Abstract: An EUV reticle pod is provided. The pod includes an inner and an outer box assembly. The inner box assembly contained in the outer box assembly includes a base and a cover. The base has an upper surface and a surrounding wall. The upper surface includes a carry surface, at least one trench, and a first contacting surface. The EUV reticle is carried above the carry surface. The trench has a circular loop structure and its bottom is lower than the carry surface. The carry surface, the trench, and the first contacting surface are sequentially distributed from the center of the upper surface towards the surrounding wall. The cover has a concave for accommodating the EUV reticle and a second contacting surface for cooperating with the first contacting surface to form an air-tight seal. The trench captures and traps particles to reduce the particle contamination on the reticle.

Abstract: A projection-based frame is generated according to an omnidirectional video frame and an octahedron projection layout. The projection-based frame has a 360-degree image content represented by triangular projection faces assembled in the octahedron projection layout. A 360-degree image content of a viewing sphere is mapped onto the triangular projection faces via an octahedron projection of the viewing sphere. One side of a first triangular projection face has contact with one side of a second triangular projection face, one side of a third triangular projection face has contact with another side of the second triangular projection face. One image content continuity boundary exists between one side of the first triangular projection face and one side of the second triangular projection face, and another image content continuity boundary exists between one side of the third triangular projection face and another side of the second triangular projection face.

Abstract: An edge-emitting laser having a small vertical emitting angle includes an upper cladding layer, a lower cladding layer and an active region layer sandwiched between the upper and lower cladding layers. By embedding a passive waveguide layer within the lower cladding to layer, an extended lower cladding layer is formed between the passive waveguide layer and the active region layer. In addition, the refractive index (referred as n-value) of the passive waveguide layer is larger than the n-value of the extended lower cladding layer. The passive waveguide layer with a larger n-value would guide the light field to extend downward. The extended lower cladding layer can separate the passive waveguide layer and the active region layer and thus expand the near-field distribution of laser light field in the resonant cavity, so as to obtain a smaller vertical emitting angle in the far-field laser light field.

Abstract: A video encoding method includes: setting a 360-degree Virtual Reality (360 VR) projection layout of projection faces, wherein the projection faces have a plurality of triangular projection faces located at a plurality of positions in the 360 VR projection layout, respectively; encoding a frame having a 360-degree image content represented by the projection faces arranged in the 360 VR projection layout to generate a bitstream; and for each position included in at least a portion of the positions, signaling at least one syntax element via the bitstream, wherein the at least one syntax element is set to indicate at least one of an index of a triangular projection view filled into a corresponding triangular projection face located at the position and a rotation angle of content rotation applied to the triangular projection view filled into the corresponding triangular projection face located at the position.

Abstract: Various examples with respect to adaptive infrared (IR) projection control for depth estimation in computer vision are described. A processor or control circuit of an apparatus receives data of an image based on sensing by one or more image sensors. The processor or control circuit also detects a region of interest (ROI) in the image. The processor or control circuit then adaptively controls a light projector with respect to projecting light toward the ROI.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for merging compressed access units according to compression rates and/or positions of the respective compressed access units. The method can include receiving a sequence of compressed access units corresponding to a sequence of raw access units partitioned from an image or a video frame and corresponding to a sequence of memory spaces in a frame buffer, determining a merged access unit including at least two consecutive compressed access units based on compression rates and/or positions of the sequence of compressed access units. The merged access unit is to be stored in the frame buffer with a reduced gap between the at least two consecutive compressed access units compared with storing the at least two consecutive compressed access units in corresponding memory spaces in the sequence of memory spaces.

Abstract: A portable device has an adaptive panoramic image processor. The portable device further has a plurality of image sensors having overlapping fields of view and an input device receiving a trigger signal that triggers the plurality of image sensors to capture a plurality of images. The adaptive panoramic image processor of the portable device processes the images to form a panorama based on side information about the portable device.

Abstract: An exemplary image processing method includes the following steps: receiving an image input composed of at least one source image; receiving algorithm selection information corresponding to each source image; checking corresponding algorithm selection information of each source image to determine a selected image processing algorithm from a plurality of different image processing algorithms; and performing an object oriented image processing operation upon the source image based on the selected image processing algorithm. The algorithm selection information indicates an image quality of each source image and is generated from one of an auxiliary sensor, an image processing module of an image capture apparatus, a processing circuit being one of a video decoder, a frame rate converter, and an audio/video synchronization (AV-Sync) module, or is a user-defined mode setting.

Abstract: A reticle pod for accommodating a reticle is provided. The reticle pod comprises a base; a cover; and at least one supporting member. When the reticle is accommodated on the reticle pod, the supporting member abuts against the reticle through a protrusion part; wherein the maximum static friction is constantly greater than a horizontal force applied to the support module from the reticle.

Abstract: A data processing apparatus has a first compressor, a second compressor, a first output interface, and a second output interface. The first compressor generates first compressed display data by performing compression upon display data of a first partial region of a frame according to a first compression order. The second compressor generates second compressed display data by performing compression upon display data of a second partial region of the frame according to a second compression order. There is a boundary between the first partial region and the second partial region. In a horizontal direction, the first compression order on one side of the first boundary is opposite to the second compression order on another side of the first boundary. The first and second output interfaces output the first and second compressed display data via a first display port and a second display port of a display interface, respectively.

Abstract: A projection-based frame is generated according to an omnidirectional video frame and an octahedron projection layout. The projection-based frame has a 360-degree image content represented by triangular projection faces assembled in the octahedron projection layout. A 360-degree image content of a viewing sphere is mapped onto the triangular projection faces via an octahedron projection of the viewing sphere. One side of a first triangular projection face has contact with one side of a second triangular projection face, one side of a third triangular projection face has contact with another side of the second triangular projection face. One image content continuity boundary exists between one side of the first triangular projection face and one side of the second triangular projection face, and another image content continuity boundary exists between one side of the third triangular projection face and another side of the second triangular projection face.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for video encoding to generate a partitioned bitstream without buffering transform coefficient and/or prediction data for subsequent coding units are disclosed. An encoder incorporating an embodiment according to the present invention receives first video parameters associated with a current coding unit, wherein no first video parameters associated with subsequent coding units are buffered. The encoder then encodes the first video parameters to generate a current first compressed data corresponding to the current coding unit. A first memory address in the first logic unit is determined and the encoder provides the current first compressed data at the first memory address in the first logic unit.

Abstract: A measuring method and apparatus of frequency response characteristic imbalance of an optical receiver, in which by transmitting at least one single-frequency signal in an I branch or a Q branch of an optical transmitter, an amplitude ratio and phase imbalance of the I branch and the Q branch of the optical receiver are directly calculated according to at least one pair of received signals extracted from the I branch and the Q branch of the optical receiver of which frequencies are split due to a frequency difference between lasers of the optical transmitter and the optical receiver, with no need of many times of changes of central wavelengths of lasers of the optical transmitter and the optical receiver for performing measurement for many times, and measurement of frequency response characteristic imbalance of the optical receiver may be achieved through one time of measurement, which is simple in process and accurate in measurement result.

Abstract: A perception-based image processing apparatus includes an image analyzing circuit and an application circuit. The image analyzing circuit obtains training data, sets a perception model according to the training data, performs an object detection of at least one frame, and generates an object detection information signal based at least partly on a result of the object detection of said at least one frame. The application circuit operates in response to the object detection information signal.

Abstract: A data processing apparatus has a camera sensor, a camera buffer, a compressor, and an output interface. The camera sensor generates an input multimedia data. The camera buffer stores a first data derived from the input multimedia data. The compressor generates a compressed multimedia data by compressing a second data derived from the input multimedia data. The output interface packs the compressed multimedia data into a bitstream, and outputs the bitstream via a camera interface. The camera interface is coupled between the data processing apparatus and another data processing apparatus that are located at different chips, and the camera interface is a chip-to-chip interface that provides direct pin connections between the different chips.

Abstract: A portable device capable of building a panorama, a panoramic video or/and a panoramic audio. The portable device has a plurality of sensors with overlapping sensing areas and an input device receiving a trigger signal that triggers the sensors to sense data for generating a panoramic photo/video/audio file.

Abstract: Method and system of video decoding incorporating frame compression to reduce frame buffer size are disclosed. The method adjusts parameters of the frame compression according to decoder system information or syntax element in the video bitstream. The decoder system information may be selected from a group consisting of system status, system parameter and a combination of system status and system parameter. The decoder system information may include system bandwidth, frame buffer size, frame buffer status, system power consumption, and system processing load. The syntax element comprises reference frame indicator, initial picture QP (quantization parameter), picture type, and picture size. The adaptive frame compression may be applied to adjust compression ratio. Furthermore, the adaptive frame compression may be applied to a decoder for a scalable video coding system or a multi-layer video coding system.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for measuring frequency response characteristics of an optical transmitter and an optical receiver where the apparatus includes: a generating unit configured to generate a driving signal for driving the modulator of the optical transmitter, which comprises at least two frequencies; and a calculating unit configured to respectively calculate the frequency response characteristics of the optical transmitter and the optical receiver according to output signal components in output signals of the optical receiver corresponding to at least two detection signal components of identical amplitudes and different frequencies in detection signals. The frequency response characteristics of the optical transmitter and the optical receiver may be obtained, the amplitude responses and phase responses in the frequency response characteristics may be respectively obtained, and the measurement results are accurate and reliable.

Abstract: A buffer write method for a buffer, including a plurality of M-bit storage units, has following steps: obtaining pixel data of a plurality of first N-bit pixels of a picture; calculating a corresponding start address of the buffer for the pixel data of the first N-bit pixels; and storing the first N-bit pixels of the picture according to the calculated start address of the buffer in the M-bit storage units by a buffer controller. The storing step includes fully storing at least one of the first N-bit pixels in one of the M-bit storage units storage units, wherein M and N are positive integers, and M is not divisible by N.

Abstract: An edge-emitting laser having a small vertical emitting angle includes an upper cladding layer, a lower cladding layer and an active region layer sandwiched between the upper and lower cladding layers. By embedding a passive waveguide layer within the lower cladding to layer, an extended lower cladding layer is formed between the passive waveguide layer and the active region layer. In addition, the refractive index (referred as n-value) of the passive waveguide layer is larger than the n-value of the extended lower cladding layer. The passive waveguide layer with a larger n-value would guide the light field to extend downward. The extended lower cladding layer can separate the passive waveguide layer and the active region layer and thus expand the near-field distribution of laser light field in the resonant cavity, so as to obtain a smaller vertical emitting angle in the far-field laser light field.