing papers by "Nokia published in 2012"

Flexible Electronics: The Next Ubiquitous Platform

Abstract: Thin-film electronics in its myriad forms has underpinned much of the technological innovation in the fields of displays, sensors, and energy conversion over the past four decades. This technology also forms the basis of flexible electronics. Here we review the current status of flexible electronics and attempt to predict the future promise of these pervading technologies in healthcare, environmental monitoring, displays and human-machine interactivity, energy conversion, management and storage, and communication and wireless networks.

Intra Coding of the HEVC Standard

Abstract: This paper provides an overview of the intra coding techniques in the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard being developed by the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC). The intra coding framework of HEVC follows that of traditional hybrid codecs and is built on spatial sample prediction followed by transform coding and postprocessing steps. Novel features contributing to the increased compression efficiency include a quadtree-based variable block size coding structure, block-size agnostic angular and planar prediction, adaptive pre- and postfiltering, and prediction direction-based transform coefficient scanning. This paper discusses the design principles applied during the development of the new intra coding methods and analyzes the compression performance of the individual tools. Computational complexity of the introduced intra prediction algorithms is analyzed both by deriving operational cycle counts and benchmarking an optimized implementation. Using objective metrics, the bitrate reduction provided by the HEVC intra coding over the H.264/advanced video coding reference is reported to be 22% on average and up to 36%. Significant subjective picture quality improvements are also reported when comparing the resulting pictures at fixed bitrate.

Apparatus and associated methods

Abstract: An apparatus including a plurality of adjacent repeated base units, each base unit formed from an active electrode of first, second and third touch sensor arrays, the first, second and third touch sensor arrays each including a plurality of active electrodes connected to a respective common terminal of the touch sensor array, wherein each base unit includes an active electrode of the second touch sensor array interlaced between an active electrode of the first touch sensor array and an active electrode of the third touch sensor array such that a swipe touch gesture applied to two or more adjacent active electrodes of the apparatus generates signalling at the respective common terminals of the corresponding touch sensor arrays which allows the direction of the swipe touch gesture to be determined.

How low energy is bluetooth low energy? Comparative measurements with ZigBee/802.15.4

Abstract: Ultra low power communication mechanisms are essential for future Internet of Things deployments. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is one promising candidate for such deployments. We study the energy consumption of BLE by measuring real devices with a power monitor and derive models of the basic energy consumption behavior observed from the measurement results. We investigate also the overhead of Ipv6-based communication over BLE, which is relevant for future IoT scenarios. We contrast our results by performing similar measurements with ZigBee/802.15.4 devices. Our results show that when compared to ZigBee, BLE is indeed very energy efficient in terms of number of bytes transferred per Joule spent. In addition, IPv6 communication energy overhead remains reasonable. We also point out a few specific limitations with current stack implementations and explain that removing those limitations could improve energy utility significantly.

A Nanostructured Electrochromic Supercapacitor

Abstract: We report the first successful application of an ordered bicontinuous double-gyroid vanadium pentoxide network in an electrochromic supercapacitor. The freestanding vanadia network was fabricated by electrodeposition into a voided block copolymer template that had self-assembled into the double-gyroid morphology. The highly ordered structure with 11.0 nm wide struts and a high specific surface to bulk volume ratio of 161.4 μm–1 is ideal for fast and efficient lithium ion intercalation/extraction and faradaic surface reactions, which are essential for high energy and high power density electrochemical energy storage devices. Supercapacitors made from such gyroid-structured vanadia electrodes exhibit a high specific capacitance of 155 F g–1 and show a strong electrochromic color change from green/gray to yellow, indicating the capacitor’s charge condition. The nanostructuring approach and utilizing an electrode material that has intrinsic electrochemical color-change properties are concepts that can be read...

FLUTE - File Delivery over Unidirectional Transport

Abstract: This document defines FLUTE, a protocol for the unidirectional delivery of files over the Internet, which is particularly suited to multicast networks. The specification builds on Asynchronous Layered Coding, the base protocol designed for massively scalable multicast distribution. This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet community.

Comparative Rate-Distortion-Complexity Analysis of HEVC and AVC Video Codecs

Abstract: This paper analyzes the rate-distortion-complexity of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) reference video codec (HM) and compares the results with AVC reference codec (JM). The examined software codecs are HM 6.0 using Main Profile (MP) and JM 18.0 using High Profile (HiP). These codes are benchmarked under the all-intra (AI), random access (RA), low-delay B (LB), and low-delay P (LP) coding configurations. In order to obtain a fair comparison, JM HiP anchor codec has been configured to conform to HM MP settings and coding configurations. The rate-distortion comparisons rely on objective quality assessments, i.e., bit rate differences for equal PSNR. The complexities of HM and JM have been profiled at the cycle level with Intel VTune on Intel Core 2 Duo processor. The coding efficiency of HEVC is drastically better than that of AVC. According to our experiments, the average bit rate decrements of HM MP over JM HiP are 23%, 35%, 40%, and 35% under the AI, RA, LB, and LP configurations, respectively. However, HM achieves its coding gain with a realistic overhead in complexity. Our profiling results show that the average software complexity ratios of HM MP and JM HiP encoders are 3.2× in the AI case, 1.2× in the RA case, 1.5× in the LB case, and 1.3× in the LP case. The respective ratios with HM MP and JM HiP decoders are 2.0×, 1.6×, 1.5×, and 1.4×. This paper also reveals the bottlenecks of HM codec and provides implementation guidelines for future real-time HEVC codecs.

Link Prediction and Recommendation across Heterogeneous Social Networks

Abstract: Link prediction and recommendation is a fundamental problem in social network analysis. The key challenge of link prediction comes from the sparsity of networks due to the strong disproportion of links that they have potential to form to links that do form. Most previous work tries to solve the problem in single network, few research focus on capturing the general principles of link formation across heterogeneous networks. In this work, we give a formal definition of link recommendation across heterogeneous networks. Then we propose a ranking factor graph model (RFG) for predicting links in social networks, which effectively improves the predictive performance. Motivated by the intuition that people make friends in different networks with similar principles, we find several social patterns that are general across heterogeneous networks. With the general social patterns, we develop a transfer-based RFG model that combines them with network structure information. This model provides us insight into fundamental principles that drive the link formation and network evolution. Finally, we verify the predictive performance of the presented transfer model on 12 pairs of transfer cases. Our experimental results demonstrate that the transfer of general social patterns indeed help the prediction of links.

High Accuracy and Visibility-Consistent Dense Multiview Stereo

Abstract: Since the initial comparison of Seitz et al. [48], the accuracy of dense multiview stereovision methods has been increasing steadily. A number of limitations, however, make most of these methods not suitable to outdoor scenes taken under uncontrolled imaging conditions. The present work consists of a complete dense multiview stereo pipeline which circumvents these limitations, being able to handle large-scale scenes without sacrificing accuracy. Highly detailed reconstructions are produced within very reasonable time thanks to two key stages in our pipeline: a minimum s-t cut optimization over an adaptive domain that robustly and efficiently filters a quasidense point cloud from outliers and reconstructs an initial surface by integrating visibility constraints, followed by a mesh-based variational refinement that captures small details, smartly handling photo-consistency, regularization, and adaptive resolution. The pipeline has been tested over a wide range of scenes: from classic compact objects taken in a laboratory setting, to outdoor architectural scenes, landscapes, and cultural heritage sites. The accuracy of its reconstructions has also been measured on the dense multiview benchmark proposed by Strecha et al. [59], showing the results to compare more than favorably with the current state-of-the-art methods.

Reversible switching between superhydrophobic states on a hierarchically structured surface

Abstract: Nature offers exciting examples for functional wetting properties based on superhydrophobicity, such as the self-cleaning surfaces on plant leaves and trapped air on immersed insect surfaces allowing underwater breathing. They inspire biomimetic approaches in science and technology. Superhydrophobicity relies on the Cassie wetting state where air is trapped within the surface topography. Pressure can trigger an irreversible transition from the Cassie state to the Wenzel state with no trapped air—this transition is usually detrimental for nonwetting functionality and is to be avoided. Here we present a new type of reversible, localized and instantaneous transition between two Cassie wetting states, enabled by two-level (dual-scale) topography of a superhydrophobic surface, that allows writing, erasing, rewriting and storing of optically displayed information in plastrons related to different length scales.

Overview of HEVC High-Level Syntax and Reference Picture Management

Abstract: The increasing proportion of video traffic in telecommunication networks puts an emphasis on efficient video compression technology. High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is the forthcoming video coding standard that provides substantial bit rate reductions compared to its predecessors. In the HEVC standardization process, technologies such as picture partitioning, reference picture management, and parameter sets are categorized as “high-level syntax.” The design of the high-level syntax impacts the interface to systems and error resilience, and provides new functionalities. This paper presents an overview of the HEVC high-level syntax, including network abstraction layer unit headers, parameter sets, picture partitioning schemes, reference picture management, and supplemental enhancement information messages.

Phylo: A Citizen Science Approach for Improving Multiple Sequence Alignment

Abstract: Background Comparative genomics, or the study of the relationships of genome structure and function across different species, offers a powerful tool for studying evolution, annotating genomes, and understanding the causes of various genetic disorders. However, aligning multiple sequences of DNA, an essential intermediate step for most types of analyses, is a difficult computational task. In parallel, citizen science, an approach that takes advantage of the fact that the human brain is exquisitely tuned to solving specific types of problems, is becoming increasingly popular. There, instances of hard computational problems are dispatched to a crowd of non-expert human game players and solutions are sent back to a central server. Methodology/Principal Findings We introduce Phylo, a human-based computing framework applying “crowd sourcing” techniques to solve the Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) problem. The key idea of Phylo is to convert the MSA problem into a casual game that can be played by ordinary web users with a minimal prior knowledge of the biological context. We applied this strategy to improve the alignment of the promoters of disease-related genes from up to 44 vertebrate species. Since the launch in November 2010, we received more than 350,000 solutions submitted from more than 12,000 registered users. Our results show that solutions submitted contributed to improving the accuracy of up to 70% of the alignment blocks considered. Conclusions/Significance We demonstrate that, combined with classical algorithms, crowd computing techniques can be successfully used to help improving the accuracy of MSA. More importantly, we show that an NP-hard computational problem can be embedded in casual game that can be easily played by people without significant scientific training. This suggests that citizen science approaches can be used to exploit the billions of “human-brain peta-flops” of computation that are spent every day playing games. Phylo is available at: http://phylo.cs.mcgill.ca.

Method, apparatus, and computer program product for wireless charging detection

Abstract: Method, apparatus, and computer program product example embodiments provide wireless charging detection. According to an example embodiment of the invention, a method comprises advertising by a wireless charging device, an availability for wireless charging over a wireless communication interface; scanning, by the wireless charging device, for wireless signals from one or more other wireless devices; providing, by the wireless charging device, information usable for characterizing charging capabilities of the wireless charging device; transmitting, by the wireless charging device, one or more wireless communication packets over the wireless communication interface, including the information usable for characterizing the charging capabilities of the wireless charging device, in response to receiving one or more wireless signals from the one or more other wireless devices; and providing, by the wireless charging device, power to the one or more other wireless devices over a wireless power interface.

Is this app safe?: a large scale study on application permissions and risk signals

Abstract: Third-party applications (apps) drive the attractiveness of web and mobile application platforms. Many of these platforms adopt a decentralized control strategy, relying on explicit user consent for granting permissions that the apps request. Users have to rely primarily on community ratings as the signals to identify the potentially harmful and inappropriate apps even though community ratings typically reflect opinions about perceived functionality or performance rather than about risks. With the arrival of HTML5 web apps, such user-consent permission systems will become more widespread. We study the effectiveness of user-consent permission systems through a large scale data collection of Facebook apps, Chrome extensions and Android apps. Our analysis confirms that the current forms of community ratings used in app markets today are not reliable indicators of privacy risks of an app. We find some evidence indicating attempts to mislead or entice users into granting permissions: free applications and applications with mature content request more permissions than is typical; 'look-alike' applications which have names similar to popular applications also request more permissions than is typical. We also find that across all three platforms popular applications request more permissions than average.

License-exempt LTE deployment in heterogeneous network

Abstract: Mobile broadband data usage in Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks is growing exponentially and capacity constraint is becoming an issue. Heterogeneous network, WiFi offload, and acquisition of additional radio spectrum can be used to address this capacity constraint. Licensed spectrum, however, is limited and can be costly to obtain. This paper investigates deploying LTE on a license-exempt band as part of the pico-cell underlay. Coexistence mechanism and other modifications to LTE are discussed. Performance analysis shows that LTE can deliver significant capacity even while sharing the spectrum with WiFi systems.

MOSOCO: a mobile assistive tool to support children with autism practicing social skills in real-life situations

Abstract: MOSOCO is a mobile assistive application that uses augmented reality and the visual supports of a validated curriculum, the Social Compass, to help children with autism practice social skills in real-life situations. In this paper, we present the results of a seven-week deployment study of MOSOCO in a public school in Southern California with both students with autism and neurotypical students. The results of our study demonstrate that MOSOCO facilitates practicing and learning social skills, increases both quantity and quality of social interactions, reduces social and behavioral missteps, and enables the integration of children with autism in social groups of neurotypical children. The findings from this study reveal emergent practices of the uses of mobile assistive technologies in real-life situations.

Block Merging for Quadtree-Based Partitioning in HEVC

Abstract: The joint development of the upcoming High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard by ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group and ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group marks a new step in video compression capability. In technical terms, HEVC is a hybrid video-coding approach using quadtree-based block partitioning together with motion-compensated prediction. Even though a high degree of adaptability is achieved by quadtree-based block partitioning, this approach has certain intrinsic drawbacks, which may result in redundant sets of motion parameters being transmitted. Previous work has shown that those redundancies can effectively be removed by merging the leafs of a particular quadtree structure. Following this concept, a block merging algorithm for HEVC is now proposed. This algorithm generates a single motion parameter set for a whole region of contiguous motion-compensated blocks. In this paper, we describe the various components of the proposed block merging algorithm and, using experimental evidence, demonstrate their benefits in terms of coding efficiency.

Apparatus cover with keyboard

Abstract: An apparatus including a first section having a display; and a second section movably connected to the first section. The second section forms a cover for the display. The cover has a first portion and a second portion movably connected to the first portion. The first and second portions are configured to cover different portions of a front of the display. The second portion is pivotably connected to the first section by the first portion. The second portion has a keyboard thereon.

Clustering With Multi-Layer Graphs: A Spectral Perspective

Abstract: Observational data usually comes with a multimodal nature, which means that it can be naturally represented by a multi-layer graph whose layers share the same set of vertices (objects) with different edges (pairwise relationships). In this paper, we address the problem of combining different layers of the multi-layer graph for an improved clustering of the vertices compared to using layers independently. We propose two novel methods, which are based on a joint matrix factorization and a graph regularization framework respectively, to efficiently combine the spectrum of the multiple graph layers, namely the eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian matrices. In each case, the resulting combination, which we call a “joint spectrum” of multiple layers, is used for clustering the vertices. We evaluate our approaches by experiments with several real world social network datasets. Results demonstrate the superior or competitive performance of the proposed methods compared to state-of-the-art techniques and common baseline methods, such as co-regularization and summation of information from individual graphs.

Method and apparatus for providing quick access to device functionality

Abstract: A method for providing quick access to device functionality responsive to a touch gesture may include receiving an indication of a swipe gesture being performed from a first predefined portion of a display to a second predefined portion of a touch screen display, classifying the swipe gesture as a trigger gesture based on insertion of a motion delay of at least a threshold period of time in connection with the swipe gesture, and causing, in response to classifying the trigger gesture, a display of a predefined set of functional elements that cause execution of a corresponding function when a respective one of the predefined set of functional elements is selected. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also provided.

Gesture recognition using plural sensors

Abstract: Apparatus (100) comprises a processor; a user interface enabling user interaction with one or more software applications associated with the processor; first (105a) and second sensors (105b) configured to detect, and generate signals corresponding to, objects located within respective first (134) and second sensing zones (132) remote from the apparatus, wherein the sensors are configured such that their respective sensing zones overlap spatially to define a third, overlapping, zone (136) in which both the first and second sensors are able to detect a common object; and a gesture recognition system for receiving signals from the sensors, the gesture recognition system being responsive to detecting an object inside the overlapping zone to control a first user interface function in accordance with signals received from both sensors.

Method, apparatus, and computer program product for controlling network access to guest apparatus based on presence of hosting apparatus

Abstract: Example method, apparatus, and computer program product embodiments are disclosed to enable granting access rights to guest devices. Example embodiments include a method comprising receiving, by a first device, an input from a user of the first device to grant access rights to a wireless short-range communication network to a user of a second device when the first device is present within coverage of the wireless short-range communication network; and transmitting, by the first device, an access grant message to a control node managing the wireless short-range communication network, wherein the access grant message comprises one or more rules indicating that access rights for a second device are to be granted only when the first device is present within coverage of the wireless short-range communication network.

Identification of tumor epithelium and stroma in tissue microarrays using texture analysis

Abstract: The aim of the study was to assess whether texture analysis is feasible for automated identification of epithelium and stroma in digitized tumor tissue microarrays (TMAs). Texture analysis based on local binary patterns (LBP) has previously been used successfully in applications such as face recognition and industrial machine vision. TMAs with tissue samples from 643 patients with colorectal cancer were digitized using a whole slide scanner and areas representing epithelium and stroma were annotated in the images. Well-defined images of epithelium (n = 41) and stroma (n = 39) were used for training a support vector machine (SVM) classifier with LBP texture features and a contrast measure C (LBP/C) as input. We optimized the classifier on a validation set (n = 576) and then assessed its performance on an independent test set of images (n = 720). Finally, the performance of the LBP/C classifier was evaluated against classifiers based on Haralick texture features and Gabor filtered images. The proposed approach using LPB/C texture features was able to correctly differentiate epithelium from stroma according to texture: the agreement between the classifier and the human observer was 97 per cent (kappa value = 0.934, P < 0.0001) and the accuracy (area under the ROC curve) of the LBP/C classifier was 0.995 (CI95% 0.991-0.998). The accuracy of the corresponding classifiers based on Haralick features and Gabor-filter images were 0.976 and 0.981 respectively. The method illustrates the capability of automated segmentation of epithelial and stromal tissue in TMAs based on texture features and an SVM classifier. Applications include tissue specific assessment of gene and protein expression, as well as computerized analysis of the tumor microenvironment. The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/4123422336534537

Recovering free space of indoor scenes from a single image

Abstract: In this paper we consider the problem of recovering the free space of an indoor scene from its single image We show that exploiting the box like geometric structure of furniture and constraints provided by the scene, allows us to recover the extent of major furniture objects in 3D Our “boxy” detector localizes box shaped objects oriented parallel to the scene across different scales and object types, and thus blocks out the occupied space in the scene To localize the objects more accurately in 3D we introduce a set of specially designed features that capture the floor contact points of the objects Image based metrics are not very indicative of performance in 3D We make the first attempt to evaluate single view based occupancy estimates for 3D errors and propose several task driven performance measures towards it On our dataset of 592 indoor images marked with full 3D geometry of the scene, we show that: (a) our detector works well using image based metrics; (b) our refinement method produces significant improvements in localization in 3D; and (c) if one evaluates using 3D metrics, our method offers major improvements over other single view based scene geometry estimation methods

Developing a standard for TV white space coexistence: technical challenges and solution approaches

Abstract: TV white space refers to TV channels that are not used by any licensed services at a particular location and at a particular time. To exploit this unused TVWS spectrum for improved spectrum efficiency, regulatory agencies have begun developing regulations to permit its use this TVWS by unlicensed wireless devices as long as they do not interfere with any licensed services. In the future many heterogeneous, and independently operated, wireless networks may utilize the TVWS. Coexistence between these networks is essential in order to provide a high level of QoS to end users. Consequently, the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN standards committee has approved the P802.19.1 standardization project to specify radio-technology-independent methods for coexistence among dissimilar or independently operated wireless devices and networks. In this article we provide a detailed overview of the regulatory status of TVWS in the United States and Europe, analyze the coexistence problem in TVWS, and summarize existing coexisting mechanisms to improve coexistence in TVWS. The main focus of the article is the IEEE P802.19.1 standardization project, including its requirements and system design, and the major technical challenges ahead.

User evaluation of mobile augmented reality scenarios

Abstract: Augmented reality (AR) technologies are becoming state-of-the-art in the mobile technology domain. However, developing successful end user services around AR is still in its infancy, which is partially resulting from the lack of user research regarding potential users' expectations and user acceptance in the particular area. In order to identify the most potential use cases and contexts, in which mobile AR could be utilized, it is important to evaluate already the early service concepts with potential end users. This paper reports an online survey for evaluating the user acceptance of five different mobile AR scenarios, as well as for understanding the potential and risks or mobile AR in general. The results show ambivalent attitudes towards mobile AR services but also imply that the scenarios demonstrating pragmatic relevance were valued over pleasure oriented ones. AR was seen to make contextually relevant information easily available and allow novel interaction possibilities with the physical world. Distrust arose with fears of information flood, users' loss of autonomy, and virtual replacing the real. The respondents' level of technological orientation was found to highly affect the overall acceptance of the scenarios. The results help in considering key acceptance issues and potential users' expectations in the development of future mobile AR services.

Method and apparatus for providing an active search user interface element

Abstract: An approach is provided for presenting a global view of desired information at specific locations that correspond to the desired information with respect to a start position. An element of a user interface receiving a search parameter enables processing of the search parameter to yield location information of the desired information. The location or locations of the desired information are then presented to a user on the user interface.

Multi-segment wearable accessory

Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided to facilitate the use of a multi-segment wearable accessory. In this regard, methods, apparatus and computer program products are provided for controlling and, in some instances, interacting with a multi-segment wearable accessory. In the context of a method, an orientation of each of a plurality of segments of a multi-segment wearable accessory is determined relative to an axis through the multi-segment wearable accessory, such as by determining an angle of each of the plurality of segments relative to the axis through the multi-segment wearable accessory. A relative ordering of the plurality of segments of the multi-segment wearable accessory may then be determined based upon the orientation of each of the plurality of segments relative to the axis.

Method and apparatus for hover-based spatial searches on mobile maps

Abstract: An approach is provided for enabling hover-based interactions to define spatial searches on mobile maps. A user interaction manager causes, at least in part, a rendering of at least one user interface depicting mapping information. A user interaction manager then processes and/or facilitates a processing of one or more hover-based interactions with the at least one user interface to determine one or more parameters for one or more spatial searches over the mapping information.