Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Narutoshi Ageishi

Motoshi Suzuki

Kazuo Kajimoto

Nobukazu Kurauchi

Yukiyasu Fukami

Yuichi Kato

An image synthesis output apparatus is capable of saving power in the stage of obtaining a synthetic image of a plurality of images. In the apparatus, during a period when either of first and second input images is updated within a first predetermined period, a multi-layer image synthesis section synthesizes these input images and outputs a synthetic image to an LCD display panel. If neither of the first and second input images are updated within the first predetermined period, the multi-layer image synthesis section also writes the synthetic image in a synthetic- image storage section. If the first and second input images are not updated and a second predetermined period elapses after the first predetermined period, then without synthesizing the first and second input images, the multi-layer image synthesis section reads the synthetic image and outputs it to the LCD display panel.

Synthesis mode, synthesis writing mode, and reading mode for power saving in a portable device

A resource management system is composed of a plurality of application programs, a resource management information database, and a resource manager. Each application program executes data transfer using resources. The resource management database stores resource management information and key information for each resource. Upon receipt of a resource use request from an application program, the resource manager judges whether the requested resource can be allocated to the application program by referring to the resource capacity and the currently-allocated volume of the resource that are included in the information database. If judging that the requested resource can be allocated, the resource manager gives authorization to the application program to use the resource. The resource manager also controls resource allocation by restricting a data transfer bandwidth used by an application program and requesting a resource release on expiration of the valid time period.

Resource management system and digital video reproducing/recording apparatus

A redundant recording disk device includes a first logical sub-disk and a second logical sub-disk. Mirrored redundant data are recorded such that a recording position on the first logical sub-disk and a recording position on the second logical sub-disk are positions on a corresponding radius and have a phase difference of 180 degrees around respective rotation axes of the disks with respect to one data. Therefore, the practical use of the disk device can be continued even when one recording surface is not usable because of a fault, and the access speed of the disk can be increased when there is no fault since the mirrored data which have been written with a predetermined phase-offset into the different recording surfaces may be read out in a parallel manner.

Growing community of inventors

Ichinomiya, Japan

Narutoshi Ageishi