Patents Assigned to Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
  • Patent number: 6996368
    Abstract: A method reduces power consumption in a multi-hop wireless communications network including a plurality of nodes. At a source node, a first power requirement for relaying a signal to a destination node through an intermediate node using an amplification mode is determined. A second power requirement for relaying the signal the destination node through the intermediate node using a regeneration mode is also determined at the source node. A relay request message is transmitted to the intermediate node, the relay request message including the first and second power requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs., Inc.
    Inventors: Philip Orlik, Zafer Sahinoglu, Jinyun Zhang
  • Patent number: 6990113
    Abstract: A method schedules packets in a router of a packet-switched network. The network has a set of service classes including a premium service, an assured service, and a best-effort service. The router includes one queue for each service class. Each queue stores packets to be transmitted according to the associated service class. The method measures an exponential weighted moving average queue length of the queue associated with the premium service each time a packet is stored in that queue. Bandwidth is increased if the average increases over a minimum threshold. The bandwidth remains below an upper limit once the average reaches a maximum threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs., Inc.
    Inventors: Haining Wang, Chia Shen
  • Patent number: 6990217
    Abstract: A method classifies images of faces according to gender. Training images of male and female faces are supplied to a vector support machine. A small number of support vectors are determined from the training images. The support vectors identify a hyperplane. After training, a test image is supplied to the support vector machine. The test image is classified according to the gender of the test image with respect to the hyperplane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs. Inc.
    Inventors: Baback Moghaddam, Ming-Hsuan Yang
  • Patent number: 6982724
    Abstract: A method and apparatus antialias a region of a two-dimensional distance field representing an object. The two-dimensional distance field is partitioned into cells where each cell includes a method for reconstructing the two-dimensional distance field within the cell. A set of cells of the two-dimensional distance field associated with the region is identified and a set of pixels associated with the region is located. For each pixel, a set of components is specified. For each component, a distance is determined from the set of cells and then mapped to the antialiased intensity of the component of the pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Sarah F. Frisken, Ronald N. Perry
  • Patent number: 6975853
    Abstract: A personal identification device for use with a mobile telephone in a wireless communications network includes an connector mated to a connector of the mobile telephone normally used for a hands-free kit or a data port. In a typical application, a user of the mobile telephone calls a server. The server sends a first telephone signal to the personal identification device. The device responds with a second telephone signal, designed to simulate voice or data activity, depending on the type of connector that is used. The simulated voice activity is structured in such a way as to cause the radio signal transmitted by the mobile telephone to go on and off in response to the simulated voice activity. A nearby receiver can detect the on/off pattern. The on/off pattern is designed to convey a unique identification code.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: George Fang, Giovanni Vannucci, Jinyun Zhang, Tommy C. Poon
  • Patent number: 6973128
    Abstract: A method transports a video over a network that includes multiple paths. First, a video is encoded into a base layer, one or more low bit-rate enhancement layers, and one or more high bit-rate enhancement layers using fine-granularity scalability. The base layer and the low bit-rate layers are duplicated into a multiple base layers and multiple low bit-rate enhancement layers, respectively. The high bit-rate layers are partitioned into multiple partial low-bit rate layers, and then each layer is transmitted over a different path of the network to a receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Jian Zhou, Huai-Rong Shao, Chia Shen
  • Patent number: 6963671
    Abstract: A method determines a distance from a 3D point to a 3D surface from a 2D projected range image. A projected distance and a cliff distance from the 3D point to the 3D surface are determined using the projected range image. The projected distance and the cliff distance are then combined to determine the distance from the 3D point to the 3D surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Sarah F. Frisken, Ronald N. Perry
  • Patent number: 6954650
    Abstract: A method determines mobility characteristics of a mobile terminal by measuring a first and second angular direction of travel of the mobile terminal at a first and second instant. The first angular direction is subtracted form the second angular direction to determine the directivity of the mobile terminal during an interval of time between the first instant and the second instant. The directivity, in terms of a mean, variance, or histogram can be used to classify the mobile terminal, and location-aware services can be adapted and delivered according to the classification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Zafer Sahinoglu, Anthony Vetro
  • Patent number: 6954203
    Abstract: A method models a plurality of graphics models by generating a first adaptively sampled distance field for a first model, and generating a second adaptively sampled distance field for a second model. Locations in the first adaptively are sampled distance field to determine a distance value for each location. The second adaptively sampled distance field is sampled at each location to determine a corresponding feature of the second adaptively sampled distance field. Then, each distance value is modified according to the corresponding feature to determine a second distance value for each location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald N. Perry, Sarah F. Frisken
  • Patent number: 6950600
    Abstract: A system records a sequence of frames of a video in circular buffers. Each buffer is configured to store the frames in a sequential order. Disjoint sets of frames are selected from the video. There is one set of frames for each buffer such that a first set selects a first fraction of the frames, each subsequent set of frames is a smaller fraction then a previous set of frames, and a last set of selected frames includes remaining frames. The sets of frames are stored sequentially in the corresponding buffers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Paul H. Dietz
  • Patent number: 6947378
    Abstract: A method for dynamically allocating network resources while transferring multimedia at variable bit-rates in a network extracts first content features from the multimedia to determine renegotiation points and observation periods. Second content features and traffic features are extracted from the multimedia bit stream during the observation periods. The second content features and the traffic features are combined in a neural network to predict the network resources to be allocated at the renegotiation points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Min Wu, Robert A. Joyce, Anthony Vetro, Hau-San Wong, Ling Guan, Sun-Yuan Kung
  • Patent number: 6947042
    Abstract: A method determines mappings between high-dimensional measured samples and a reduced-dimensional manifold. Samples are acquired of a physical system. The samples have a high number of dimensions. A low number of dimensions are determined for a manifold embedded in a space of the high-dimensional samples. Local charts having the dimensions of the low number of dimensions of the manifold are fitted to selected high-dimensional samples. The charts are then connected to determine a forward mapping from any high-dimensional sample to a coordinate on the manifold and a reverse mapping from any coordinate on the manifold to a corresponding point in high-dimensional sample space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Matthew E. Brand
  • Patent number: 6944233
    Abstract: A method for communicating a bit stream using turbo coding encodes each input bit in the bitstream using a single 1/3 rate turbo encoder to produce a set of three bits. One of the three bits in each set is repeated to produce a set of four bits for each input bit. A time interval between the four bits is increased before transmitting the set of four bits on a communications channel. In a receiver, the time interval between the set of four bits received via the communications channel is decreased using a de-interleaver. The received set of four bits are diversity combine into a received set of three bits, and then a single 1/3 rate turbo decoder is used to recover an output bit for each input bit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Jinyun Zhang, Phillip Orlik, Jyhchau Horng
  • Patent number: 6943789
    Abstract: A method for converts an adaptively sampled distance field of a graphics model to a triangle model, The adaptively sampled distance field includes surface cells storing distance values that have corresponding gradients. A vertex is assigned to a center location of each surface cell. The vertices of neighboring surface cells are connected to form triangles while satisfying a predetermined constraint. Then, each vertex is moved, in a single step, to a new location according to the distance value and corresponding gradient of the vertex to substantially conform the triangles to a surface of the model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc
    Inventors: Ronald N. Perry, Sarah F. Frisken
  • Patent number: 6934651
    Abstract: A method synchronizes signals from unsynchronized sensors spatially dispersed in an environment. Each sensor acquires an unsynchronized signal from the environment. An identical timing signal is received in each sensor. Frequencies of the timing signal are substantially disjoint of frequencies of the unsynchronized signals. The timing signal is combined with the unsynchronized signal in each sensor. The combined signals are received by a signal processor where the combined signals are separated to recover the unsynchronized signals and the timing signals. Then, the unsynchronized signals can be time-aligned according to the recovered timing signals to produce time-aligned signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Paris Smaragdis
  • Patent number: 6933939
    Abstract: A method corrects an adaptively sampled distance field of a model. The adaptively sampled distance field includes a multiple of cells. Each cell stores distance values at vertices of the cell. The cells include interior cells, surface cells, and exterior cells, and neighboring cells have a common edge. Selected cells are marked as unprocessed cells, and the surface cells as marked as processed cells. A particular vertex of each unprocessed cell is marked as a minimum vertex if it has a minimum absolute value distance value. The unprocessed cells in an ascending order of the minimum vertices are further processed by appending, for each common edge of each unprocessed cell, distance values of neighboring processed cells to the common edge, adjusting the distance values of the vertices of the unprocessed cell according to the appended distance values of the edges and the distance values of the vertices, and marking the unprocessed cell as processed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald N. Perry, Sarah F. Frisken
  • Patent number: 6933952
    Abstract: A method and apparatus antialias a region of a set of objects. The set of objects is represented by a set of two-dimensional distance fields. Each distance field is partitioned into cells, where each cell is associated with a method for reconstructing the distance field within the cell. For each distance field, a set of cells associated with the region is identified. A set of pixels associated with the region is located and a set of components is specified for each pixel. For each component of each pixel, a corresponding distance for the component is determined for each distance field using the corresponding set of cells and the corresponding distances are combined to determine a combined distance. The combined distance is mapped to an antialiased intensity of the component of the pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Sarah F. Frisken, Ronald N. Perry
  • Patent number: 6930681
    Abstract: A computer implemented method registers an image with a 3D physical object by first acquiring a 3D graphics model of an object. Multiple 3D calibration points a surface of the object and corresponding 3D model calibration points in the 3D graphics model are identified. The object is illuminated with a calibration image using a projector at a fixed location. The calibration image is aligned with each of the 3D calibration points on the surface of the 3D physical object to identify corresponding 2D pixels in the calibration image, and then a transformation between the 2D calibration pixels and the corresponding 3D model calibration points is determined to register the projector with the 3D physical object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Ramesh Raskar, Gregory F. Welch, Kok-Lim Low
  • Patent number: 6925120
    Abstract: A method codes an output bitstream of an input video so the decoded output bitstream has a constant perceived quality. A base layer bitstream having a constant bit-rate is generated from the input video, and an input enhancement layer bitstream is generated from a difference between the input video and the base layer bitstream. Rate and distortion characteristics are extracted from the base layer bitstream and the input enhancement layer bitstream, and an output enhancement layer bitstream having a variable bit-rate is generated from the input enhancement layer bitstream according to the rate and distortion characteristics. The base layer bitstream and the output enhancement layer bitstream, in combination, form an output bitstream having a variable bit-rate and a constant distortion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Ximin Zhang, Anthony Vetro, Yun-Qing Shi, Huifang Sun
  • Patent number: 6917702
    Abstract: In a method and system for calibrating a multiple cameras, a calibration object is placed on a turntable while a set of images is acquired with each camera while rotating the turntable. Vertices of a calibration pattern are located in each set of images, and intrinsic parameters for each camera are determined from the vertices. An orientation of a rotation axis of the turntable relative to a position of each camera is estimated from the intrinsic parameters of each camera. A dependency of each orientation on a global geometry of the calibration pattern is minimized. Then, one camera is selected as a fixed camera, all other cameras are designated as floating cameras. A translation vector between the fixed camera and each floating camera is determined, and the translation vectors are used to place the cameras in a common coordinate frame according to the translating vectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Paul Beardsley