Abstract: Provided is a control device for performing model prediction control. A position of a virtual obstacle associated with a real obstacle is set based on a position of the real obstacle acquired by a first acquisition part so that the virtual obstacle is positioned substantially symmetrically to the real obstacle with reference to a following target trajectory of a control target. Stage costs calculated by a prescribed evaluation function include: a first stage cost associated with a first probability potential field representing a probability that the real obstacle is present based on the position of the real obstacle; and a second stage cost associated with a second probability potential field representing a probability that the virtual obstacle is present based on the position of the virtual obstacle and having a probability value equal to or greater than that of the first probability potential field.

Abstract: Methods and systems for animation timelines using value templates are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method includes generating a data structure corresponding to a graphical representation of a timeline and creating an animation of an element along the timeline, where the animation modifies a property of the element according to a function, and where the function uses a combination of a string with a numerical value to render the animation. The method also includes adding a command corresponding to the animation into the data structure, where the command is configured to return the numerical value, and where the data structure includes a value template that produces the combination of the string with the numerical value. The method further includes passing the produced combination of the string with the numerical value to the function and executing the function to animate the element.

Abstract: The present disclosure includes, among other things, systems, methods and program products for generating animation keyframes and a corresponding 3D animation sequence from a plurality of 2D images.

Abstract: According to one embodiment of the invention, a computerized method for simulating human movement includes storing a plurality of sets of data, in which each set of data is indicative of a measured movement of a first human, receiving a start point and an end point for a desired movement of a second human, and comparing the desired movement to the stored sets of data. The method further includes selecting, based on the comparison, a stored set of data that is representative of the desired movement and simulating the desired movement based on the start point, the end point, and the relative change in position of a first joint associated with the selected set of data from an empirical start point to an empirical end point.

Abstract: A design application uses metadata-based techniques (e.g., runtime reflection) to examine class metadata of design objects. A key object is provided by a programmer of a graphical design application to generically animate properties of design objects in one or more animation frames. Using runtime reflection or other metadata techniques, the key object finds properties of each design object and updates specified property values for animated display in one or more animation frames. A key set object is provided to group multiple key objects into a sequence of key frames along a timeline. In this manner, a programmer can provide a small amount of support program code (e.g., a key class and a key set class) that can be associated with selected design objects at runtime of the design application in order to allow an animation designer to decide which design objects and which properties to animate.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods and apparatus for dynamically varying a physics workload by scaling the classification of objects within a three-dimensional scene. According to embodiments of the invention, a physics engine may classify a plurality of objects within a three-dimensional scene as either static objects or as dynamic objects. The physics engine may then perform physics operations with the objects, and may monitor the workload experienced by processing elements within a system which includes the physics engine. Based on the workload experienced by the processing elements within the system, the physics engine may vary the number of objects which are classified as dynamic and vary the number of objects which are classified as static. By varying the classification of the objects, the physics engine may vary the workload experienced by the physics engine.

Abstract: A technique for reducing information reception delays is provided. The technique reduces delays that may be caused by protocols that guarantee order and delivery, such as TCP/IP. The technique creates multiple connections between a sender and recipient computing devices and sends messages from the sender to the recipient on the multiple corrections redundantly. The recipient can then use the first arriving message and ignore the subsequently arriving redundant messages. The recipient can also wait for a period of time before determining which of the arrived messages to use. The technique may dynamically add connections if messages are not consistently received in a timely manner on multiple connections. Conversely, the technique may remove connections if messages are consistently received in a timely manner on multiple connections. The technique can accordingly be used with applications that are intolerant of data reception delays such as Voice over IP, real-time streaming audio, or real-time streaming video.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a video summarization system and the method thereof. A similarity computing apparatus computes the similarity between each frame to obtain multiple similarity values. A key frame extracting apparatus chooses the key frames from the frames wherein the sum of the similarity values between the key frames is a minimum. A feature space mapping apparatus converts the sentences into multiple corresponding sentence vectors and computes the distance between each sentence vector to obtain multiple distance values. A clustering apparatus divides the sentences into multiple clusters according to the distance values and the importance of the sentences, and also applies a splitting step to split the cluster with the highest importance into multiple new clusters. A key sentence extracting apparatus chooses multiple key sentence from the clusters, wherein the sum of the importance of the key sentences is the maximum.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for representing speech in an animated image. In one embodiment, key point on the object to be animated are defined, and a table of trajectories is generated to map positions of the key points over time as the object performs defined actions accompanied by corresponding sounds. In another embodiment, the table of trajectories and a sound rate of the video are used to generate a frame list that includes information to render an animated image of the object in real time at a rate determined by the sound rate. In still another embodiment, a 2D animation of a human speaker is produced. Key points are selected from the Motion Picture Expert Group 4 (MPEG4) defined points for human lips and teeth.

Abstract: An information presentation apparatus creates a three-dimensional animation of a specific object in a three-dimensional virtual space on the basis of the human characteristic of paying more attention to a moving object. A user's attention can be drawn to a specific object, such as a destination building, in the virtual space displayed on the screen. Irrespective of whether the specific object is selected by the user or designated at the system side to which the user's attention is to be drawn, the user can easily detect the attention-drawing object.

Abstract: System and method for supporting split transactions on a bus. The method may comprise processing a periodic frame list of external bus data frame by frame, and traversing each frame node by node. When a save place node is encountered in a first frame, the traversing jumps to a destination node pointed to by the save place node in a second frame, and continues the traversing there. When a restore place node is encountered when traversing the nodes in the second frame, the traversing returns to the node after the save place node in the first frame and continues the processing in the first frame. The method may be implemented on a system that comprises a processor, a memory, an internal bus, and an external bus controller. The external bus controller and the external bus data may support one or more versions of the Universal Serial Bus standard.

Abstract: A video processing device and method receives data from a common data source, such as a frame buffer and outputs first overlay information in a first color space from a first port and outputs second overlay information in a second color from a second port to facilitate output of multiple overlay images in different color spaces from common memory through different ports. In one embodiment a bidirectional port is used to allow a set of common signal pads or a bus to function as a flexible bidirectional video data port.

Abstract: A presenting time for an animation is determined as follows for each of a plurality of frames of the animation in passage of time at a prescribed speed which can be changed as desired. First, for each of the plurality of frames, a signal indicating a timing corresponding to a boundary between adjacent frames is applied. Then, in accordance with the applied timing indication signal, a presenting time is determined and recorded onto a medium corresponding to each frame. A producer operates a keyboard, mouse or the like to input the timing indication signal at an arbitrary timing. In addition, the timing indication signal is input at a timing determined in accordance with the regenerated guide track information while guide track information (information to be referenced for identifying the aforementioned boundary) is regenerated at a regeneration rate in accordance with a prescribed speed.

Abstract: A method for controlling and automatically animating lip synchronization and facial expressions of three dimensional animated characters using weighted morph targets and time aligned phonetic transcriptions of recorded text. The method utilizes a set of rules that determine the systems output comprising a stream of morph weight sets when a sequence of timed phonemes and/or other timed data is encountered. Other data, such as timed emotional state data or emotemes such as “surprise, “disgust, “embarrassment”, “timid smile”, or the like, may be inputted to affect the output stream of morph weight sets, or create additional streams.