Abstract: A travel direction determination apparatus is provided, including: a sensor signal acquisition unit that acquires sensor signals from sensors mounted in a mobile device; a first travel direction calculation unit that calculates a travel direction of the user without relying on a walking state of the user; a second travel direction calculation unit that calculates the travel direction of the user based on the sensor signals when the user who holds the mobile device is in a walking state; and a determination unit that determines the travel direction of the user first to the travel direction calculated by the first travel direction calculation unit, and then to the travel direction calculated by the second travel direction calculation unit, responding to changes in the state of the user from non-walking state to walking state.

Abstract: To estimate an accurate travel direction of a user based on sensor signals from a mobile device being held by the user even if the user moves ahead while moving the mobile device right and left, a travel direction information output apparatus, a travel direction information output method, and a computer readable medium are provided, the travel direction information output apparatus including a travel direction estimation unit that calculates a travel direction of the user, a rotation amount calculation unit that calculates rotation amounts about a gravity axis of the mobile device being held by the user, and a selection unit that selects, based on an integrated value of the rotation amounts, from either to output travel direction information according to the travel direction calculated by the travel direction estimation unit or to output travel direction information that keeps previous travel direction information output.

Abstract: In order to accurately identify a hold state of a mobile device held by a user while the user is moving, provided is a hold state change detection apparatus including an acquiring section that acquires an output signal of a sensor mounted in the mobile device held by the user; a change detecting section that detects a change in a hold state of the mobile device based on the output signal of the sensor; and a hold state judging section that judges the hold state based on the output signal of the sensor. During a prescribed time from the time when the change detecting section detects the change in the hold state, information indicating the hold state prior to the detection of the change in the hold state is output. Also provided is a hold state change detection method and program.

Abstract: A travel direction determination apparatus is provided, including: a sensor signal acquisition unit that acquires sensor signals from sensors mounted in a mobile device; a first travel direction calculation unit that calculates a travel direction of the user without relying on a walking state of the user; a second travel direction calculation unit that calculates the travel direction of the user based on the sensor signals when the user who holds the mobile device is in a walking state; and a determination unit that determines the travel direction of the user first to the travel direction calculated by the first travel direction calculation unit, and then to the travel direction calculated by the second travel direction calculation unit, responding to changes in the state of the user from non-walking state to walking state.

Abstract: To estimate an accurate travel direction of a user based on sensor signals from a mobile device being held by the user even if the user moves ahead while moving the mobile device right and left, a travel direction information output apparatus, a travel direction information output method, and a computer readable medium are provided, the travel direction information output apparatus including a travel direction estimation unit that calculates a travel direction of the user, a rotation amount calculation unit that calculates rotation amounts about a gravity axis of the mobile device being held by the user, and a selection unit that selects, based on an integrated value of the rotation amounts, from either to output travel direction information according to the travel direction calculated by the travel direction estimation unit or to output travel direction information that keeps previous travel direction information output.

Abstract: To quickly and accurately measure offset of an angular velocity sensor mounted in a mobile device, provided is an offset estimation apparatus including an acquiring section that acquires an output signal of an angular velocity sensor mounted in a mobile device; an offset estimating section that estimates an offset of the angular velocity sensor based on a first AC component included in the output signal of the angular velocity sensor in a period during which a level of the first AC component cycles; a hold state judging section that judges a hold state of the mobile device; and a control section that controls whether the offset estimating section estimates the offset of the angular velocity sensor, according to a judgment result of the hold state judging section.

Abstract: To accurately measure the offset of an angular velocity sensor mounted in a mobile device in a short time, provided is an offset estimation apparatus including an acquiring section that acquires an output signal from an angular velocity sensor mounted in a mobile device; a hold state judging section that judges a hold state of the mobile device; and an offset estimating section that estimates an offset of the output signal of the angular velocity sensor according to a judgment result of the hold state judging section. Also provided is a method and program. The offset estimation apparatus may include a parameter control section that controls an estimation parameter of the offset estimating section according to the judgment result of the hold state judging section.

Abstract: In order to accurately identify a hold state of a mobile device held by a user while the user is moving, provided is a hold state change detection apparatus including an acquiring section that acquires an output signal of a sensor mounted in the mobile device held by the user; a change detecting section that detects a change in a hold state of the mobile device based on the output signal of the sensor; and a hold state judging section that judges the hold state based on the output signal of the sensor. During a prescribed time from the time when the change detecting section detects the change in the hold state, information indicating the hold state prior to the detection of the change in the hold state is output. Also provided is a hold state change detection method and program.

Abstract: An offset estimation device includes a rotation axis calculation part and an offset estimation part. The rotation axis calculation part is configured to: obtain multiple sets of magnetic data detected by the magnetic sensor and multiple sets of angular velocity data in accordance with the rotation amount of the offset estimation device; and on the basis of an arbitrary magnetic data group of the multiple sets of magnetic data and respective magnetic data corresponding to the magnetic data group, determine multiple rotation axes that pass through the center of a plane passing through the magnetic data group and indicate straight lines perpendicular to the plane. The offset estimation part is configured to estimate the offset of the magnetic data to be outputted from the magnetic sensor on the basis of the multiple rotation axes.

Abstract: Input image data inputted in an image block of m pixels×n pixels is changed in the size of the image block; image data of the image block changed in size is subjected to compression processing; compressed image data obtained by the compression processing is subjected to expansion processing to generate restored image data in the m-pixel×n-pixel image block; and whether or not the size of the image block is further changed is judged based on the strength of the correlation between the restored image data and the input image data. The compression processing is performed on the image data while change in size of the image block is repeated until the correlation between the restored image data and the input image data is strong, thereby making it possible to perform compression processing on the image data of the input image at a high compression ratio while maintaining the image quality of the restored image.

Abstract: The present invention is a bevel gear having a plurality of teeth (12) on an outside periphery thereof, each of both tooth flanks (13, 13) of each of the plurality of teeth (12) forming a crowning way with a bulge in a tooth trace direction, a generating line (P) of a standard pitch cone of each of the plurality of teeth (12) inclining with respect to an axial center (X, Y), wherein each of the tooth flanks (13) of the plurality of teeth (12) is formed into an arch shape, at least at a central portion thereof in the tooth trace direction.

Abstract: A computing circuit capable of computing an absolute difference with high-speed analog computation, a computing apparatus capable of computing the sum of absolute differences and a semiconductor computing circuit achievable with simple circuitry and suitable for use in such a computing circuit or apparatus. The computing circuit capable of computing the absolute difference includes a large input selection circuit 1 which outputs either a first signal or a second signal whichever is larger, a small input selection circuit 2 which outputs either the first and second signals whichever signal is smaller, and a subtraction circuit 3 which subtracts the output of the small input selection circuit 2 from the output of the large input selection circuit 1.

Abstract: Disclosed is a semiconductor computing circuit achievable with simple circuitry and capable of performing analog computations at high speed to compute an absolute-value voltage representing the difference between a first signal voltage and a second signal voltage.

Abstract: The real time compression of moving images employing vector quantization is realized using simple hardware and with an optimal compression ratio with respect to the communication line capacity employed.

Abstract: A semiconductor arithemetic circuit which performs calculation of an analog vector with a high accuracy at a high speed.