Abstract: Systems and methods for accelerators which may execute a program in conjunction with a PC are disclosed. In one embodiment, an accelerator includes a plurality of calculation units, each calculation unit operable to execute the program in parallel, an operation control unit configured to control an operation capability or a processing capability of at least one of the plurality of calculation units, and a control unit configured to determine a corresponding operation capability or processing capability for the plurality of calculation units based on load information on the program to be executed and control the operation control unit accordingly.

Abstract: A secondary texture cache is used commonly by a plurality of texture units, and stores part of texture data in a main memory. A cache controlling CPU controls a refill operation from the main memory to the secondary texture cache in accordance with cache misses of the plurality of texture units, so as to suppress occurrence of thrashing in the secondary texture cache. The cache controlling CPU suppresses occurrence of the refill operation when the plurality of operating units access an identical memory address with a predetermined time difference.

Abstract: An multiprocessor control device according to an example of the invention comprises a selection unit which, on the basis of an execution schedule for tasks to be allocated to any one of processor elements, selects, for each of the processor elements, any one of a normal mode used in a task execution time, a first mode which is used when a task is not executed and in which a power consumption is reduced more than in the normal mode, and a second mode which is used when the task is not executed and which has a greater power consumption reducing effect but a longer mode switching time than the first mode, and a mode control unit which performs control according to the mode selected by the selection unit for each of the processor elements.

Abstract: Systems and methods for accelerators which may execute a program in conjunction with a PC are disclosed. In one embodiment, an accelerator includes a plurality of calculation units, each calculation unit operable to execute the program in parallel, an operation control unit configured to control an operation capability or a processing capability of at least one of the plurality of calculation units, and a control unit configured to determine a corresponding operation capability or processing capability for the plurality of calculation units based on load information on the program to be executed and control the operation control unit accordingly.

Abstract: To provide a system for processing program information in which the display structure of a program table can freely be changed in accordance with a requirement or a taste of an audience, the system for processing program information is constructed to include program information storage means 1 for storing program information, and program table display means 4 for two-dimensionally displaying a program table following two axes in accordance with two attributes 102 and 103 among attributes given to each piece of program information, to make the program table 101 for two-dimensionally displaying programs with two axes of free attributes. For the audience, program tables of various constructions can be displayed on the display means at will and in respective program retrieval operations, the program table easy to look for a program can be obtained.

Abstract: To provide a system for processing program information in which the display structure of a program table can be freely changed in accordance with a requirement of or the taste of an audience, the system for processing program information is structured to include program information storage means 1 for storing program information, and program table display means 4 for two-dimensionally displaying a program table employing as the two axes, two attributes 102 and 103 selected from among all of the attributes that have been given to each piece of program information, to make the program table 101. For the audience, program tables of various constructions can be displayed on the display means at will and in respective program retrieval operations, a program table that is easy to use to search for a program can be obtained. An specific desired program can be found in a short time by selecting key word(s) related to each program and extracting them from the program or the like.

Abstract: The present invention provides an image processing unit, an image processing system, and an image processing method capable of achieving a higher speed and a higher efficiency in a rendering and implementing a low cost of the system. The image processing unit according to the present invention comprises a main storing portion for storing information of three-dimensional objects, a plurality of calculating portions for processing images based on three-dimensional object information which are read from the main storing portion, and a hierarchical storing portion having a plurality of hierarchies and connected between the main storing portion and the plurality of calculating portions to store a part of information at a lower level into a higher level sequentially, wherein image processing by the plurality of calculating portions are performed in parallel.

Abstract: In a multiprocessor system of a hierarchy configuration as a parallel computer of a common-bus structure, a processing unit (120) in an intermediate stage has a processor (123) having a programmable function that is equal to a normal processor, an instruction memory (125), and a data memory (127). The processing unit (120) receives a status signal from a lower processor (143), and a DMA controller (151) having a memory for the transfer of large sized data performs compression, decompression, programmable load dispersion, and load dispersion according to the state of operation of each lower processor.

Abstract: A secondary texture cache is used commonly by a plurality of texture units, and stores part of texture data in a main memory. A cache controlling CPU controls a refill operation from the main memory to the secondary texture cache in accordance with cache misses of the plurality of texture units, so as to suppress occurrence of thrashing in the secondary texture cache. The cache controlling CPU suppresses occurrence of the refill operation when the plurality of operating units access an identical memory address with a predetermined time difference.

Abstract: A system for providing an information space onto a network has a user mediation section for exchanging information with users, and a supply mediation section for exchanging information with information supply sections. The system has a basic data management section for storing basic data which includes a table that indicates correspondence between the information supply sections and key symbols, and a plurality of materials used to form an information space. The system also has a space management section including a space producer and space manager. The space producer forms an information space corresponding to a key symbol in response to a key symbol that represents a search target of each user. The space manager provides each information space to the corresponding user while placing a character that represents actions of the corresponding user in the information space.

Abstract: The present invention provides an image processing unit, an image processing system, and an image processing method capable of achieving a higher speed and a higher efficiency in a rendering and implementing a low cost of the system. The image processing unit according to the present invention comprises a main storing portion for storing information of three-dimensional objects, a plurality of calculating portions for processing images based on three-dimensional object information which are read from the main storing portion, and a hierarchical storing portion having a plurality of hierarchies and connected between the main storing portion and the plurality of calculating portions to store a part of information at a lower level into a higher level sequentially, wherein image processing by the plurality of calculating portions are performed in parallel.

Abstract: In a document retrieving apparatus, an audio input section converts a sound into a character pattern. A language model storing section stores likelihood information. A word choosing section obtains a word selection result based on the likelihood information. A retrieval condition producing section produces retrieval conditions based on the word selection result. A document storing section stores document to be retrieved. And, a document retrieving section retrieves the documents based on the retrieval conditions. An effective document search can be performed regardless of the sentence recognition accuracy without requiring higher cost in collecting the required language data.

Abstract: The present invention provides an image processing unit, an image processing system, and an image processing method capable of achieving a higher speed and a higher efficiency in a rendering and implementing a low cost of the system. The image processing unit according to the present invention comprises a main storing portion for storing information of three-dimensional objects, a plurality of calculating portions for processing images based on three-dimensional object information which are read from the main storing portion, and a hierarchical storing portion having a plurality of hierarchies and connected between the main storing portion and the plurality of calculating portions to store a part of information at a lower level into a higher level sequentially, wherein image processing by the plurality of calculating portions are performed in parallel.

Abstract: An agent presentation apparatus for transmitting and receiving a message and operating based on a knowledge base and a rule base. In particular, where an agent for carrying out a user request uses knowledge of a knowledge description or an action description between agents and executes communication, for example. An agent can request a WWW page locally or remotely over a network to retrieve already existing contents and make a presentation that might include one or more of images, voice, and text along with the WWW page. The apparatus can also respond to user questions about the WWW page using the knowledge description and/or the action description, for example.

Abstract: This invention provides a data transfer method and a data transfer apparatus employing simple hardware to transfer data between two circuits operating at different clock frequencies with reduced data transfer overhead so as to shorten transfer delay time. The data transfer method and apparatus generate a data transfer reference signal involving a pulse that is within a cycle of a lower one of the clock frequencies and is synchronized with a pulse of a higher one of the clock frequencies. When transferring data between the two circuits, one of the circuits serving as a source circuit uses the data transfer reference signal to determine whether or not the other circuit serving as a destination circuit has completely received data transferred from the source circuit. The method and apparatus are capable of speedily transferring data and quickly recognizing the completion of data transfer.

Abstract: A knowledge provider system is configured as a plurality of data servers connected via a data communication network, which function as respective knowledge provider agents in response to information request messages sent from users of the network. Each agent holds a script which contains a knowledge base, and data defining predetermined message formats for respective types of messages and predetermined content formats for respective types of message contents which can be handled by that agent. A message received by an agent is pattern-matched against the message formats, if it is thereby found to be an information request message the message content portion is pattern-matched against the predetermined content formats, and if that matching is successful, the subject for which information is requested is pattern-matched against the contents of the knowledge base, to find a set of information corresponding to that subject.

Abstract: One of prepared types of agent characteristics types is set to an agent, and parameters used in agent operation are set for values associated with the set agent characteristic type, thereby causing the agent to operate according to the agent characteristic type. An agent script base contains a plurality of operation descriptions. In response to a command from the user, parameters used in the execution of the command are set for the above values. The parameters are preferably kept in a table. Then, one of the operation descriptions associated with the command is executed referring to the table. Setting a user's characteristic type causes the set agent characteristic type to be changed to one associated with the user's characteristic type.

Abstract: A document retrieval system for searching a document coinciding with a retrieval request the user inputs and further ranking the document in accordance with the degree of coincidence between the document and the retrieval request. In the document retrieval system, a word frequency calculating section finds out the number of documents where a word appears, a frequency of occurrence of the word in a document and obtains a weighting parameter for the word, and a frequency score calculating section obtains a frequency score on the basis of the output of the word frequency calculating section. In addition, a word cooccurrence relation checking section checks word cooccurrence relations of the retrieval request and the document, and a cooccurrence score calculating section calculates a cooccurrence score from the degree of coincidence therebetween. A document score calculating section calculates a document score on the basis of the frequency score and the cooccurrence score.

Abstract: The present invention provides an agent communication system, which can reduce special environment as far as possible, can interactively communicate with users, can cope with dynamic situations and can operate intelligently. The electronic mail passes through electronic mail delivery means 103 and electronic mail storage means 104. Agent mail storage means 104 recognizes an agent mail, and at its notification, scriptizing means 106 converts the mail to a script, and the script is stored in script storage means 107. Script executing means 108 executes the script and an instruction from user input means 101, and it is outputted to output means 109. Then, at a notification of the script executing means 108, electronic mail preparing means 102 prepares an electronic mail, and it is distributed to the electronic mail delivery means 103.

Abstract: A hypertext document and anchor sentences of parent documents for the hypertext document are registered with an hypertext document identifier as document information for each of hypertext documents having reference relationships with each other. A user can refer to one hypertext document according to an anchor sentence of another hypertext document functioning as a parent document. Also, occurrence positions of one word in hypertext documents and parent documents are registered as word information for each of words.