Abstract: A guiding system and a guiding method for ultrasound scanning operation are provided. The guiding system includes a handheld guiding device, a display device, an ultrasound scanning device, a prompting device, and a control host. When the handheld guiding device generates a first physical motion, the control host detects the first physical motion and generates navigation prompting information accordingly. The prompting device is suitable for presenting the navigation prompting information to guide the ultrasound scanning device to move to generate a second physical motion. The control host captures an ultrasound image via the ultrasound scanning device and sends the ultrasound image to the display device at a guiding end for display.

Abstract: A guiding system and a guiding method for ultrasound scanning operation are provided. The guiding system includes a handheld guiding device, a display device, an ultrasound scanning device, a prompting device, and a control host. When the handheld guiding device generates a first physical motion, the control host detects the first physical motion and generates navigation prompting information accordingly. The prompting device is suitable for presenting the navigation prompting information to guide the ultrasound scanning device to move to generate a second physical motion. The control host captures an ultrasound image via the ultrasound scanning device and sends the ultrasound image to the display device at a guiding end for display.

Abstract: An ultrasound imaging system includes a beam receiving circuit and a back-end circuit. The beam receiving circuit receives a plurality of digitized echo signals. The back-end circuit is coupled to the beam receiving circuit for outputting a plurality of compressed delay timing parameters corresponding to a plurality of channels to the beam receiving circuit. The beam receiving circuit decompresses the compressed delay timing parameters into a plurality of delay timing parameters, and processes the digitized echo signals into an ultrasound beamforming value according to the delay timing parameters corresponding to the channels. The back-end circuit synthesizes an ultrasound image according to the ultrasound beamforming value outputted from the beam receiving circuit.

Abstract: An ultrasound imaging system includes a beam receiving circuit and a back-end circuit. The beam receiving circuit receives a plurality of digitized echo signals. The back-end circuit is coupled to the beam receiving circuit for outputting a plurality of compressed delay timing parameters corresponding to a plurality of channels to the beam receiving circuit. The beam receiving circuit decompresses the compressed delay timing parameters into a plurality of delay timing parameters, and processes the digitized echo signals into an ultrasound beamforming value according to the delay timing parameters corresponding to the channels. The back-end circuit synthesizes an ultrasound image according to the ultrasound beamforming value outputted from the beam receiving circuit.

Abstract: Systems and methods for measuring flow velocities, including ultrasound systems, are provided. A Doppler angle between a direction of ultrasound signals and an axis of a flow may be estimated to improve the accuracy of the flow velocity estimation that is based on Doppler effects. A sensor may be mounted on or in an ultrasound probe to obtain a reference orientation of the ultrasound probe and an orientation of the ultrasound probe relative to the reference orientation when the ultrasound probe is moved to other positions. The Doppler angle may be estimated based on the orientation of the ultrasound probe.

Abstract: A coding mode selection method for selecting a coding mode for motion vector estimation is disclosed. The method includes the following steps. First, a first coding mode is selected to perform motion vector estimation for a macroblock having M sub-blocks. M motion vectors corresponding to the M sub-blocks are separately calculated. It is determined whether correlations for the M motion vectors match to a predetermined condition. If not, the first coding mode is selected and the M motion vectors are utilized to perform a motion vector estimation; and if so, a second coding mode is selected and the N motion vectors corresponding to the second coding mode are utilized to perform the motion vector estimation, wherein the N motion vectors are generated by using the M motion vectors and 1?N<M.

Abstract: An integrated transformation apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a first multiplexer, a second multiplexer, and a transformation unit. The first multiplexer retrieves point data from columns or rows of a multi-dimensional matrix and input data. The second multiplexer retrieves transformation coefficients corresponding to the point data. The transformation unit transforms data blocks of the multi-dimensional matrix to a plurality of sub data blocks according to the input data, the point data, and the transformation coefficients.

Abstract: An apparatus for analyzing a physical signal representing a physical phenomenon is provided. The apparatus comprises an analog-to-digital converter, a slope calculator, a local extrema identifier, a residual signal constructor and an intrinsic mode function (IMF) extractor. The analog-to-digital converter is used to convert the physical signal into a plurality of data points. The slope calculator is used to calculate slope of each data point. The local extrema identifier is used to identify a plurality of local extrema of the slopes. The residual signal constructor is used to construct a residual signal of the physical signal from the data points corresponding to the local extrema of slopes. An IMF extractor is used to extract an intrinsic mode function indicative of an intrinsic oscillatory mode in the physical phenomenon by subtracting the residual signal from the physical signal. A method for analyzing a physical signal representing a physical phenomenon is provided.

Abstract: A coding mode selection method for selecting a coding mode for motion vector estimation is disclosed. The method includes the following steps. First, a first coding mode is selected to perform motion vector estimation for a macroblock having M sub-blocks. M motion vectors corresponding to the M sub-blocks are separately calculated. It is determined whether correlations for the M motion vectors match to a predetermined condition. If not, the first coding mode is selected and the M motion vectors are utilized to perform a motion vector estimation; and if so, a second coding mode is selected and the N motion vectors corresponding to the second coding mode are utilized to perform the motion vector estimation, wherein the N motion vectors are generated by using the M motion vectors and 1?N<M.

Abstract: A method controls the access times of an optical disc end discs of the same. The method includes the following steps. First, an optical disc drive obtains the addresses of a life flag and a medium key block (MKB) by reading a private flag of an optical disc. The life flag and the MKB are used to control the access times of the optical disc. After confirming the addresses of the life flag and the MKB, the optical disc drive obtains an optical power signal to determine the power that should be used to read the MKB. When the optical disc drive uses the appropriate reading power to access the MKB, the recognizable number of access times in the 4KB data is reduced, and the medium key signal is extracted to be confirmed if it is recognizable to restate the main data.

Abstract: An integrated transformation apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a first multiplexer, a second multiplexer, and a transformation unit. The first multiplexer retrieves point data from columns or rows of a multi-dimensional matrix and input data. The second multiplexer retrieves transformation coefficients corresponding to the point data. The transformation unit transforms data blocks of the multi-dimensional matrix to a plurality of sub data blocks according to the input data, the point data, and the transformation coefficients.

Abstract: A method is provided for processing data of a sub-picture of a picture. The method includes: providing an object of the sub-picture, forming a binary bit map of the object, and determining whether the number of bits having a first binary value is greater than the number of bits having a second binary value in the binary bit map. The method further includes: determining whether it is necessary to transform the binary bit map into a transformed binary bit map so that the number of bits having the first binary value is smaller than the number of bits having the second binary value in the transformed binary bit map, and determining a compression rule by determining the most significant two bits of a section of consecutive bits in the binary bit map or the transformed binary bit map.

Abstract: A watermark embedding method based on DCT subband image characters is disclosed. An original image is converted into a frequency image using a discrete cosine transformation. The watermark information is then embedded into a specific embedding block in each macro-block of the frequency image. The method has the following advantages: (1) the image embedded by watermark is resistant from distortion and damages from compressions; (2) the watermark image can be extracted without employing the original image; and (3) the quality of the image embedded with the watermark image can remain intact.

Abstract: The specification disclosed a method that controls the access times of an optical disc and discs of the same. The method includes the following steps. First, an optical disc drive obtains the addresses of a life flag and a medium key block (MKB) by reading a private flag of an optical disc. The life flag and the MKB are used to control the access times of the optical disc. After confirming the addresses of the life flag and the MKB, the optical disc drive obtains an optical power signal to determine the power that should be used to read the MKB. When the optical disc drive uses the appropriate reading power to access the MKB, the recognizable number of access times in the MKB data is reduced, and the medium key signal is extracted to be confirmed if it is recognizable to restore the main data.

Abstract: A watermark embedding method based on DCT subband image characters is disclosed. An original image is converted into a frequency image using a discrete cosine transformation. The watermark information is then embedded into a specific embedding block in each macro-block of the frequency image. The method has the following advantages: (1) the image embedded by watermark is resistant from distortion and damages from compressions; (2) the watermark image can be extracted without employing the original image; and (3) the quality of the image embedded with the watermark image can remain intact.