Abstract: A high degree of compression can be achieved in audio and image coding systems by using a multiple-stage lossless encoding process having low computational cost that does not require high-accuracy pre-defined probability distribution functions of the information to be compressed. The multiple-stage encoding process classifies the signal components to be compressed into one of several classifications according to signal component value. Signal components placed into higher-level classifications are represented by tokens in the lower-level classifications. Each stage of the encoding process forms groups of signal components and tokens and applies a multi-dimensional encoding process to the groups. The dimension of the coding process is equal to the size of the group to which it is applied, and is chosen to balance computational requirements of the encoding process against compression performance.

Abstract: A measuring system including a linear gauge 8 is placed on a vibration isolation table 7, and this system assembly is placed in a temperature controllable, constant-temperature chamber. A specimen table 16, which has a centrally-disposed circular protrusion 16C of a diameter sufficiently smaller than a specimen under measurement, is mounted on a surface plate 2 of a linear gauge 8. The position of a measuring element 1 is measured when it is brought into contact with the centrally-disposed circular protrusion 16C, and the position of the measuring element 1 is measured when it is brought into contact with the specimen placed on the specimen table. The measured values are used to determine the thickness of the specimen.

Abstract: In an optical switch (an optical device) of the type in which a moving plate 31 is displaced to switch optical paths by displacement of mirrors 38 mounted on the moving plate 31, the moving plate 31 is supported at both ends to side beams 33 through paired support beams 32 extended from opposed side surfaces of the moving plate in parallel to its plate surface so that the moving plate 31 is displaced in a plane in which its plate surface lies; and the moving plate 31, the support beams 32, the side beams 33 and drive means 34, 35 for driving the moving plate are formed from one substrate.

Abstract: A conversion plug for an optical signal includes a plug portion and a plug-in hole. The plug portion, which is to be inserted directly into an optical signal terminal of a specified size, is constituted by a tip portion and a sleeve portion of a ferrule. The plug-in hole, into which an optical plug having a plug portion that cannot be inserted directly into the optical signal terminal of a specified size can be inserted, is formed in a fistulous optical plug supporting member to be tightly fitted into the ferrule. An optical fiber has an optical fiber fixing ring previously joined therewith on the periphery of one end portion of the optical fiber, and the end surface of the optical fiber protruding from the optical fiber fixing ring is previously finished in mirror surface.

Abstract: A compact and multiple optical fiber coupler in which plural fused-tapered coupler portions 13-1 and 13-2, which have plural optical fibers 11a-1, 11b-1, 11a-2 and 11b-2 to form optical couplers, are formed side by side on a common substrate 15 and the fused-tapered coupler portions formed integral with the substrate 15 are enclosed in a package 160.

Abstract: An electronic component is obtained by forming a primer plating layer of a material which is poorly wettable to a weld brazing material 3 on a base member 11X of a contact 11 having a terminal section 111 for brazing and a contact section 112, and then forming a finish plating layer of a material which is highly wettable to the weld brazing material on the primer plating layer. An exposed region of the poorly wettable primer plating layer is formed thereafter by selectively removing a portion of the finish plating layer at the terminal section 111 and served as an arresting region for arresting the weld brazing material 3 from creeping up and migrating along the highly wettable plating layer in brazing the terminal section 111 to the brazing pad 22 of a wiring board 2.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for analyzing repair of failure cells in a memory are capable of detecting an address of a failure memory cell in a short time. The memory testing apparatus includes a failure relief analyzer for testing a memory having a plurality of storage areas, counting the number of failure memory cells for each storage area, and reading out the counted number of failure memory cells. The apparatus has an analyzed storage area detector for searching whether a failure memory cell exists and determining whether a failure relief analysis should be performed, a failure line searching apparatus for searching row addresses to detect whether a failure memory cell exists, and an address scanning apparatus whose operation is started when the failure line searching apparatus detects the presence of a failure memory cell, and for detecting a column address in the direction orthogonal to the row address line on which the detected failure memory cell exists.

Abstract: An image sensor mouse of a contact-less type is provided which employs a full color light emitting diode 80 having a red (R) light emitting unit diode 801, a green (G) light emitting unit diode 802, and a blue (B) light emitting unit diode 803, and a voltage control integrated circuit 910 which makes selection of one or more of the three unit diodes to be operative by varying a driving voltage applicable across each of the unit diodes separately to vary intensity of the emitted light therefrom, whereby obtaining a mixed light in arbitrary color.

Abstract: All independent acoustical physical constants (elastic constants, piezoelectric constants, dielectric constants and density) of a material are predetermined as a function of its chemical composition, and the calibration line between the acoustic velocity for each of the substrate crystal plane, the propagation direction and the propagation mode, and other chemical and physical properties is numerically calculated with ease without making any experiments.

Abstract: Fine particles (23) are oriented and dispersed in a polymer medium to obtain a composite material (24), which is high-density compression molded to such a size that a photonic band gap develops, thereby obtaining a photonic crystal element (26). The orientation of the fine particles (23) in the polymer medium can be carried out on a scale (tens of micrometers to several millimeters) where required manipulations can be done with ease.

Abstract: A clock waveform XC(t) is transformed into a complex analytic signal using a Hilbert transformer and an instantaneous phase of this analytic signal is estimated. A linear phase is subtracted from the instantaneous phase to obtain a varying term &Dgr;&phgr;(t). A difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the varying term &Dgr;&phgr;(t) is obtained as a peak-to-peak jitter, and a root-mean-square of the varying term &Dgr;&phgr;(t) is calculated to obtain an RMS jitter.

Abstract: A touch panel comprises a pair of glass substrates (11, 12) each having a transparent conducting, film (13, 14) formed on its one side surface. The glass substrates disposed with their respective transparent conducting films (13, 14) is faced each other and bonded together around their peripheries by a seal (19)having spacers (23′) of insulating material incorporated therein, in which lead-out patterns (17e-17d) intersect the seal (19) prior to extending out of the touch panel. The sphere diameter of the spacers (23′) is selected to be approximately equal to the particle size of silver particles (21) contained in the conducting paste, whereby the spacers may dig in between the conducting material particles to thereby reduce the difference in height between the bumps and dips on those portions of the seal intersecting the lead-out patterns and the remaining portions, respectively.

Abstract: A tool box assembly includes first and second shell members. The first shell member includes a first shell body, a foldable joining member, and a grip member which includes proximate and distal jaw portions. The second shell member includes a second shell body and a gripped member. The gripped member includes an anchored body and first and second anchored portions. The anchored body forms first and second shoulder portions with the first and second anchored portions, respectively. To interconnect the two shell bodies, the proximate jaw portion is brought to engage the first shoulder portion, and the distal jaw portion is then pressed to slip over the second anchored portion and engage the second shoulder portion, thereby permitting opening and closing of the first and second shell bodies relative to each other by virtue of the foldable joining member.

Abstract: An address signal, a device control signal and a test pattern data outputted from a pattern generating part are applied to a semiconductor device under test, a response output signal from the semiconductor device under test is compared by a logical comparison part with an expected value data outputted from the pattern generating part, and the logical comparison part generates upon detection of a discordance in the comparison result a failure data representing a failure memory cell, which data is stored together with the address signal, the device control signal and the expected value data outputted from the pattern generating part in a data failure memory, wherein a variable delay part that can give arbitrary time delays to the address signal, the expected value data, and the device control signal, respectively is provided on a data transmission path connecting the pattern generating part to the data failure memory.

Abstract: An improved electrical contact structure can be manufactured by plating a component of a first material such as molybdenum with a second material such as copper or silver. The first and second materials are selected to provide a desired effective coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and electrical conductivity. The contact structure can be made very thin for implementations in which multiple lasers are to be stacked closely together. The manufacturing processing can be carried out very inexpensively by first etching the outline of multiple components in a sheet of the first material and then plating the etched sheet with the second material.

Abstract: The temperature distribution in water is measured by two thermocouples to obtain a temperature compensating parameter. Under measurement conditions where the temperature distribution in water varies, a measured V(z) curve is used to monitor a change in the wave number of a longitudinal wave in an ultrasonic wave propagation region in water to thereby detect variations in the water temperature and the longitudinal wave velocity with high accuracy.

Abstract: There is provided an optical modulator in which positive holes produced in the valence band are not piled up, the electrostatic capacity can be decreased, the frequency response characteristic is improved, and which is capable of operating at a high speed. In an optical modulator comprising: an n-type clad layer; a stripe-like modulation layer elongated in the direction of light propagation and formed on the top surface of the n-type clad layer; a buffer layer formed on the top surface of the modulation layer; and a p-type clad layer formed on the top surface of the buffer layer, the buffer layer has its composition the band gap energy of which is higher by an energy due to a p-type acceptor level than that of the modulation layer, thereby to remove a difference in band gap energy between the modulation layer and the buffer layer.

Abstract: There are provided methods each of which is for efficiently compressing a test pattern to be applied to an IC for testing. The number of data changes &phgr; and a data entropy H of a pattern for each pin of an IC are obtained and then the test pattern is divided and the divided patterns are distributed to a block for &phgr; that is equal to or less than a threshold value &phgr;M (&phgr;<&phgr;M), a block for &phgr;>&phgr;M and for H that is equal to or less than a threshold value HM (H<HM), and a block for H>HM (411). The block for &phgr;<&phgr;M is compressed by a run length compressing method, the block for &phgr;>&phgr;M and H<HM is compressed by the run length compressing method after application of Burrows wheeler transform, and the block for H>HM is compressed by an LZ compressing method.

Abstract: In a keyboard that comprises a membrane switch sheet having switch portions arranged all over it, a keyboard substrate and a keyboard frame having sandwiched therebetween the membrane switch sheet to provide therein rigidity, and actuators for ON/OFF control of the switch portions through openings made in the keyboard frame, the keyboard substrate and the keyboard frame are each formed by a thin aluminum sheet, the membrane switch sheet has plural through holes, and plural trapezoidal bumps or protrusions formed by stamping the keyboard substrate toward the keyboard frame are inserted through the plural through holes into surface-to-surface contact with the keyboard frame, the plural trapezoidal bumps being spot-welded in their flat top surfaces to the keyboard frame.

Abstract: There are provided an optical waveguide device in which a plurality of PLC type optical waveguide chips are optically coupled to one another at high accuracy by passive alignment, and a method of manufacturing the device. A plurality of optical waveguide chips are formed by cutting an optical waveguide device comprising an optical waveguide substrate having an optical waveguide of a predetermined pattern formed thereon and guide grooves formed on both sides of the optical waveguide on the optical waveguide substrate in the longitudinal direction thereof, in the direction of traversing the optical waveguide substrate at substantially right angle thereto and passing through an intersection of the optical waveguide.