1998Research papers

Summary

The authors developed a viewer program for MHEG, acronym for Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group, by which one can interactively browse multimedia information coded by the MHEG format. The information may be consisted of motion picture (MPEG), still picture (JPEG or BMP, acronym for bit map), sound (WAVE), character (ASCII or JIS X 0208) data and so on.
In addition the authors drew up the MHEG profile that defines the complete specifications for the implementation.
Finally the authors will refer to an MHEG viewer for Macintosh programming accomplished in collaboration with companies that are playing a leading role in development of such subjects as the &puot;transition effect&puot; (scene change), playback of MPEG and WAVE data.

Summary

Summary

We have developed a file server system with changers incorporating CD-R/DVD-R writers. The system can be used as a Huge Capacity Storage via network just like a large capacity HDD.
When using a DVD-R as a storage medium, the capacity of a 100 disc changer will correspond to about 400 Gbytes and the capacity of a 500 disc changer reaches about 2 Tbytes.

Summary

The standardization of MPEG-4 is currently under way and is planned to be finalized in December 1998.
First an explanation is needed on a basic concept used in the MPEG-4 known as "Audio/Visual Objects (AVO)". The idea is to provide a means to code the audio/video information not only as a whole picture or sound but as an object that composes the picture or sound so that each can be optimized independently. This is different from the approach adopted by the former standards like MPEG-1 and-2 and therefore new functions can be realized.
Second the author will explain MPEG-4 video coding. To realize the function of an AVO that has an arbitrary shape, we need to use the information about the shape in the MPEG-4 video coding called the shape coding. Explanation will be given about the motion compensation and the texture coding on which the shape information has influence.
Finally the author updates the present status of MPEG-4.

Summary

The concept of an "agent" has been recently applied to the software technology and is becoming increasing active. Pioneer has joined the Foundation for Intellectual Physical Agents (later refereed to as FIPA) in April 1996. The purpose of this body is to specify an international standard for the Agent Technology.
In this article the author briefly describes the recent trends of the technology and the latest resolution of the FIPA.

Summary

Summary

Improving the performance of the storage material is one of the highest priorities in putting 3-D holographic memory to practical use. The authors found that by using stoichiometric LiNbO₃ single crystals, containing very little nonstoichiometric defects compared with commonly used congruent LiNbO₃, higher recording sensitivity, higher diffraction efficiency, and a lower bit-error rate was obtained in a digital holographic multiplexing recording system. The superiority of stoichiomtric LiNbO₃ becomes apparent with the extraordinary ray layout where recording times an order of magnitude less than those obtained from conventional congruent LiNbO₃ structures using ordinary ray layouts.
The authors also developed a compact "demonstrator" able to record motion picture digital data using a single LiNbO₃ crystal.

Summary

A mastering system for the next-generation digital versatile disc (DVD) is required to have a higher resolution compared with the conventional mastering system.
The authors have developed an electron beam mastering machine which features a thermal field emitter and a vacuum sealed air spindle motor.
This resulted in the following findings:

1. The electron beam recording showed better jitter values in the reproduction signal than those obtained from a laser beam recording. This was evident in test cuttings of a disc with a recording density of approximately 12 Gbytes/side.
2. Recording accuracy of the electron beam recorder were comparable to those of a conventional laser beam recorder.

Summary

To realize the next generation of DVD, the authors have devised a new optical disc mastering process making use of photobleachable dye. Adopting this new process, a 15 Gbyte prototype disc was made, which the authors tentatively set as the target capacity for the next generation of DVD. The disc was read using a playback system equipped with a crosstalk canceling system.
The playback system had SHG laser (?= 430 nm), a high NA objective lens (NA= 0.6) and the crosstalk cancel system.

Summary

TThe authors have made used of a Liquid Crystal Device (LCD) in a tilt servo for an optical disc system.
Compared with a mechanical tilt servo, this system is more compact and has a faster reaction time.
In addition, improved reliability is expected as there are no moving parts involved.
The principle of the system is that wave front aberration, caused by disc tilt, can be compensated by changing the refractive index of an LCD incorporated in the optical pickup. This is done by controlling the applied voltage to an LCD pattern optimized for tilt compensation.
The authors have also developed a method for tilt error detection based on variations in the RF signal level. A tilt servo without using any separate sensors is thus achieved.
A radial tilt margin of more than 1.5 degrees for a DVD disc playback was obtained.

Summary

To increase the playback capacity for the next generation of DVD, the authors investigated a cross-talk canceler (CTC) that cancels the cross-talk components from adjacent tracks vis-a-vis the center track being read.
The CTC system reads the two adjacent tracks of the center track by projecting three beams on the three tracks at the same time. It then generates quasi-cross-talk signals from the adjacent tracks' signals and subtracts these from the center track signal.
A disc having the same recording format as that of the current DVD with a narrower track pitch was experimentally prototyped. A track pitch and minimum pit length of 0.37 μm and 0.25 μm respectively, was used with the capacity corresponding to 15 Gbytes. The disc was evaluated for jitter using a pick up head with an SHG blue laser (wavelength:430 nm).
The CTC system contributed to the improvement of jitter and could provide virtually the same tilt margins as that of the current DVD system.

Summary

The authors at PVC have developed a proprietary structure and manufacturing process for single sided dual layer DVD disc production. The gold (Au) semi-reflective layer is covered with a photopolymer protective layer. This protects the Au layer from foreign particles which, the authors found, physical damage. To circumvent this type of damage, a spacing layer, made of an adhesive sheet having high transmittance is added to protect the Au layer. Optical and playback characterizations satisfy the DVD specifications. The spacing layer is characterized by a uniformity of the thickness with negligible variation.
A vacuum pressing and Film-Liquid bonding method was developed which has advantage in terms of bubble defects. Furthermore, high-pressure air pressing treatment achieves better playback characteristics.
The disc durability was confirmed under test with the optical and mechanical characteristics after the durability test remaining almost the same as compared to those prior to the test.

Summary

The authors have developed a DVD-RW (ReWriteable) disc which can be played on DVD-ROM players as an extension of the disc category of the DVD-R system. The resulting disc has characteristics which are equivalent to those of the DVD-R disc. Although its reflectivity does not conform to that of a DVD-ROM single-layer disc, it satisfies the dual-layer disc specification (Rtop≧ 18 %). The disc uses a groove recording method and showed the following characteristics: modulation≧ 60 %, jitter≦ 8 %, number of overwrite cycles≧ 1000 and tracking signal of differential phase detection Δt/T≧ 0.5. The data capacity is 3.95 GB/side. Moreover, the authors have confirmed the possibility of even higher density recording which could be an equivalent counterpart of the 4.7 GB/side DVD-ROM.

Summary

The specification of DVD-R 3.9 Gbytes disc, "DVD Specifications for Recordable Disc ver.1.0", was published in July of 1997. This specification is constructed with the physical format specified in Part 1 and the logical format specified in Part 2.

Summary

The authors have developed a prototype DVD-R system with incremental writing capability along with a prototype DVD-RW system on which a pre-formatted DVD-RW disc, having identical pre-format to that of a DVD-R, is playable and/or recordable.
The authors confirmed that the DVD-R and RW discs, made using the developed systems could be reliably played back on Pioneer commercially available DVD video players.

Summary

We propose a simple DVD-video authoring systems as one of many possible DVD products. A simple DVD-video authoring system can be created using a PC, a DVD-R drive and some easy-to-use software. Using this a user will be able to create DVD-video from his home videos. A prototype DVD-video authoring system was constructed using a PC, DVRS-101 and specially developed software.
We confirmed that DVD discs made using the simple system developed could be played on DVD players currently on the market.

Summary

We propose a DVD-VIDEO authoring system for still pictures with audio. The authoring system for still pictures makes possible DVD-VIDEO disks with many photographs or bitmaps. The system can multiplex photographs and audio data. So the discs made by this system can be played as a "Slide Show" by DVD-VIDEO players.

Summary

A DVD Navigation system utilising a single sided, dual layer DVD disc containing a complete geographic map of Japan along with extraneous information has been realized. The DVD disc also contains programming code to make full use of the DVD capabilities.
The unit consists of

• A DVD-ROM drive
• A car computer

High precision absolute and relative positioning sensors and processors. Reliable design which takes account of noise and high temperature conditions
The large amount of data recorded on the disc and the high speed at which this data can be processed along with improved position detection makes for a superior product. By internalizing the navigation functions the entire system is realized in a single compact unit which is very easy to install.

Summary

The device was found that has higher electron-emission efficiency and emission current density than those of the existing cold cathodes. The structure of this device is an MIS type or Pt/SiOx/Si/Al on a thermally-oxidized Si substrate.
The thickness of the Si layer and the SiOx layer were 5 μm and 400 nm respectively, and all of the films can be deposited using generally available technology. The authors named this device as High Efficiency electron-Emission Device (HEED), which the authors think will be applicable to the next generation flat panel display equipment, and to vacuum microelectronics devices.

Summary

The authors developed "T"-shaped electrodes divided in each discharge cell targeting brighter and high definition co-planner type AC-PDPs. A luminance efficiency of 1.2 lm/W and a contrast ratio of 150:1 for a 40-inch VGA panel and 1.0 lm/W for 50-inch XGA wide panel were realized using these electrodes and a low-voltage resetable discharge drive. In our discharge cell structure, the maximum tolerance necessary for panel assembling process was 0.03 mm.
Accordingly, the authors developed the high precision manufacturing process thereof and succeeded in mass-producing the PDP products.

Summary

The authors developed essential technologies such as a high-speed addressing method and a dynamic false contour reducing method by which one can display high quality and fine resolution picture in Hi-Vision and XGA formats.
These efforts made it possible to produce the world premier 50-inch High Definition PDP.

Summary

he authors have developed a driving system and circuit for a 256 x 64 Dot-Matrix display of Organic Electroluminescent (OEL) device.
To avoid the effect of parasitic capacitors that could hinder the sure driving, a new method was engineered which can reset cathodes of the OEL device. The display luminance of 100 cd/m², frame rate of about 100 Hz and a 2 bit gray scale were realized by this method. At the same time, the authors succeeded in integrating all the necessary circuitry for the system into ICs and in building a display module. They are incorporated in the products today at the Tohoku Pioneer Electronic Corp.

Summary

The authors developed an LCD Projector which can represent characters, graphics, still pictures and movies with high resolution and brightness by employing reflective LCD panel named as "DRI", or Digital Reflective Imaging. The DRI has been realized by introducing up-to-dated semiconductor processes. It flattens the surface optically of the 1024 x 768 dot active-matrix transistors formed on a single crystal silicon, on which dielectric reflective layer is deposited and realized 98 % or more reflectivity. Corresponding reflective optics to cope with the DRI was also developed.