Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Shigeru Oikawa

Masaaki Fukumoto

Noboru Sonehara

Tadasu Uchiyama

Akira Hiraiwa

Satoshi Ishibashi

Kazuho Arita

Takashi Yagi

According to the method of synthesizing a image from a plurality of images, each of the luminance I.sub.p1xy -I.sub.pNxy of each of the pixel p.sub.1xy -p.sub.Nxy positioned at the same coordinates (x,y) of N images P.sub.1 -P.sub.N are compared with each of the predetermined threshold luminance T.sub.1 -T.sub.N corresponding to images P.sub.1 -P.sub.N, wherein 'N' is a natural number greater than 1. If the luminance I.sub.p1xy -I.sub.pNxy of the pixels p.sub.1xy -p.sub.Nxy are all greater than the corresponding threshold T.sub.1 -T.sub.N of corresponding image, the synthesized pixel p.sub.xy at the coordinate (x,y) of a synthesized image is determined by synthesizing the pixels p.sub.1xy -p.sub.Nxy with predetermined synthesis ratio for each of the images P.sub.1 -P.sub.N. If the condition described above is not satisfied, the synthesized pixel p.sub.xy at the coordinate (x,y) of the synthesized image is determined by synthesizing with arbitrary synthesis ratio only the pixels having luminance less than or equal to the corresponding threshold T.sub.1 -T.sub.N among the pixels p.sub.1xy -p.sub.Nxy. The procedure described above is performed with regard to all pixels in the region wherein images are to be synthesized.

Method and apparatus for synthesizing images for video communication

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a handwriting information detecting method and apparatus for the same, in which a user can choose any handwriting tool such as a pen or a pencil, and when the user writes with the tool, the handwriting information can be detected. The handwriting information detecting method of the present invention comprises steps of detecting a motion of a writing tool, held by a writing tool holder comprising at least one acceleration sensor, based on at least one acceleration signal output from the at least one acceleration sensor when the writing tool is grasped by fingers; and recognizing handwriting information of a character or a figure written by the writing tool according to the detected motion thereof, and outputting the information. Preferably, the step of detecting a motion of a writing tool further comprises steps of detecting pressure acting on the tip of a finger which grasps the writing tool; and judging the motion of the writing tool according to the detected pressure. The handwriting information detecting apparatus of the present invention comprises a writing tool holder for detachably holding a writing tool; at least one acceleration sensor, provided at the writing tool holder, for detecting acceleration of the writing tool which is grasped by fingers; and a handwriting information recognition circuit for recognizing information of handwriting performed by the writing tool based on the output of the at least one acceleration sensor.

Handwritting information detecting method and apparatus detachably

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Kashiwa, Japan

Shigeru Oikawa