Abstract: An improved system and method for designing a mother wavelet. The system and method first displays on the screen a filter P(z), wherein a mother wavelet is associated with the filter P(z). The filter P(z) is a product of two low pass filters G.sub.0 (z) and H.sub.0 (z), which collectively comprise a perfect reconstruction filter bank which models the wavelet. The method then displays on the screen a plot which illustrates a zeros distribution of P(z), as well as other information, such as the mother wavelet function, correlations, frequency responses, etc. The user can then graphically adjust the zeros distribution of P(z) on the plot in order to obtain the desired mother wavelet. This involves factorizing P(z) into G.sub.0 (z) and H.sub.0 (z), wherein the factorizing includes assigning one or more of the zeros illustrated in the plot to the functions G.sub.0 (z) and H.sub.0 (z) in response to user input.

Abstract: A signal is processed for recognize an irregularity in the signal. First, an orthogonal imaginary signal corresponding to the signal to be processed is formed. This is followed by a transformation step, which is then followed by a differentiation step. The signal thus processed shows the irregularity particularly clearly, so that the irregularity can be isolated, selected and detected. Preferred fields of application for the present method and corresponding devices are in the medical field, information technology, and signal treatment in network engineering, in particular low, medium, and high voltage engineering.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to construct a sensing system capable of extracting change information as new time series information from a continuous moving picture in a non-contact manner and remotely without requiring a special illuminating and irradiating device and driving the succeeding processing system as required, to clearly show a phenomenon in an arbitrary frequency band existing in the moving picture.

Abstract: A multiresolution method and apparatus for searching of a database of images where the search is performed on compressed images, without first decompressing them. The method searches the database of compressed images first at a low resolution to obtain the relative quality of a match between a search template and a candidate image. If the match is below a particular threshold, the search is terminated without committing any further computational resources to the search. Conversely, if the match is above a particular threshold, the method enhances the resolution of the candidate image and then performs another match. As long as the relative quality of the match is above the particular threshold, the resolution of the candidate image is successively enhanced, until a match determination is made at a full resolution of the candidate image.

Abstract: A computer-based automated method to detect and identify features in digital point-ordered signals. The method is used for processing of non-destructive test signals, such as eddy current signals obtained from calibration standards. The signals are first automatically processed to remove noise and to determine a baseline. Next, features are detected in the signals using mathematical morphology filters. Finally, verification of the features is made using an expert system of pattern recognition methods and geometric criteria. The method has the advantage that standard features can be, located without prior knowledge of the number or sequence of the features. Further advantages are that standard features can be differentiated from irrelevant signal features such as noise, and detected features are automatically verified by parameters extracted from the signals. The method proceeds fully automatically without initial operator set-up and without subjective operator feature judgement.

Abstract: Apparatus for encoding an image signal which is capable of improving the quality of a reproduced image with respect to not only a general image in which electric power is concentrated in low-frequency region coefficients but also an image where the electric power is concentrated in a high-frequency region. The apparatus comprises a blocking device in which a rectangular area in an image is detected from a digital image signal as a pixel block, and is subjected to an orthogonal transform by a converter to obtain a transformed coefficient. In addition, an activity calculator calculates the variance of the image within the block, and electric power to be preserved during encoding is determined by a power-preservation-rate determining device on the basis of the variance determined.

Abstract: A method of sorting out candidate characters in a character recognition system comprising a character characteristic extracting step of extracting characteristics of characters on the basis of run-length information of the characters, a character distribution extracting step of determining position information of the characters on the basis of the extracted characteristics of the characters, a character classification reference data storing step of storing the determined position information of the characters as character classification reference data in storage means, and a candidate character sorting-out step of adopting the characters belonging to a particular one of the position information stored in the storage means corresponding to a characteristic of an input character to be recognized, as the candidate characters for the input character.

Abstract: An apparatus for reading a series of magnetic characters on a bank check is herein disclosed. The characters are preprinted in a certain way within a predetermined area of the check. Also, the characters within the series of characters may be any character from a predetermined group of characters. The apparatus includes a housing which defines a specific path through which the check, oriented in a predetermined way, is intended to pass. The housing supports a magnetic read head for sensing the magnetic characters on the check as it passes through the apparatus and for producing an electrical signal unique to each character. The housing also supports automatically moving the check through the path defined by the housing at a speed which is intended to be constant but which may vary randomly within a certain tolerance. This moving of the check through the apparatus produces the electrical signals as the characters move past the read head.

Abstract: A frequency division, energy comparison, source detection signal processing system which decomposes a wide-band signal into a plurality of narrow frequency band components, generates the energy envelope of each of those narrow band components, determines the envelope correlation coefficients, and detects the presence of a source contributing to the wide-band signal from the correlation coefficients.

Abstract: An improved multi-unit analyzer is provided by virtue of the present invention. An analog-to-digital converter (A/D) digitizes a multi-unit signal, a pulse detector triggers when the multi-unit signal reaches a specified threshold, and a pulse sampler outputs a packet of samples of the signal around the point where the signal passes the threshold. The packet is then transformed into a point on a plane, the P-plane. The transformed point is compared to one or more rectangles in the P-plane, to determine if the point falls within any rectangle. If a point falls within a rectangle, a pulse is output on a line corresponding to the rectangle. This compare and output process is given a high priority. A low priority process displays the packet of samples in a window corresponding to the rectangle which encloses the point in the P-plane which results from the transformation of the packet of samples.