Abstract: An apparatus includes a heater for converting a filament of extrusion material into thermoplastic material. The heater has a channel configured to change the cross-sectional shape of the filament to a cross-sectional shape that has a greater surface area than the surface area of the filament before the heater receives the filament. The channel of the heater can also be configured to drive the center portion of the filament toward the heated walls of the channel and to mix thermoplastic material in the channel while exposing the center portion of the filament to the heated wall of the channel.

Abstract: A processing apparatus includes a receiving unit that receives from another apparatus a command to perform an operation that uses a first function as a function of the processing apparatus, and an instruction unit that, when the receiving unit has received the command from the other apparatus, issues to the other apparatus a command to perform an operation that uses a second function if the other apparatus has the second function that is a substitute for the first function.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a display screen and a display controller. The display screen displays a first message corresponding to a first event occurring in the information processing apparatus. The display controller controls, in a case where a second event occurs while the first message is being displayed on the display screen, a display mode of a second message corresponding to the second event, based on a relationship between the first event and the second event.

Abstract: A fixing apparatus includes a heating section including a belt having a layered structure in which a metal layer is held between nonmetal layers. The belt has a front surface that comes into contact with a toner image and a back surface that does not come into contact with the toner image. The belt has a first thickness from the front surface to the metal layer inside the belt and a second thickness from the back surface to the metal layer inside the belt. The fixing apparatus also includes a pressure section that holds, between the pressure section and the belt, a transported sheet of paper holding the toner image and that applies pressure to the sheet of paper. The fixing apparatus further includes a first static eliminating section that eliminates static from the belt while being in contact with a surface of the belt.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a management unit, a receiver, and a display controller. The management unit is configured to manage association information in which a user and a group to which the user belongs are associated with each other. The receiver is configured to receive a change of the association information. The display controller configured to control group change information to be displayed to the user. The group change information indicate contents of a group change that the receiver estimates in response to receipt of the association information.

Abstract: An information processing device includes a changing unit that changes, according to an instruction from a user, display of information on a specific conversation participant in a conversational interface. In a further modification of the invention, the changing unit may change a display position or a display form of information on a conversation participant designated as the specific conversation participant by the user.

Abstract: An optical device includes a lens body including plural lenses of which optical axes are arranged alongside each other, and a light shielding body that is disposed with respect to the lens body and shields a part of light passing through the plural lenses, in which the light shielding body has a base that is provided, at a position shifted from the optical axes of the plural lenses, along an arrangement direction in which the plural lenses are arranged, and plural projecting portions that are positioned between the plural lenses and project from the base in an intersection direction intersecting the arrangement direction.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a display controller. The display controller acquires positional information, which indicates a position where a mobile display device is being used, from the display device; acquires first information, which is different from the positional information and is associated with the positional information, from a device different from the display device; and differentiates a two-dimensional image, which represents an object defined three-dimensionally from one viewpoint direction and is displayed on the display device, according to the acquired first information, and displays the two-dimensional image as a moving image.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a selection unit that, when a target document is recognized, selects a first mode in which a latest version of a recognition dictionary is applied, or a second mode in which a version of the recognition dictionary is applied, the version of the recognition dictionary having a highest correct answer rate among plural versions different from the latest version, the correct answer rate being obtained from a recognition result and a confirmation or correction result of each of plural documents.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes an execution unit that executes a first job and a second job in response to reception of the first job and the second job, and a control unit that controls state of the first job and the second job, in which in a case where the first job includes transferring first data as a processing target to an external apparatus and receiving second data as a processing result from the external apparatus, the control unit sets the first job to a stoppage state in response to completion of the transfer of the first data and sets the second job which uses a transfer protocol used in the first job to an execution available state.

Abstract: A reservation management system includes a processor programmed to: acquire information used to determine whether a user will arrive in time for a first event, a user reservation, through movement between a first event location and a second event location of the user, which precedes the first event, or information used to determine whether the user will arrive in time for a third event, which succeeds the first event, through movement between the location of the first event and a location related to the third event; make a determination whether the user will arrive in time for the first event or the third event; and in response to a result of the determination being that the user will arrive late to the first event or the third event, provide a notification that prompts the user to take an action on the first event or the third event.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method for writing to a printed memory device is disclosed. The computer-implemented method includes determining, by a microcontroller, a first encoding scheme from among a plurality of encoding schemes to write a first data portion from among a plurality of data portions, wherein the first encoding scheme comprises a first voltage and a first pulse width to be used to write the first data portion; providing, by the microcontroller, the first encoding scheme to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC); selecting, by the ASIC, a first target memory cell of the printed memory device corresponding to a first word line and a first bit line for the first data portion to be written; and writing, by the ASIC, the first data portion to the first target memory cell using the first encoding scheme.

Abstract: A semiconductor optical amplifier includes: a substrate; a light source unit formed on the substrate; and an optical amplification part that amplifies light propagating in a predetermined direction from the light source unit and emits the amplified light in an emission direction intersecting with the substrate surface. The optical amplification part includes a conductive region extending in the predetermined direction along the substrate surface from the light source unit, and a nonconductive region formed around the conductive region. The conductive region includes a first region extending from the light source unit and having a predetermined width as seen from a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface, and a second region connected to the first region and having a width widened relative to the predetermined width of the first region, the second region being configured to expand the propagation light in a direction intersecting with the predetermined direction.

Abstract: An information processing device includes a division unit that divides a table in which cells are arranged in rows and columns into multiple sub-tables, and an extraction unit that extracts a value corresponding to a key cell, that is, a cell expressing a key, from each of the multiple sub-tables obtained by the division unit.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes an input receiving section that receives an input of a captured image in which a first object and a second object installed in association with the first object are recorded; a first image acquisition section that acquires a first object image that is an image of the first object extracted from the captured image; a second image acquisition section that acquires a second object image that is an image of the second object extracted from the captured image; and a display control section that displays both the first object image and the second object image, the display control section displaying the first object image and the second object image in a state where the second object image is movable relative to the first object image or in a state where the second object image is editable.

Abstract: A marking color of a marking material (e.g., ink, toner, etc.) within a printer has a marking spectral reflectance property. Print media that has a media color approximately matching the marking color, but a different media spectral reflectance property, is identified (to form a geometric metameric pair). Differently colored calibration patches of the marking material are printed on a test sheet of the print media. A calibration patch, in which the printed color of the marking material most closely visually matches the media color, is used to identify a revised marking color. A watermark is printed on the print media using the revised marking color. The difference between the marking spectral reflectance property and the media spectral reflectance property causes the watermark to be visibly observable on the print media from one angle but prevents the watermark from being visibly observable from a different angle.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a receiving unit that receives an additional service that is to be added to the information processing apparatus and is not configured for a grant setting of information collection and a controller that, if usage information on the information processing apparatus that is configured for the grant setting of the information collection is similar to usage information on the additional service, performs control to configure at least part of the grant setting of the information collection related to the usage information on the information processing apparatus to be the grant setting of the information collection related to the additional service.

Abstract: A management apparatus includes an obtaining unit that obtains a history of communication performed with an external apparatus in accordance with a derivative application program created on a basis of a basic application program and a state control unit that, if the basic application program is made unavailable, controls, using the history of communication, whether to make the derivative application program unavailable.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a controller that improves visibility of a first image. The first image is formed in the air by using a first image forming unit.

Abstract: A probabilistic motion model to calculate the motion parameters of a user's hand held device using a noisy low cost Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensor. Also described is a novel technique to reduce the bias noise present in the aforesaid IMU sensor signal, which results in a better performance of the motion model. The system utilizes a Particle Filter (PF) loop, which fuses radio signal data accumulated from Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons using BLE receiver with the signal from IMU sensor to perform localization and tracking. The Particle Filter loop operates based on a Sequential Monte Carlo technique well known to persons of ordinary skill in the art. The described approach provides a solution for both the noise problem in the IMU sensor and a motion model utilized in the Particle Filter loop, which provides better performance despite the noisy IMU sensor.