Showing papers by "Panasonic published in 2002"

Navigating media content via groups within a playlist

Abstract: Grouping and navigating media files within a playlist on a computer-readable medium. Software according to the invention selects one or more media files according to a grouping criterion to define a group from the media files. The defined group references the selected media files. The invention software generates a group header associated with the group. The group header includes a value identifying the defined group and a reference to another group to enable navigation. The invention software stores the selected media files, the playlist, the defined groups, and the associated group headers on a computer-readable medium. The invention software also includes playback software for navigating and selecting media files via groups within a playlist. In one embodiment, the invention is operable as part of a compressed media format having a set of small files containing metadata, menus, and playlists in a compiled binary format designed for playback on feature-rich personal computer media players as well as low cost media players.

Moving picture coding method and moving picture decoding method

Abstract: A moving picture coding apparatus for performing inter-picture predictive coding for pictures constituting a moving picture is provided with a coding unit for performing predictive error coding for image data; a decoding unit for performing predictive error decoding for an output from the coding unit; a reference picture memory for holding output data from the decoding unit; and a motion vector detection unit for detecting motion vectors on the basis of the decoded image data stored in the memory. When coding a B picture as a target picture, information indicating whether or not the target picture should be used as a reference picture when coding another picture is added as header information. Therefore, in a decoding apparatus for decoding a bit stream Bs outputted from the moving picture coding apparatus, management of a memory for holding the reference picture can be facilitated on the basis of the header information.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same

Abstract: The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device of the present invention includes steps of; a resin layer forming process in which a face with electrodes of a semiconductor wafer having a plurality of semiconductor elements formed thereon is coated with a resin layer which has a function of sealing it; and a wafer thinning process in which the back face of the semiconductor wafer is ground. The method of manufacturing the semiconductor device of the present invention further includes a process of forming a conductive section on the electrodes of the semiconductor wafer with a plurality of semiconductor elements in such a manner the conductive section reaches to the electrodes. The manufacturing method of the semiconductor device of the present invention still further includes a process of cutting the semiconductor wafer having a plurality of semiconductor elements along boundaries of each semiconductor element. In the thinning process, at least one of a mechanical grinding method, a chemical etching method and a plasma etching method are employed.

Adaptive menu system for media players

Abstract: Creating and displaying an adaptive menu structure for media files. The invention includes authoring software to create the menu structure to enable a user to navigate the media files using a media player. The invention also includes filtering software to adapt the created menu structure to display menu information on a display associated with the media player as a function of a media type associated with the media player. In one embodiment, the invention is operable as part of a compressed media format having a set of small files containing metadata, menus, and playlists in a compiled binary format designed for playback on feature-rich personal computer media players as well as low cost media players.

Encoding device and decoding device

Abstract: An encoding device (200) includes an MDCT unit (202) that transforms an input signal in a time domain into a frequency spectrum including a lower frequency spectrum, a BWE encoding unit (204) that generates extension data which specifies a higher frequency spectrum at a higher frequency than the lower frequency spectrum, and an encoded data stream generating unit (205) that encodes to output the lower frequency spectrum obtained by the MDCT unit (202) and the extension data obtained by the BWE encoding unit (204). The BWE encoding unit (204) generates as the extension data (i) a first parameter which specifies a lower subband which is to be copied as the higher frequency spectrum from among a plurality of the lower subbands which form the lower frequency spectrum obtained by the MDCT unit (202) and (ii) a second parameter which specifies a gain of the lower subband after being copied.

License management server, license management system and usage restriction method

Abstract: A right management server 110 that manages usage of a content on a parent terminal 140 and a child terminal 150, comprising (i) content usage right database 113 that stores right information 400 indicating a usage rule of a content for each terminal ID 301 or user ID 203, (ii) a parental control information management unit 118 that acquires, from the parent terminal 140 or the parent user, parental control information 600 that is an instruction to put a restriction on usage of a content on the child terminal 150 or by a child user, and stores the parental control information 600 in a parental control information database 114, and (iii) a license ticket generation unit 117 that acquires a license ticket issuance request from the child terminal 150 or the child user, generates a license ticket that is information for permitting usage of the content on the child terminal 150 or by the child user, under a usage rule with a restriction indicated by the parental control information 600 which is held in the parental control information management unit 118, and sends the license ticket to the child terminal 150 or the child user.

Control of multiple AV-devices by a single master controller using infrared transmitted commands and bus transmitted commands

Abstract: An audio-video platform (AVP) performs as a master controller to interconnect other AV devices and provide unified control of all the AV devices connected to it. The AVP receives all control signals from users and controls slave mode AV devices via an IEEE-1394 bus and master mode AV STBs by using an infrared (IR) blaster, having a command set equivalent to the infrared remote control of the master-mode AV device. The AVP also controls legacy devices via the IR blaster. The AVP has on screen display (OSD) and provides unified graphic user interface (GUI) for connected AV devices. The AVP can transfer compressed AV signals for processing and display in one common format, making it possible to display video from all AV devices.

Vehicle information recording system

Abstract: A vehicle information recording system 100 includes a picture acquiring unit 101a placed in a vehicle that takes a picture of surroundings and generates picture data showing the picture, a vehicle data receiving unit 107 placed in the vehicle that receives other vehicle data concerning another vehicle shown in the picture acquired by the picture acquiring unit 101a, an acquired information sending unit 103 placed in the vehicle that sends data including the picture data and the other vehicle data outside of the vehicle, a receiving unit 104 placed outside of the vehicle that receives the data sent by the acquired information sending unit 103, an encoding unit 105 placed outside of the vehicle that encodes the other vehicle data among the data received by the receiving unit 104 and adds the encoded data to the picture data as related data, and a recording unit 106 placed outside of the vehicle that records the picture data to which the other vehicle data is added by the encoding unit 105.

Personalized agent for portable devices and cellular phone

Abstract: Personalized agent services are provided in a personal messaging device, such as a cellular telephone or personal digital assistant, through services of a speech recognizer that converts speech into text and a text-to-speech synthesizer that converts text to speech. Both recognizer and synthesizer may be server-based or locally deployed within the device. The user dictates an e-mail message which is converted to text and stored. The stored text is sent back to the user as text or as synthesized speech, to allow the user to edit the message and correct transcription errors before sending as e-mail. The system includes a summarization module that prepares short summaries of incoming e-mail and voice mail. The user may access these summaries, and retrieve and organize email and voice mail using speech commands.

Remote maintenance system

Abstract: A remote maintenance system 100 in which a center server 120 that is located in a service center for performing maintenance of an electrical appliance 102 and a home server 101 that is located in each house and monitors a status of the electrical appliance 102 in the house are connected via a communication network 140, wherein (A) the home server 101 includes an electrical appliance management unit 108 that acquires a status value of the electrical appliance 102, a communication unit 105 that receives from the center server 120 a failure model which is information defining a method of deriving a decision whether the electrical appliance 102 is failed or not from the status value, and a failure deciding unit 106 that decides whether the electrical appliance is failed or not based on the acquired status value and the received failure model using qualitative reasoning, and (B) the center server 120 includes a failure model updating unit 127 that updates a failure model and send the updated failure model to the home server 101 via a communication unit 125.

Washing/drying machine

Abstract: A washing-drying machine wherein a tub is mounted in a prism-shaped housing by a pair of tilting shafts in order to carry out the washing-rinsing-spinning steps with a tub substantially vertical and to carry out the warm-air drying step with a tub substantially horizontal. The tilting shafts are arranged on a horizontal axis extending through diagonally opposite corners of the housing so that the capacity of the tub can be maximized, even through the tub tilts, and thereby the capacity of the housing can be efficiently utilized.

Lancet-integrated sensor, measurer for lancet-integrated sensor, and cartridge

Abstract: A lancet-integrated sensor capable of facilitating the replacement and the control thereof and improving the portability thereof by integrally forming a sensor with a lancet, wherein the slender small piece-like sensor (1) is formed integrally with the lancet (2) so that the lancet (2) can be moved parallel with the longitudinal direction of the sensor (1); a measurer having the lancet-integrated sensor (10) installed thereon, comprising a function to drive the installed lancet added to the measurer.

Partial encryption of stream-formatted media

Abstract: A method of partially encrypting streaming media according to an embodiment of the invention comprises: receiving media in a streaming-media format; partitioning the stream-formatted media into cloak data and non-cloak data; and encrypting the cloak data such that less than all of the stream-formatted media is encrypted.

Lighting apparatus with enhanced capability of heat dissipation

Abstract: A plurality of groups of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), each group being made up of three LEDs with red, green, and blue luminous colors respectively, are mounted at positioning areas of a flexible substrate, on the wiring patterns formed on the top surface of the substrate. A plurality of heat dissipation boards are adhered to the bottom surface of the substrate using an adhesive so as to cover the areas corresponding to the positioning areas of the groups of LEDs.

Information printing system

Abstract: An information printing system that is capable of printing data, which is handled by an arbitrary client apparatus of a digital system, in an output format suitable for printing, with a relatively simple structure without using a printer driver. In this system, conversion rule information, which is used to convert BML data (digital broadcast contents) into XML data (XML data for printing) printable by the corresponding printer 200, is pre-stored in the printer 200. A receiver 100 downloads necessary conversion rule information from the printer 200 with given timing, and converts received BML data to XML data for printing based on the conversion rule information, and transmits a conversion result (XML data for printing) to the printer 200.

Optical transmission apparatus

Abstract: In a transmission apparatus 8, modulation sections 201 convert digital data signals into DSL modulated signals, which are thereafter subjected to frequency conversion so as to span respectively different frequency bands. A combination section 207 frequency-division-multiplexes output signals from the modulation sections 201. An optical modulation section 102 converts the frequency-division-multiplexed signal into an optical signal. An optical detection section 104 reconverts the optical signal which has been transmitted over the optical transmission section 103 into an electrical signal. A splitter section 408 demultiplexes the electrical signal. Each of second frequency conversion sections 811 subjects either one of the demultiplexed signals to frequency conversion, and sends a resultant DSL modulated signal onto an electrical transmission section 105. The DSL demodulation section 106 reconverts the DSL modulated signal which has been transmitted over the electrical transmission section 105 into the original digital data signal.

Personal authentication method and device

Abstract: During registration, an iris image taken is frequency-analyzed using a plurality of frequencies f1 to fn to generate features for the respective frequencies f1 to fn. During authentication, frequencies f2 to fn are selected from the frequencies f1 to fn for use in frequency analysis for authentication. An iris image of a person to be authenticated taken is frequency-analyzed using the selected frequencies f2 to fn to generate features for the respective frequencies f2 to fn. The generated features are compared with the features generated for the same frequencies during the registration to perform personal authentication.

Voice personalization of speech synthesizer

Abstract: The speech synthesizer is personalized to sound like or mimic the speech characteristics of an individual speaker. The individual speaker provides a quantity of enrollment data (18), which can be extracted from a short quantity of speech, and the system modifies the base synthesis parameters (12) to more closely resemble those of the new speaker (36). More specifically, the synthesis parameters (12) may be decomposed into speaker dependent parameters (30), such as context-independent parameters, and speaker independent parameters (32), such as contextindependent parameters, and speaker independent parameters (32), such as context dependent parameters. The speaker dependent parameters (30) are adapted using enrollment data (18) from the new speaker. After adaptation, the speaker dependent parameters (30) are combined with the speaker independent parameters (32) to provide a set of personalized synthesis parameters (42).

Base station apparatus and radio communication method

Abstract: A base station (10) performs bidirectional radio communication with a terminal station apparatus by using a time division communication frame consisting of a first region having a predetermined open loop cycle and a second region having an open loop cycle shorter than the first region. A level detection block (21) detects a reception level of an uplink slot arranged in the second region. A transmission diversity block (14) diversity-transmits a downlink transmission signal allocated to a downlink slot corresponding to the aforementioned uplink slot in accordance with the detection result of the reception level. Thus, it is possible to enhance the improvement effect of the reception quality by the transmission diversity without lowering the transmission efficiency.

Customizing the speaking style of a speech synthesizer based on semantic analysis

Abstract: A method is provided for customizing the speaking style of a speech synthesizer. The method includes: receiving input text; determining semantic information for the input text; determining a speaking style for rendering the input text based on the semantic information; and customizing the audible speech output of the speech synthesizer based on the identified speaking style.

Battery connection structure, battery module, and battery pack

Abstract: In the state of bridging the connection electrode section (28) of one of two adjacent unit batteries (13) and the bottom of the battery case (14) of the other of the batteries, a flat connection plate (38) is connected by welding to the point of proximity to each other to constitute a low-cost battery connection structure which enables a reduction in electrical resistance by an easy process. Each battery storage section (31) regularly square in plan view of a holder case (30) made of synthetic resin encases cylindrical unit batteries (13) with their battery axes in parallel, and both sides of the holder case (30) are closed with cap members (53, 54) having heat radiating holes (57-60) to constitute a battery module (12) strong to oscillation and impact. A plurality of battery modules (12) are combined and fitted with armor plates (68, 69, 70, 71) into an integral body to constitute a battery pack (100).

Prosody generating device, prosody generating method, and program

Abstract: A prosody generation apparatus capable of suppressing distortion that occurs when generating prosodic patterns and therefore generating a natural prosody is provided. A prosody changing point extraction unit in this apparatus extracts a prosody changing point located at the beginning and the ending of a sentence, the beginning and the ending of a breath group, an accent position and the like. A selection rule and a transformation rule of a prosodic pattern including the prosody changing point is generated by means of a statistical or learning technique and the thus generate rules are stored in a representative prosodic pattern selection rule table and a transformation rule table beforehand. A pattern selection unit selects a representative prosodic pattern from the representative prosodic pattern selection rule table according to the selection rule. A prosody generation unit transforms the selected pattern according to the transformation rule and carries out interpolation with respect to portions other than the prosody changing points so as to generate prosody as a whole.

Driving aiding system

Abstract: A driving aiding system includes a displaying section arranged at a position that can be looked at from a driver's seat of a vehicle, an image picking-up section for picking up an image of a rear portion of the vehicle containing at least a part of a hitch that is provided to the rear portion of the vehicle, and an image processing section for causing the displaying section to display a synthesized image that is obtained by image-processing an image picked up by the image picking-up section. A hitch image of own vehicle in addition to an image of a trailed vehicle and an image of a destination coupler are displayed on a screen of the displaying section. As a result, the relative positional relationship between the hitch and the destination coupler can be checked on the screen and thus the hitch coupling operation can be facilitated.

Driving assistance display apparatus

Abstract: In correspondence with each face of a rectangular parallelepiped obtained when the inside of the rectangular parallelepiped is shot, a monitor screen is split into a plurality of sub-screen areas. An image shot by a vehicle-mounted camera is processed and the processed image is split correspondingly to the sub-screen areas. Each split image is displayed in the corresponding sub-screen areas. This allows intuitive understanding of the direction of an image displayed in a sub-screen thereby providing the driver with an image free from a sense of incongruity.

Non-contact ic card

Abstract: A non-contact IC card of the present invention includes an information storage unit for storing information, a communication controller for controlling communication with an external device, and a loop antenna for transmitting and receiving a radio wave to and from the external device The non-contact IC card further includes a changeover switch for changing a communication distance between the external device and the card, so that the cost and size of the card can be reduced The non-contact IC card can be used both in a long-distance mode and ina contact mode, which ensures shigh security, without any problems

Wearing information notifying unit

Abstract: When a user wears a headset ( 12 ), a small display ( 107 ) is provided in front of an eye of the user. A main component ( 11 ) communicates with an external device to receive information, such as an electronic mail. The main component ( 11 ) extracts a portion of the received information, e.g., data about a sender, and transmits the extracted portion to a headset ( 12 ). The headset ( 12 ) displays the received information on the small display ( 107 ).

Semiconductor memory device

Abstract: A semiconductor memory device includes a field-effect transistor with a gate electrode that has been formed over a semiconductor substrate with a ferroelectric layer interposed between the electrode and the substrate. The device includes a first insulating layer, which is insulated against a leakage current more fully than the ferroelectric layer, between the ferroelectric layer and the gate electrode.

Method and tool for customization of speech synthesizer databases using hierarchical generalized speech templates

Abstract: A speech synthesizer customization system (10) provides a mechanism for generating a hierarchical customized user database. The customization system has a template management tool (14) for generating the templates based on customization data from a user (18) and associated replicated dynamic synthesis data (20) from a text-to-speech (TTS) synthesizer (12). The replicated dynamic synthesis data is arranged in a dynamic data structure having hierarchical levels. The customization system further includes a user database (22) that supplements a standard database of the synthesizer. The tool populates the user database with the templates such that the templates enable the user database to uniformly override subsequently generated speech synthesis data at all hierarchical levels of the dynamic data structure.

Video reproduction apparatus, video reproduction method, video reproduction program, and package media for digital video content

Abstract: A video reproduction apparatus according to the present invention reproduces externally supplied package media. The package media contains video content storing video data and playback control data controlling reproduction of the video data in a specified data format, and extensible application software using the video content. The video reproduction apparatus includes as software pre-stored and executed in internal memory an operating system chosen from operating systems of plural types, middleware for absorbing differences in function according to the type of operating system, and a player application that runs on the middleware level for reproducing the video content. The middleware has a class library including tools used by the player application to play back the package media or to run the extensible application software. The player application consistently reproduces the video content of the package media according to the specified format by way of the tools included in the middleware class libraries. The extensible application software is run through the tools included in the class libraries of the middleware using video content contained in the same package media.

Information providing method and information providing device

Abstract: In a car navigation device (1), a position information collecting means (11) collects vehicle position information through a GPS etc. The vehicle movement information history acquired based on the collected position information is stored in a movement information history storage means (15). An action predicting means (17) predicts the destination of the vehicle by referring to the movement route up to the present and the stored movement information history when detecting an event such as start of the engine. Commercial information and traffic information on the predicted destination is acquired from a server (2) by an information acquiring means (18) and displayed on, e.g., a display by an information providing means (19).