Abstract: A divider circuit including a plurality of latch circuits which are connected in series such that each of the latch circuits is responsive to a control signal to latch data which is output from a preceding latch circuit in the series and a logic circuit which receives the data output from plurality of latch circuits and which outputs a logic operation result to a first latch circuit in the series of the plurality of latch circuits.

Abstract: A common rail injector for injecting fuel through a high-pressure channel includes a control chamber, a control valve, and a drive unit. The control chamber applies pressure to a nozzle needle. The control valve switches communication of the control chamber between the high-pressure channel and a low-pressure channel. The drive unit selectively sets a valve element of the control valve on a low-pressure side seat or a high-pressure side seat. The drive unit has an actuator and a slide pin member. The slide pin member slides inside a slide hole to transmit a force to the valve element. A diameter of the low-pressure side seat is less than or equal to a diameter of the high-pressure side seat. The pressure in the control chamber is exerted as an assistance force, so that a high-pressure side seat closing load becomes less than or equal to a low-pressure side seat opening load.

Abstract: Road area blocks of monitoring camera video data are extracted by a road area block extractor, and motion vectors are calculated by a motion vector calculator. A motion vector direction detector detects the directions of the motion vectors. In a normal state, the mean value ? and the variance ?e2 of the directions ? of the motion vectors are calculated and accumulated in a statistics memory. In detection of road obstructions, the directions of the motion vectors detected by the motion vector direction detector are transmitted to an abnormal motion vector degree Q calculator. An abnormal motion vector degree Q is calculated on the basis of the statistics accumulated in the statistics accumulated in the statistics memory. A comparator compares the abnormal motion vector degree Q with a threshold. When the abnormal motion vector degree Q is equal to or larger than the threshold, road obstructions are decided.

Abstract: A voltage/current converting circuit has a differential circuit. The differential circuit has a first input terminal coupled to receive an input voltage signal, a second input terminal coupled to receive a reference voltage signal and an output terminal for outputting an electrical current in response to a comparison of the input voltage signal and the reference voltage signal. The differential circuit includes first and second transistors. The first transistor has a control terminal connected to the first input terminal and has a first dimension. The second transistor has a control terminal connected to the second input terminal and has a second dimension that is different from the first dimension.

Abstract: A first characteristic value extracting unit extracts a characteristic value from a picture transmitted from a transmission side, and a second characteristic value extracting unit extracts a characteristic value from a picture received on a reception side. These extracted characteristic values are supplied to a central monitoring unit through low speed lines, respectively. In the central monitoring unit, an MSE (mean square error) is assessed from the data by an MSE assessing unit. The first and second characteristic value extracting units divide an input picture into blocks, subject the blocks to an orthogonal transformation, or subject the blocks to PN sequence multiplication before the orthogonal transformation, and extract and output orthogonal transformation coefficients.

Abstract: A comparator is constructed to exclude an adverse effect of variation of a power source potential VDD or the like on a current output Iout. The comparator comprises a first voltage follower portion which receives an input potential Vin and outputs a potential (=Vin) following the input potential, a second voltage follower portion which receives a reference voltage Vref and outputs a potential (=Vref) following the input potential, and a current subtracting portion which outputs as a comparison result (Iout) a value achieved by subtracting the amount of current flowing due to the potential difference between the power source potential VDD of the comparator and the output potential (=Vref) of the second voltage follower portion from the amount of current flowing due to the potential difference between the power source potential VDD of the comparator and the output potential (=Vin) of the first voltage follower portion.

Abstract: Characteristic amounts in each small region of audio signals transmitted in the working system and the standby system are extracted by characteristic amount calculators 6-1, 6-2. A characteristic amount comparator 7 compares the characteristic amounts and judges occurrence of a fault. Characteristic amount difference calculators 9-1, 9-2, ?D? comparator 10, and faulty system judging unit 11 judges the system having a fault. Majority decision processor 12 and significance judging unit 13 enhance the reliability of the judgment. Delay difference of audio signals between systems is roughly detected by sub-sampling audio signals of two systems and comparing them, and then accurately detected without sub-sampling. Delay difference between audio signals is adjusted by the detected delay difference.

Abstract: Received videos through A and B routes are inputted in first and second variable devices and then delayed by a first and a second frame memory by one frame to be inputted in a comparator. Alternatively, these signals A and B are further delayed by one frame by third and forth frame memories and also inputted in the comparator. The comparator compares the signals obtained by delaying the signals A, B, AF and BF by one line and one pixel, respectively, between the A and B routes with respect to all combinations so as to detect the difference between them. Then, a signal having the minimum difference is detected and a first and a second memory control signal to make the difference smaller are outputted to the first and second variable delay devices. By repeating the processing, a horizontal difference, a vertical difference and a time axial difference are gradually, and then completely, corrected including when the original amount of the difference is larger than a frame delay.

Abstract: A sender produces a background video image 4 from a reference video image 1 and a depth map 3 and synthesizes the background video image 4 in a background buffer 5. A projection converting matrix 6 for synthesizing is calculated. A receiver receives the reference video image 1, the depth map 3 and the projection converting matrix 6. The receiver produces a free viewpoint video image 11 and a background video image 12. The background buffer 13 is dynamically renewed. The free viewpoint video image 11 and the image in the background buffer 13 are synthesized with each other, and the background video image in the concealed regions in the free viewpoint video image are complemented to obtain the complemented image 14.

Abstract: When a vehicle is traveling along a route toward a parking lot located near a destination facility, if traffic congestion along the route is detected, the navigation apparatus searches for an alternative parking lot that allows a user to reach the destination facility earlier than can by using the original parking lot. If such an alternative parking lot is detected, the predicted driving time and the predicted walking time are displayed together with a route to the parking lot. When traffic congestion is encountered when transporting a passenger by vehicle, the navigation apparatus determines a quicker way for the passenger to reach the destination facility. If the navigation apparatus detects that the passenger can reach the destination facility earlier if the passenger disembarks the vehicle and walks to the destination facility, the navigation apparatus presents information indicating a best point at which the passenger should disembark the vehicle.

Abstract: A voice recognition system includes an adaptive filter and a subtractor. The adaptive filter generates a simulated talk-back voice y(n) by setting a filter coefficient simulating a transfer system in which an input voice corresponding to a voice command and a talk-back voice output from a speaker are input into a microphone and by filtering a talk-back voice x(n). The subtractor extracts the input voice by subtracting the simulated talk-back voice y(n) from mixed sound input into the microphone. With this configuration, the talk-back voice is attenuated from the mixed sound including the input voice and the talk-back voice input tedinto the microphone, and then, the mixed sound is supplied to a voice recognition engine. Accordingly, the user can input his/her voice during a talk-back operation without the need to interrupt it by pressing a speech button every time the user wishes to input the voice. The voice recognition operation time can be thus reduced.

Abstract: A differential amplifier includes a first diode having a first terminal and a second terminal wherein the first terminal is coupled to a voltage node and the second terminal is coupled to a first node, a second diode having a first terminal and a second terminal wherein the first terminal of the second diode is coupled to the voltage node and the second terminal of the second diode is coupled to a second node, a first transistor coupled to the first node in series with the first diode and having a control terminal coupled to a first input terminal, a second transistor coupled to the second node in series with the second diode and having a control terminal coupled to a second input terminal, and a bias current supply coupled to the first and second nodes to bias the first and second diodes.

Abstract: A shape entropy, a motion vector entropy, and a texture entropy of a certain area i of an input image are derived by a shape entropy calculation section, a motion vector entropy calculation section, and a texture entropy calculation section, respectively. Among them, the texture entropy is derived by taking an allowed value n of encoding degradation given according to a limit (encoding rate) of an entropy which can transmitted into consideration. Therefore, a generated entropy obtained by adding up the shape entropy, the motion vector entropy, and the texture entropy becomes a value according to the encoding rate. In such optimizing segmentation encoding as to minimize the generated entropy, therefore, it becomes possible to conduct segmentation according to the encoding rate.

Abstract: A nozzle needle of a fuel injector is driven in a controlled manner by changing back pressure applied thereto. The back pressure is controlled by a pressure control valve driven by stacked piezoelectric elements. A valve body of the pressure control valve is disposed in a valve chamber having a drain port and a high pressure port which are selectively closed. A diameter D1 of a drain seat, a diameter D2 of a high pressure seat, and a diameter D3 of a piston portion connected to the valve body are set to satisfy a relation: D1≧D2≧D3. In this manner, operation of the pressure control valve is stabilized, and thereby the fuel injector is smoothly and stably operated.

Abstract: In a transmission chain having series-connected a TSC unit, an encoder, a transmission path, a decoder, and an up-converter, characteristic value extracting units are connected to input/output points A, B, C, and D of these transmission processing units respectively. Each characteristic value extracting unit extracts characteristics like an average value m and a variance &sgr;2 of luminance of a picture, for example. These characteristic values are transmitted to a central monitoring unit via a low-speed line. A characteristic value comparator compares the characteristic values. When a difference equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold value has occurred in the characteristic values, the characteristic value comparator decides that an abnormality has occurred in the image in transmission.

Abstract: There is provided an image failure detection unit in redundant duplex transmission in which a failure occurring on a regular link is detected at in real time, and the link is instantaneously switched to a normal backup link, thereby preventing any failure from occurring on an output image or reducing the failure. Units for calculation of the image features calculate image features of links A and B, respectively. A comparison unit compares the image features, and then, it is judged that both of the links are normal if there is not difference between the image features. To the contrary, if there is a difference, it is judged that there is a probability of occurrence of a failure on one of the links. Thereafter, a normal/corrupted information memory stores a small region relating to the image features. Units for detection of image feature differences determine image feature differences for the links, respectively.

Abstract: In a sliding structure in which a shaft member is retained slidably in a guide hole, the lack of an oil film caused by the edge contact of the shaft member to which a pressing load in the axial direction is applied is prevented. With the fact being taken into account that end portions 25c1 and 25c2, which are always in slidable contact with a side surface 1232a of a guide hole 1232, of a side surface 25c of a shaft member 251 are the partial edge portion, a plurality of labyrinth grooves 2501 and 2502 are formed in the end portions 25c1 and 25c2, respectively, thereby it is possible for an oil film to cover the entire contact portion without increasing the groove width extremely. Because the groove width is not increased extremely, the length of the sliding portions can be ensured.

Abstract: A nozzle needle of a fuel injector is driven in a controlled manner by changing back pressure applied thereto. The back pressure is controlled by a pressure control valve driven by stacked piezoelectric elements. A valve body of the pressure control valve is disposed in a valve chamber having a drain port and a high pressure port which are selectively closed. A diameter D1 of a drain seat, a diameter D2 of a high pressure seat, and a diameter D3 of a piston portion connected to the valve body are set to satisfy a relation: D1≧D2≧D3. In this manner, operation of the pressure control valve is stabilized, and thereby the fuel injector is smoothly and stably operated.

Abstract: Musical score of a music piece is divided into a plurality of displaying portions, and display progression information is supplied which defines a shift or jump, in the displaying portions, of a performed measure based on a repeat sign. Next displaying portion to be displayed following a current displaying portion is determined, and display switching timing at which the current performance progression of the music piece shifts from the current displaying portion to the next displaying portion is detected on the basis of the display progression information and performance progression information. By switching between the displaying portions in response to detection of the display switching timing, sequential switching from the current displaying portion to the next displaying portion can take place appropriately in accordance with progression of the performance.

Abstract: Musical score displaying data include note or musical score information indicative of a note or musical score symbol to be displayed, position information indicative of a display position on a musical score where the note or musical score symbol is to be placed, and attribute information designating any one of a plurality of musical stave rows where the note or musical score symbol is to be displayed. Note or musical score marks of a same performance part can be displayed across two musical staves, by determining any one of the plurality of musical stave rows where the note or musical score symbol is to be displayed in accordance with the attribute information. In another aspect, the musical score displaying data include at least one of first attribute information for variably controlling the display position of the note or musical score symbol in a horizontal direction and second attribute information for variably controlling the display position of the note or musical score symbol in a vertical direction.