Visual Speech Synthesis by Morphing Visemes

We present MikeTalk, a text-to-audiovisual speech synthesizer which converts input text into an audiovisual speech stream. MikeTalk is built using visemes, which are a small set of images spanning a large range of mouth shapes. The visemes are acquired from a recorded visual corpus of a human subject which is specifically designed to elicit one instantiation of each viseme. Using optical flow methods, correspondence from every viseme to every other viseme is computed automatically. By morphing along this correspondence, a smooth transition between viseme images may be generated. A complete visual utterance is constructed by concatenating viseme transitions. Finally, phoneme and timing information extracted from a text-to-speech synthesizer is exploited to determine which viseme transitions to use, and the rate at which the morphing process should occur. In this manner, we are able to synchronize the visual speech stream with the audio speech stream, and hence give the impression of a photorealistic talking face.     

A Parametric Texture Model Based on Joint Statistics of Complex Wavelet Coefficients

We present a universal statistical model for texture images in the context of an overcomplete complex wavelet transform. The model is parameterized by a set of statistics computed on pairs of coefficients corresponding to basis functions at adjacent spatial locations, orientations, and scales. We develop an efficient algorithm for synthesizing random images subject to these constraints, by iteratively projecting onto the set of images satisfying each constraint, and we use this to test the perceptual validity of the model. In particular, we demonstrate the necessity of subgroups of the parameter set by showing examples of texture synthesis that fail when those parameters are removed from the set. We also demonstrate the power of our model by successfully synthesizing examples drawn from a diverse collection of artificial and natural textures.     

一种实体纹理的设计方法和实现

一个实用的实体纹理系统不仅应用有清晰的模型,还要求纹理的效果丰富,易于扩展和实现,本文在分析实体纹理的概念和计算原理的基础上,给出了一种将实体纹理分三步实现的方案,然后纹理参数进行了分类,给出了一个纹理数据结构的组织方法,最后讨论了这种方案的实际应用。     

底层相关的VLSI高层次设计策略

在ＶＬＳＩ系统设计、行为设计和逻辑设计过程中,未考虑到的与半导体制造工艺有关的因素（如延迟、功耗问题等）严重影响设计结果的性能,以至使物理设计结果的性能远离原来的设计目标,针对这个问题,文中提出与底层有关的ＶＬＳＩ高层次设计策略,将影响性能的底层参数和信息引入高层次设计中,使得高层次设计结果在进行物理实现之时能满足性能要求。     

An optimal effective controller for discrete event systems

An approach to the online synthesis of an optimal effective controller for discrete event systems is presented. The optimal effective controller can achieve the prescribed (cumulative) effectiveness measure while minimizing the total cost incurred for the execution of events. This approach is constructed over a generalized control framework for automata‐based discrete event systems, which allows event enforcement in addition to the (original) event disablement/enablement as the control mechanism. The optimal effective control policy generated by this approach is proved to be the least restrictive among all the possible optimal effective control policies for the given online expansion tree of the system behavior. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Sign language applications: preliminary modeling

For deaf persons to have ready access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), the latter must be usable in sign language (SL), i.e., include interlanguage interfaces. Such applications will be accepted by deaf users if they are reliable and respectful of SL specificities—use of space and iconicity as the structuring principles of the language. Before developing ICT applications, it is necessary to model these features, both to enable analysis of SL videos and to generate SL messages by means of signing avatars. This paper presents a signing space model, implemented within a context of automatic analysis and automatic generation, which are currently under development.

面向财务应用的软件设计课程教学模式

为了培养既懂财务又懂软件开发技术的复合型人才,根据金融财务类应用的需要,本文提出了一个面向软件课程设计的教学模型。融合计算机基础理论、软件开发技术、软件工程学原理以及CMM软件过程体系,构建了教学模式框架。该模型具有良好的课程总体结构以及动态适应新技术发展的能力,该模型适合财务类院校软件复合性人才培养的需要。     

Constructing a Multivalued Representation for View Synthesis

A fundamental problem in computer vision and graphics is that of arbitrary view synthesis for static 3-D scenes, whereby a user-specified viewpoint of the given scene may be created directly from a representation. We propose a novel compact representation for this purpose called the multivalued representation (MVR). Starting with an image sequence captured by a moving camera undergoing either unknown planar translation or orbital motion, a MVR is derived for each preselected reference frame, and may then be used to synthesize arbitrary views of the scene. The representation itself is comprised of multiple depth and intensity levels in which the k-th level consists of points occluded by exactly k surfaces. To build a MVR with respect to a particular reference frame, dense depth maps are first computed for all the neighboring frames of the reference frame. The depth maps are then combined together into a single map, where points are organized by occlusions rather than by coherent affine motions. This grouping facilitates an automatic process to determine the number of levels and helps to reduce the artifacts caused by occlusions in the scene. An iterative multiframe algorithm is presented for dense depth estimation that both handles low-contrast regions and produces piecewise smooth depth maps. Reconstructed views as well as arbitrary flyarounds of real scenes are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.     

Theorem Proving Guided Development of Formal Assertions in a Resource-Constrained Scheduler for High-Level Synthesis

This paper presents a formal specification and a proof of correctness for the widely-used Force-Directed List Scheduling (FDLS) algorithm for resource-constrained scheduling of data flow graphs in high-level synthesis systems. The proof effort is conducted using a higher-order logic theorem prover. During the proof effort many interesting properties of the FDLS algorithm are discovered. These properties are formally stated and proved in a higher-order logic theorem proving environment. These properties constitute a detailed set of formal assertions and invariants that should hold at various steps in the FDLS algorithm. They are then inserted as programming assertions in the implementation of the FDLS algorithm in a production-strength high-level synthesis system. When turned on, the programming assertions (1) certify whether a specific run of the FDLS algorithm produced correct schedules and, (2) in the event of failure, help discover and isolate programming errors in the FDLS implementation.We present a detailed example and several experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of these assertions in discovering and isolating errors. Based on this experience, we discuss the role of the formal theorem proving exercise in developing a useful set of assertions for embedding in the scheduler code and argue that in the absence of such a formal proof checking effort, discovering such a useful set of assertions would have been an arduous if not impossible task.     

Closed loop identification and control loop reconfiguration: an industrial case study

The results of a joint university–industry collaborative project for control loop reconfiguration using closed loop experimental data from a fuel gas pressure control system are described in this paper. The fuel gas pressure was being regulated using a butane stream. For economic reasons, it was necessary to switch control to the ethane stream. Previous attempts at effecting this changeover had proved unsuccessful. In this study, a powerful system identification technique namely Canonical Variate Analysis (CVA) was employed to obtain the empirical plant models. A PI controller was then designed using the direct synthesis method. Acceptable closed loop behavior was obtained with little online tuning.