Abstract: An operating method of a disc pick-and-place device is provided. Discs can be picked up when each flexible rod is driven to rotate and make the disc pick-and-place device enter a first operating state and then a second operating state in which the first carrying portion is located at the disc releasing position and then at the disc holding position, and the second carrying portion is located at the disc releasing position in the first and second operating states. Discs can be unloaded when each flexible rod is driven to rotate and make the disc pick-and-place device enter a third operating state and then a fourth operating state in which the first carrying portion is located at the disc holding position and then at the disc releasing position, and the second carrying portion is located at the disc holding position in the third and fourth operating states.

Abstract: A xylosidase having improved enzymatic activity is disclosed. The amino acid sequence of the xylosidase is a modified amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein the modification is a substitution of phenylalanine at position 35 with glutamate, and/or a substitution of glutamine at position 41 with histidine.

Abstract: Users can share a content stream and can create and/or edit playlists that include content items of the content stream. Each user device, or a subset of the user devices, can edit the playback commands of the content stream once it is being shared. Playback of the content items is synchronized between the sharing devices. If one device is associated with a content restriction, an alternate version may be provided to that device. The two versions can still be played synchronously with one another.

Abstract: A disc pick-and-place device including a disc pick-and-place body and a quantity sensing unit is provided. The disc pick-and-place body is for clamping and unloading at least one disc. The quantity sensing unit is disposed on the disc pick-and-place body for sensing the quantity of the at least one disc clamped on the disc pick-and-place body. The quantity sensing unit includes a movable piece and an optical distance measuring device. The movable piece leans on at least one disc and moves as the quantity of the at least one disc changes. The optical distance measuring device is for emitting a beam and receiving the beam reflected from the movable piece to detect the quantity of the at least one disc.

Abstract: Methods of palette coding to reduce the required coding process are disclosed. According to one method, smaller blocks are derived from a large block. The histogram of the large block is derived based on the histograms of smaller blocks in the large block. According to another method, one or more palette tables are derived based on multiple blocks. One palette table is used for each of the multiple blocks. According to yet another method, index map transpose is performed in the parsing stage according to the transpose flag of the index map. Accordingly, a buffer to store the transpose flags can be saved. According to still yet another method, the palette predictor update is performed using an index mapping table to avoid the need for shuffling the contents of the palette predictor stored in a palette buffer.

Abstract: A biocompatible magnetic material containing an iron oxide nanoparticle and one or more biocompatible polymers, each having formula (I) below, covalently bonded to the iron oxide nanoparticle: in which each of variables R, L, x, and y is defined herein, the biocompatible magnetic material contains 4-15% Fe(II) ions relative to the total iron ions. Also disclosed in a method of preparing the biocompatible magnetic material.

Abstract: A method includes etching a semiconductor substrate to form trenches, with a portion of the semiconductor substrate between the trenches being a semiconductor strip, and depositing a dielectric dose film on sidewalls of the semiconductor strip. The dielectric dose film is doped with a dopant of n-type or p-type. The remaining portions of the trenches are filled with a dielectric material. A planarization is performed on the dielectric material. Remaining portions of the dielectric dose film and the dielectric material form Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) regions. A thermal treatment is performed to diffuse the dopant in the dielectric dose film into the semiconductor strip.

Abstract: A method and apparatus provide adaptive interpolation filter for motion compensation with fractional-pixel accuracy. Embodiments of the present invention generate interpolated reference samples at non-integer locations based on existing reference samples in a reference block by using an interpolation filter set adaptively according to pixel location and/or pixel characteristics. A current block is then encoded or decoded using a temporal predictor including the interpolated reference samples. The adaptive interpolation filter can be applied to the prediction unit (PU). In one embodiment, the interpolation filter set consists of interpolation filters having different filter lengths. An interpolation filter with a longer tap length is applied to generate interpolated reference samples farther from the block boundary and an interpolation filter with a shorter tap length is applied to generate interpolated reference samples closer to the block boundary.

Abstract: A computing device obtains a media stream from a server, where the media stream obtained from the server corresponds to live streaming of an event for promoting a product. The computing device receives product information from the server and displays the media stream in a first viewing window. The media stream is monitored for at least one trigger condition, and based on monitoring of the media stream, the computing device determines at least a portion of the product information to be displayed in a second viewing window.

Abstract: A composite staple magazine for tackers includes a guide member, a receiving body, a support member, a push member, a resilient member and an end member. The receiving body is fixed to the guide member. The support member is made of plastic material and snapped to the receiving body. The support member includes two respective positioning portions which are engaged with the engaging portion of the receiving body. The resilient member is wrapped to the roller of the support member and connected to the push member which is slidably mounted to the receiving body. The resilient member pushes the staples forward. The end member is fixed by a bolt. The composite staple magazine is simple, easily assembled and saves cost.

Abstract: A transition structure disposed in a package is disclosed. The transition structure comprises a first ground lead and a second ground lead; and a signal lead, disposed between the first ground lead and the second ground lead, wherein the first ground lead and the second ground lead have an exterior edge and an interior edge, the signal lead is coupled to a metal line formed on a printed circuit board (PCB) and a signal terminal of the die within the package; wherein an exterior gap formed between the first ground lead and the second ground lead at the exterior edge is wider than an interior gap formed between the first ground lead and the second ground lead at the interior edge.

Abstract: In a computing device for recommending products based on facial analysis, use of a front-facing camera of the computing device is monitored. In response to detecting use of the front-facing camera to capture a self-portrait image, the computing device analyzes facial features of a facial region of an individual depicted in the image captured by the front-facing camera. The computing device further accesses corresponding measurement templates for the facial features and apples at least one of the measurement templates to corresponding facial features. The computing device retrieves product identifiers for the facial features corresponding to the at least one applied measurement template. The computing device generates at least one product recommendation based on the retrieved product identifiers and displays the at least one product recommendation on a user interface.

Abstract: A method and apparatus perform palette coding of a block of video data by initializing the palette or triplet palette or using a selected palette or triplet palette from a preceding image area for the beginning block of the current image area. The method receives input data associated with a current image area consisting of multiple blocks. For the beginning block, coding palette predictor is determined based on an initial palette or triplet palette or based on a selected palette or triplet palette associated with a selected block located at a location before the end of a preceding image area. For blocks of the current image area, palette coding is applied to the blocks, where at least one block uses the palette predictor for the beginning block as the palette predictor.

Abstract: Issuance of ultrasound pulses to a volume and receiving echo data is followed by estimating, based on the received data, center frequency subvolume-by-subvolume. Distinguishing between heart and lung tissue occurs based on a result of the estimating, and may include automatically identifying a spatial boundary (332) between the heart and lung tissue (324, 328), or a user display of center frequencies that allows for visual distinguishing. The issuance can include issuing, ray line by ray line, pair-wise identical, and/or pair-wise mutually inverted, ultrasound pulses. Center frequency calculations may be made for incremental sampling locations of respective imaging depth along each of the A-lines generated from echo data of the rays. The distinguishing might entail averaging center frequencies for locations along an A-line, and applying a central frequency threshold to the average. The leftmost of the qualifying A-lines, i.e.

Abstract: A deblocking filtering method includes receiving reconstructed video data associated with a block boundary in a video coding system. The block boundary has N lines of samples crossing the block boundary from a P side to a Q side of the boundary. The method further includes determining whether to apply a first filter set to reduce block artifacts at the block boundary based on whether a first inter-side difference of a first line of the N lines of samples is greater than an inter-side difference threshold, determining a filter length of a filter in the first filter set based on a first side length of the P side, and a second side length of the Q side when it is determined to apply the first filter set, and applying at least one filter in the first filter set with the determined filter length on the block boundary.

Abstract: A medical ultrasound acquisition-data analysis device acquires channel data (144) via ultrasound received on the channels, uses the acquired channel data to estimate data coherence and derive dominance of an eigen-value of a channel covariance matrix and, based on the estimate and dominance, distinguishes microcalcifications (142) from background. Microcalcifications may then be made distinguishable visually on screen via highlighting, coloring, annotation, etc. The channel data operable upon by the estimating may have been subject to beamforming delays and may be summed in a beamforming procedure executed in the estimating. In the estimating and deriving, both field point-by-field point, multiple serial transmits (116, 118) may be used for each field point. In one embodiment results of the estimating and deriving are multiplied point-by-point and submitted to thresholding.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure include a method for video coding. The method includes receiving input data associated with a current block in a current image frame of video data, where the current block is coded by intra-prediction or to be coded by intra-prediction. The method also includes determining an intra-prediction mode of the current block, selecting one of a plurality of filters including at least a default filter and an N-tap filter, and generating filtered neighboring samples by filtering neighboring samples adjacent to the current block using the selected filter, where N is a positive integer different from 3. Moreover, the method includes encoding or decoding the current block by predicting the current block based on the filtered neighboring samples and the intra-prediction mode.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for a video coding system with the current picture referencing (CPR) mode enabled are disclosed. According to one method, the luma and chroma blocks of the current image are jointly coded using a same coding unit (CU) structure if the CPR mode is selected for the luma and the chroma blocks. Alternatively, if the luma and chroma components are partitioned into the luma and the chroma blocks separately using separate CU structures, the luma and chroma blocks are encoded or decoded using a coding mode selected from a coding mode group excluding the CPR mode. According to another method, the luma and chroma blocks of the current image are coded separately using a different CU structure if the CPR mode is selected for the luma and chroma blocks. In yet another method, reconstructed reference data is disclosed for the CPR mode with CU equal to PU.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for video coding using coding modes including a palette mode are disclosed. In one embodiment, the total number of palette indices in the current block is coded into a binary string using a TR (Truncated Rice) binarization process with the Rice parameter to generate a prefix part and using an EGk (k-th order Exp-Golomb) binary process to generate a suffix part for the binary string, or using the EGk binarization process with the Rice parameter (k). The suffix part is allowed to be empty. In another embodiment, a Rice parameter is determined. If the Rice parameter is equal to or greater than log-base-2 of current block size, the variable related to a total number of palette indices in the current block of video data is binarized into a binary string using a fixed-length code with bit length equal to log-base-2 of current block size.

Abstract: In order to overcome the issue caused by a decoded block vector (BV) pointing to a reference block overlapping with an unavailable area, various methods are disclosed. According to one method, if the reference block overlaps with an unavailable area, the reference pixels in the unavailable area are generated for IntraBC prediction of the current block by padding from neighboring available pixels. The padding can be done in the horizontal direction and then the vertical direction. The padding may also done in the vertical direction first and then horizontal direction. In another method, if the reference block overlaps with an unavailable area, the reference pixels in the unavailable area are generated for IntraBC prediction of the current block by using previous decoded pixels in the unavailable area. A pre-defined value may also be used for the unavailable area.