Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a corrector for correcting a pixel value of each of a plurality of pixels forming each access unit to be processed, based on at least one of the parameter values corresponding to the access unit to be processed. The corrector includes an acquisition unit for acquiring input pixel values, a first mean value calculating unit for calculating a first mean pixel value, a second mean value calculating unit for calculating a second mean pixel value, a correction value determination unit for determining a correction value, and an adding unit for adding the correction value to the input pixel value of a target pixel.

Abstract: A composite capacitor includes a laminated substrate in which a plurality of dielectric layers and a plurality of conductive layers are laminated alternately. The laminated substrate includes a first common electrode that is composed of the corresponding conductive layer and is provided in laminated layers of the laminated substrate, a first electrode that is composed of the corresponding conductive layer and is disposed above the first common electrode with one of the dielectric layers between the first electrode and the first common electrode, and a second electrode that is composed of the corresponding conductive layer and is disposed below the first common electrode with one of the dielectric layers between the second electrode and the first common electrode. Each of the first and second electrodes, which oppose the first common electrode, is disposed within an area of the first common electrode.

Abstract: A conductive material such as silver is charged in a via hole of an insulative substrate made of low-temperature-sintered ceramic. A lower electrode, a dielectric layer, and an upper electrode are formed in a thin film on the insulative substrate. Thus a thin-film capacitor element is formed in which the capacitance value of the capacitor is specified by the overlapping part of the lower electrode and the upper electrode opposed through the dielectric layer. The dielectric layer is shaped like a ring with the via hole (conductive material) as the center and the part exposed inward from the inner periphery of the dielectric layer is served as a lead section of the lower electrode. The lead section is connected to a ground electrode on the back of the insulative substrate through the conductive material.

Abstract: Each of a plurality of input images is smoothed. A plurality of smoothed images different from each other in the degree of smoothing thus results. Each of first and second synthesizers calculate an edge intensity based on an intermediate synthesized image generated from at least one smoothed image and having a relatively large degree of smoothing and another smoothed image having a relatively small degree of smoothing, and synthesizes the intermediate synthesized image and the smoothed image based on the edge intensity, thereby generating a synthesized smoothed image. A second synthesized smoothed image generated by the second synthesizer is output as a final synthesized smoothed image representing an illumination component, and is then used as a coefficient for converting a pixel value.

Abstract: In a picture enlarging processing employing a MAP method, the processing volume is to be decreased to obtain a clear picture without producing blocked distortion without deteriorating the picture quality from that in the conventional practice. An energy function of a picture varied in dependence upon the input picture is defined in advance and stored. An input picture is enlarged, that is the number of pixels is increased, and a value which decreases the energy in a pixel of the enlarged picture is calculated. This energy decreasing value is added to the pixel and the pixel value is updated to adjust the picture quality to raise the resolution. The pixel value is updated a number of times to adjust the picture quality to raise the resolution.

Abstract: A linear actuator has inner yokes, outer yokes forming gaps between themselves and the inner yokes, and a movable body provided with planar magnets in the gaps. Eight pieces each of the inner yokes and the outer yokes are arranged at equal angular intervals in a circumferential direction with planar faces of each of the inner yokes and the of the outer yokes being opposed to each other. The movable body has magnet retaining portions having a substantially triangular shape and placed between adjacent inner yokes and between adjacent outer yokes. A linear actuator having high magnetism usability can be structured using magnetic parts suitable for mass production.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an image processor and an image processing method for compensating gradation by effectively avoiding drop of partial contrast through application to an image processor such as television receiver, video tape recorder, television camera and printer or the like. A domain to which an input image data belongs is judged, for example, with reference to the low frequency element r (i, j) of the pixel value x (i, j) and the signal level x (i, j) of the image data forming an input image VT is compensated on the basis of the result of judgment r(i, j).

Abstract: The present invention relates to an image processing circuit and an image processing method, and is applied to, for example, a video camera, an electronic still camera and the like, for compressing the dynamic range at a high compression rate with evading the lowering of an impression concerning the contrast and the unnatural edge emphasis. The present invention smoothes an input image X while preserving the edge to obtain a gain correction coefficient, and corrects the pixel value x(i, j) of the input image X with the gain correction coefficient.

Abstract: An image-processing apparatus includes an average-luminance calculating unit that calculates the average luminance of pixels in an image, a correction-factor calculating unit that calculates a correction factor corresponding to the luminance of each pixel, a correction-value calculating unit that calculates a correction value corresponding to each pixel based on the average luminance and the correction factor, and an adding unit that adds the correction value to the luminance. The correction-value calculating unit sets the correction value to a maximum value of zero when the luminance has a maximum value.

Abstract: A histogram section determines as a motion vector at a pixel of interest the candidate motion vector with highest frequency from among a candidate motion vector at the pixel of interest and candidate motion vectors at pixels neighboring the pixel of interest supplied by a template matching section, and supplies it to a motion-vector correcting section. The motion-vector correction section evaluates the confidence level of the motion vector supplied by the histogram section based on the luminance gradient around the pixel of interest detected by a luminance-gradient detecting section and a control signal indicating whether correction should be carried out supplied by the template matching section. If it is determined that the confidence level of the motion vector is low, the motion vector is corrected.

Abstract: A linear actuator has inner yokes, outer yokes forming gaps between themselves and the inner yokes, and a movable body provided with planar magnets in the gaps. Eight pieces each of the inner yokes and the outer yokes are arranged at equal angular intervals in a circumferential direction with planar faces of each of the inner yokes and the of the outer yokes being opposed to each other. The movable body has magnet retaining portions having a substantially triangular shape and placed between adjacent inner yokes and between adjacent outer yokes. A linear actuator having high magnetism usability can be structured using magnetic parts suitable for mass production.

Abstract: A Stirling engine comprises a first porous body having a large hole diameter, a second porous body having a small hole diameter and a ring for fixing the first porous body and the second porous body in a pressurization chamber inside a gas outlet closer to the pressurization chamber.

Abstract: The invention provides a surface mounting type electronic circuit unit that is suitable for miniaturization. Thin film circuit elements including capacitors, resistors, and inductance elements are formed on an alumina substrate, a semiconductor bare chip of a diode and a transistor is fixed by means of wire bonding, and part of the capacitors is formed non-rectangular having rectangles projected from one side of another rectangle.

Abstract: Thin film circuit elements including capacitors, resistors, and inductance elements are formed on a large substrate, and semiconductor chips are wire bonded to the substrate. The elements and chips are sealed by potting a sealing resin. The large substrate is divided into multiple stripe substrates by dicing and a thin-film conductive layer is sputtered on cut surfaces of the stripe substrates, thereby electrically connecting edges of lower conductive patterns to edges of upper conductive patterns exposed from side surfaces of the sealing resin through the thin-film conductive layer. A Ni foundation layer and Au layer are successively plated on a surface of the thin-film conductive layer to form edge electrodes on side surfaces of the stripe substrates and the stripe substrates are divided finely into individual alumina substrates.

Abstract: An n-filter according to the present invention includes a nonlinear filter, a pattern detector, and a switch. The nonlinear filter maintains a steep edge whose size is larger than a predetermined threshold in fluctuations of pixels constituting an input image signal and, at the same time, smoothes a non-edge portion that does not include the edge. The pattern detector detects a fine edge in the fluctuations of the pixels constituting the input image signal and notifies the switch that the fine edge exists. The switch outputs the input image signal or an image signal output from the nonlinear filter to the subsequent stage in accordance with the notification from the pattern detector.

Abstract: A holding type display such as a liquid-crystal display for controlling motion blur is disclosed. A step edge detector detects an edge portion of a moving step edge in video data in an input frame or an input field. A corrector corrects a pixel value of a pixel at the edge portion of the step edge detected by the step edge detector, based on a spatial amount of motion of the corresponding pixel supplied by a motion detector.

Abstract: The present invention provides a composition, which is easy to produce because of high ease of handling the starting materials. The composition exhibits excellent transparency, and a product prepared using the composition exhibits excellent mechanical properties and adhesive properties. The curable resin composition contains (A) an oxyalkylene polymer having silicon-containing functional groups crosslinkable through formation of siloxane bonds; (B) a copolymer having silicon-containing functional groups crosslinkable through formation of siloxane bonds, the molecular chain of the copolymer consisting substantially of (b-1) an alkyl (meth)acrylate monomeric unit having C1-C2 alkyl and (b-2) an alkyl (meth)acrylate monomeric unit having C7-C9 alkyl; and (C) a curing agent.

Abstract: At least a solid-state imaging device and one or a plurality of bare ICs that are disposed on the back face or on the back face side of the solid-state imaging apparatus and serve as peripheral circuits are provided. The bare ICs are sealed by a resin. A circuit board may be interposed between the solid-state imaging device and the bare ICs, or the solid-state imaging device and the ICs are directly bonded together. According to another aspect, IC chips and other parts as peripheral circuits of a solid-state imaging device are disposed on the inner surface, mainly the ceiling surface, of a light-shielding case.

Abstract: In each of stages of a nonlinear filter, a successively determined target signal and plural adjacent signals are weighted-averaged with plural sets of different coefficients to calculate plural smoothed signals. Differences in level between the target signal and each of adjacent signals and signals arranged within the predetermined interval from the each of the adjacent signals are compared with a threshold value. According to the comparison, flags are set to the adjacent signal, to an adjacent signal arranged at a symmetrical position, and to adjacent signals arranged beyond the adjacent signals. The intervals of adjacent signals are different among stages. The target signal in level is used instead of the adjacent signals with smoothed signals, which are selected according to the flags. Weighting coefficients may be calculated on the basis of the comparison result, and smoothed signals may be synthesized according to the weighting coefficients.

Abstract: Image quality degrading components can be eliminated from a contour correction signal of high frequency region that is used for contour correction. A filtering section extracts a high frequency region signal from a signal inputted from a VLPF. A mask generating section generates a mask by masking image quality degrading components (e.g., ringing components) contained in the extracted signal. A gain factor generating section generates a gain factor that eliminates image quality degrading components on the basis of the mask. A multiplier multiplies the extracted signal by the gain factor, and outputs an adder a resultant signal (horizontal contour correction signal free from the image quality degrading components). Since the horizontal contour correction signal is generated by eliminating the image quality degrading components from the high frequency region signal, the occurrence of ringing and the like can be suppressed to ensure excellent image quality.