Abstract: A media access control (MAC) apparatus and corresponding methods for guaranteeing quality-of-service in a wireless local area network (LAN) are presented. The MAC method includes extracting, performing, determining, a first transmitting step, and a second transmitting step. The extracting includes extracting a user priority from a frame received from an upper layer and separately storing a voice frame and a non-voice frame according to an access category (AC). The performing includes independently performing backoff operations for the voice frame and the non-voice frame. The determining includes determining whether the backoff operations for the voice frame and the non-voice frame have simultaneously ended. The first transmitting includes transmitting the voice frame having a higher priority first and performing the backoff operation for the non-voice frame if the backoff operations have simultaneously ended.

Abstract: Provided are a face detection apparatus and a distance measurement method using the same. The face detection apparatus detects a face using left and right images which are acquired from a stereo camera. The face detection apparatus measures distance from the stereo camera to the face using an image frame which is provided from the stereo camera without a stereo matching process. Accordingly, the face detection apparatus simultaneously performs face detection and distance measurement even in a low-performance system.

Abstract: A stereo vision system includes an image pre-processing unit for pre-processing the right and left images, and a stereo matching unit for carrying out stereo matching of the right and left images to acquire low-resolution distance information of the right and left images and high-resolution distance information of the right and left images upon detection of an object within a distance range through the low-resolution distance information.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is an image processing apparatus for human computer interaction. The image processing apparatus includes an image processing combination unit and a combined image provision unit. The image processing combination unit generates information processed before combination using right and left input images captured by respective right and left stereo cameras. The combined image provision unit provides a combined output image combined into a single image by selecting only information desired by a user among the information processed before combination.

Abstract: A media access control (MAC) apparatus and corresponding methods for guaranteeing quality-of-service in a wireless local area network (LAN) are presented. The MAC method includes the steps of extracting, performing, determining, a first transmitting step, and a second transmitting step. The extracting step includes extracting a user priority from a frame received from an upper layer and separately storing a voice frame and a non-voice frame according to an access category (AC). The performing step includes independently performing backoff operations for the voice frame and the non-voice frame. The determining step includes determining whether the backoff operations for the voice frame and the non-voice frame have simultaneously ended. The first transmitting step includes transmitting the voice frame having a higher priority first and performing the backoff operation for the non-voice frame if the backoff operations have simultaneously ended.

Abstract: There are provided an apparatus and method for vision processing on a network based intelligent service robot system and a system using the same. A robot can move to a target object, avoiding obstacles without helps of a robot server interfaced with a robot terminal over network, by extracting/processing three-dimensional distance information of external objects, using a stereo camera, a low price image processing dedicated chip and an embedded processor. Therefore, the intelligent robot can travel and move using only a stereo camera image processing without other sensors, and further provides users with various functional services with low expense.

Abstract: An image-based hand detection apparatus includes a hand image detection unit for detecting a hand image corresponding to a shape of a hand clenched to form a fist from an image input. A feature point extraction unit extracts feature points from an area, having lower brightness than a reference value, in the detected hand image. An image rotation unit compares the feature points of the detected hand image with feature points of hand images stored in a hand image storage unit, and rotates the detected hand image or the stored hand images. A matching unit compares the detected hand image with the stored hand images and generates a result of the comparison. If at least one of the stored hand images is matched with the detected hand image, a hand shape recognition unit selects the at least one of the stored hand images as a matching hand image.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for transmitting a speech signal are provided. A speech signal transmitter includes a quadrature mirror filter, a base sub-band encoder, an enhancement sub-band encoder, and a network connector. The quadrature mirror filter receives a speech signal, divides the speech signal into an enhancement band speech signal and a base band speech signal, and outputs the enhancement band speech signal and the base band speech signal. The base sub-band encoder receives and encodes the base band speech signal. The enhancement sub-band encoder receives and encodes the enhancement band speech signal. The network connector multiplexes the encoded enhancement band speech signal and the encoded base band speech signal based on the kinds of networks over which speech signals are transmitted, and transmits the multiplexed signals to the networks. A speech signal is multiplexed and transmitted by various methods based on the kinds of networks. Thus, the speech signal can be efficiently transmitted.

Abstract: Provided are a stereo vision system and a control method thereof. A stereo vision system includes an image information extracting unit receiving left and right images of the left and right stereo cameras to extract color information for a brightness control of the images from the received images, an image preprocessing unit performing a process for reducing noises of the left and right images using the color information and a prestored calibration parameter, a stereo matching unit performing stereo matching of the left and right images processed by the image preprocessing unit through an algorithm to obtain a depth map, and a matching result measuring unit receiving the depth map obtained by the stereo matching unit to measure a matching degree, and changing the prestored calibration parameter according to a result of the measurement.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a transmitter and a receiver for speech coding and decoding by using an additional bit allocation method. The transmitter and the receiver according to the present invention realize a voice communication service of high quality by using additional bits permitted in system requirements while using a conventional speech coder as it is. In addition, the transmitter and the receiver according to the present invention have an advantage in that they enable insertion of additional quantization blocks while not changing the structure of the conventional standard speech coder, since they allocate additional bits by applying a multi-stage quantization procedure not in a speech signal domain but in a parameter domain.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for transmitting a speech signal are provided. A speech signal transmitter includes a quadrature mirror filter, a base sub-band encoder, an enhancement sub-band encoder, and a network connector. The quadrature mirror filter receives a speech signal, divides the speech signal into an enhancement band speech signal and a base band speech signal, and outputs the enhancement band speech signal and the base band speech signal. The base sub-band encoder receives and encodes the base band speech signal. The enhancement sub-band encoder receives and encodes the enhancement band speech signal. The network connector multiplexes the encoded enhancement band speech signal and the encoded base band speech signal based on the kinds of networks over which speech signals are transmitted, and transmits the multiplexed signals to the networks. A speech signal is multiplexed and transmitted by various methods based on the kinds of networks. Thus, the speech signal can be efficiently transmitted.

Abstract: Provided is a device for improving stereo matching results.

Abstract: Provided are an apparatus and method for reconstructing 3D face avatar. The apparatus includes a face detection unit, a stereo matching unit, a bilateral filter, and a texture mapping unit. The face detection unit receives a left image and right image of a user, and detects a face image of the user from the left and right images using a face detection algorithm. The stereo matching unit receives the left and right images of the user, and creates a depth map image from the left and right images through a stereo matching operation which uses disparity between the left and right images. The bilateral filter abstracts the detected face image through a bilateral filtering operation. The texture mapping unit texture-maps the abstracted face image on the created depth map image to reconstruct a 3D avatar.

Abstract: A coding apparatus for simultaneous transmission of image processing information and color information includes: an image sensor for photographing a color image; and an image preprocessing device for performing image processing on the photographed color image, and then encoding image processing result data and the color image to output encoded data. Further, the coding apparatus for simultaneous transmission of image processing information and color information includes a central processing unit for decoding the encoded data to extract the image processing result data and the color image.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a transmitter and a receiver for speech coding and decoding by using an additional bit allocation method. The transmitter and the receiver according to the present invention realize a voice communication service of high quality by using additional bits permitted in system requirements while using a conventional speech coder as it is. In addition, the transmitter and the receiver according to the present invention have an advantage in that they enable insertion of additional quantization blocks while not changing the structure of the conventional standard speech coder, since they allocate additional bits by applying a multi-stage quantization procedure not in a speech signal domain but in a parameter domain.

Abstract: An image object detection apparatus includes a noise filtering block for removing image noise an input image, an image scaling block for scaling the noise-removed input image to produce a scaled input image, an image conversion block for dividing the scaled input image into multiple regions and converting the divided image by a modified census transform (MCT) method, a data processing block for comparing MCT values of the image converted by the MCT method with a preset threshold, detecting at least one candidate region and identifying a human region from said at least one detected candidate region, and an image output block for marking the identified human region on the noise-removed input image.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a transmitter and a receiver for speech coding and decoding by using an additional bit allocation method. The transmitter and the receiver according to the present invention realize a voice communication service of high quality by using additional bits permitted in system requirements while using a conventional speech coder as it is. In addition, the transmitter and the receiver according to the present invention have an advantage in that they enable insertion of additional quantization blocks while not changing the structure of the conventional standard speech coder, since they allocate additional bits by applying a multi-stage quantization procedure not in a speech signal domain but in a parameter domain.

Abstract: Provided are a face detection apparatus and a distance measurement method using the same. The face detection apparatus detects a face using left and right images which are acquired from a stereo camera. The face detection apparatus measures distance from the stereo camera to the face using an image frame which is provided from the stereo camera without a stereo matching process. Accordingly, the face detection apparatus simultaneously performs face detection and distance measurement even in a low-performance system.

Abstract: A system and a method for detecting a face are provided. The system includes a vision processing unit and a face detection unit. The vision processing unit calculates distance information using a plurality of images including a face pattern, and discriminates between a foreground image including the face pattern and a background image not including the face pattern, using the distance information. The face detection unit scales the foreground image according to the distance information, and detects the face pattern from the scaled foreground image.

Abstract: The system for detecting a face pattern from an input image includes a window extraction unit, a cost calculation unit, and a face pattern discrimination unit. The window extraction unit receives a pre-processed image corresponding to the input image to scan the preprocessed image in a certain window size, and parallelly outputs pre-processing coefficient values corresponding to the scanned pre-processed image. The cost calculation unit parallelly receives the pre-processing coefficient values corresponding to the window size, calculates cost values corresponding to the pre-processed coefficient values, and sums the cost values. The face pattern discrimination unit compares the sum of the cost values with a preset threshold value and discriminates if the pre-processed image corresponding to the window size is the face pattern.