Contains reports on five research projects.National Science Foundation (Grant SED76-81985)Associated Press (Grant)Providence Gravure, Inc. (Grant)Taylor Publishing Company (Grant)Sony Corporation (Grant

Allen, Jonathan

Buckley, Robert R.

Bunza, Geoffrey J.

Chang, Frank Tze-pu

Damon, Richard S.

Eisman, Neil M.

Hoang, Phuong-Quan

Khan, Malik M. A.

Picard, Leonard

Ratzel, John N.

Schreiber, William F.

Troxel, Donald E.

DSpace@MIT

XXII. COGNITIVE INFORMATION PROCESSINGProf. Jonathan AllenProf. Barry A. BlesserProf. Murray EdenProf. Francis F. LeeProf. William F. SchreiberProf. Hoo-min D. ToongProf. Donald E. TroxelProf. Ian T. YoungMark M. AbramsDouglas H. AlsipRussell R. AtkinsonRobert P. BishopRonald E. BoucherRobert R. BuckleyGeoffrey J. BunzaNancy J. BurzinskiIsidro M. CastineyraFrank Tze-pu ChangYao-Ming ChaoCharles H. CoxPaul J. CurlanderRichard S. DamonMark DijonPeter V. DolanAcademic and Research StaffDr. Rolf T. CarlsonDr. Christine E. ChoppyDr. Takeo EguchiDr. Bj6rn A.A. GranstromDr. Denis J. KfouryDr. Stephanie E. SherDr. Robert J. ShillmanGraduate StudentsNeil M. EismanJohn J. FratamicoEdward M. GarberRichard S. GoldhorSamuel M. GoldwasserRobert E. GreenRandolph B. HaagensMonson H. HayesPhuong-Quan HoangGerald L. HooverMalik M. A. KhanGary E. KopecTheodore T. KuklinskiPeter V. LaMasterLori LamelDonald S. LevinstoneDavid A. LevittHapet A. BerberianJames A CyrM. Sharon HunnicuttDenise L. JuppeRobert A. PiankianChing Y. SuenSohei TakemotoKenneth P. WacksCharles W. LynnNaveed A. MalikMark D. MatsonGlen S. MirankerSudhindra N. MishraJames F. O'TooleEsteban PeynadoLeonard PicardJohn N. RatzelDaniel G. ShapiroRandall B. SharpeJorge Sianez-GuiterrezJonathan M. TeichVictor TomRosalie M. UchanskiPeter Yanover1. NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSINGNational Science Foundation (Grant SED76-81985)Jonathan AllenThe objectives of this project are changing from research in text-to-speech conver-sion for English to speech recognition. For over ten years, a unified set of researchprojects has focused on the construction of a comprehensive text-to-speech system andit is now felt that this work has reached a level of maturity and quality (of the outputspeech) so that the resulting system can be successfully exploited in a variety of appli-cations, including computer-aided instruction, reading machines for the blind, andgeneral-purpose computer output devices. There is a wide variety of capability con-tained in the system, including morphological analysis, letter-to-sound and lexicalstress rules, parsing, timing, and pitch determination, phonological adjustment rules,and phonemic synthesis leading to the final output speech waveform. The several algo-rithms treating the constraints due to these domains have been developed to a high levelof performance, and have been comprehensively tested.PR No. 121 117(XXII. COGNITIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING)We are now turning to a complete documentation of the system, in the form of amonograph, as well as a short course which will make the results available to the gen-eral public. There is, however, a continuing concern with practical electronic imple-mentation, and we are utilizing techniques for custom integrated circuit design to con-struct devices for the high-data-rate signal-processing algorithms. We believe that theentire system can be implemented, using state-of-the-art electronic technology, in thespace of a small book, and at a cost appropriate to a wide range of systems.As the text-to-speech work is completed, we are preparing to start a major projectin speech recognition. We feel that it is possible to recognize individual segments andwords at a much higher level of accuracy than is now done. The approach centers aroundthe recognition of syllable peaks, and the selective focusing on relevant cues rather thanstraightforward template matching. This approach requires a careful determination ofthe way in which cues integrate to form a percept, and the conditions which determinethe subset of cues being used in particular environments. In order to collect the largeamount of data needed, a computer-based "phonetician's assistant" to provide for effi-cient interactive examination of distributional phenomena will be developed. New tech-niques for syllabically anchored lexical lookup will also be developed, although currentplans do not provide for initial emphasis on the heavy use of syntactic and semantic con-straints.2. DIGITAL WIREPHOTO SYSTEMAssociated Press (Grant)Donald E. Troxel, William F. Schreiber, Richard S. Damon, John N. RatzelSince August 1970, we have been developing a news picture (Wirephoto) distributionsystem that is entirely new for the Associated Press. It is being introduced in stages,in such a way that at least the present standard of quality and service will be maintainedeverywhere, with improvements spreading gradually to all locations.Pictures are stored under computer control. An editor can then view any pictureon a TV display in order to select, discard, edit, transmit, or store that image for laterautomatic dispatch. Editing may include cropping, enlarging, reducing, tone-scale en-hancement, sharpening, combining, and addition of captions. No additional chemicalphotographic work will be required for any of these picture-processing operations.Transmission over the "backbone" system linking AP bureaus and large metropoli-tan newspapers that have substantial computer facilities will be via high-speed digitallinks and will originate and terminate generally at computer-controlled digital storagedevices. Transmission to subscribers will be analog or digital and at speeds and scan-ning standards appropriate to the existing transmission facilities. Complete controlPR No. 121 118(XXII. COGNITIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING)will be exercised by the New York network monitor. In the absence of manual interven-tions, transmission to all points among the bureaus, from point to point, and to regionalnetworks, will be accomplished automatically.We have implemented some of these procedures in the laboratory, using a PDP- 11computer (300-megabyte disk). The input may be a picture from the AP network, froma local analog transmitter, or from magnetic tape, and is stored on a disk. Picturesmay be transmitted from the disk to comparable receiving points. Pictures stored onthe disk may be viewed on a TV display utilizing a full-frame storage system. Editingfacilities already in operation include cropping, enlarging or reducing, combining sev-eral pictures into one, addition of captions, and sharpening.The multitask software operating system permits new picture-processing routinesto be integrated easily, and we plan to keep incorporating additional picture-processingroutines into the system.We are particularly interested in picture-processing operations in which the pro-cessing depends on the local content of the picture. That is, the detailed parametersof a coding or enhancement scheme vary for different local areas. In this type of pro-cessing it is of prime importance to avoid artifacts such as contours outlining theselocal areas. We are also accelerating our interest in color picture processing, bothfrom the viewpoint of coding for bandwidth compression and enhancement or manipula-tion.The Associated Press has now installed the computer-based image processing sys-tem in New York City. It is initially being used to coordinate the newsphoto transmis-sions between the domestic and international Wirephoto networks.3. DATA PROCESSING FOR THE GRAPHIC ARTSProvidence Gravure, Inc. (Grant)William F. Schreiber, Donald E. Troxel, Leonard Picard, Malik M.A. Khan,Frank Tze-pu ChangThe aim of this project is to explore the feasibility of digital processing and com-puter manipulation of graphic arts quality images which are intended to be duplicatedon printing presses. Specific areas of investigation include data compression, tone-scale reproduction, enhancement, input/output hardware and software, and the econom-ical storage and retrieval of very large amounts of pictorial data.PR No. 121 119(XXII. COGNITIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING)4. IMAGE PROCESSING FOR THE GRAPHIC ARTSTaylor Publishing Company (Grant)Donald E. Troxel, William F. Schreiber, Phuong-Quan Hoang, Neil M. EismanTaylor Publishing Company is developing a computer-based system for producingprinting plates for yearbooks and similar publications. This type of printing is charac-terized by a very large number of different pages, most containing many pictures, andby small runs compared with most other publishing. Thus the cost of plate preparationis a high proportion of the total production cost. The purpose of the MIT project is thedevelopment of an improved system for the input and processing of the graphical ele-ments - pictures and other nontypographical matter - to be included in the final pages.IThe improved system is to feature lower cost, higher speed, and no loss of qualitythrough the application of interactive computer techniques.The work to be done at MIT consists of the design of a scanner station and its oper-ating system. Physically, the station, which itself will be a satellite of the Taylor Pub-lishing ComPany's publishing system, comprises a small computer with associatedperipherals. These include a picture display, full-frame memory, disk memory, tabletand Autokon scanner. The operating system will permit the station operator, sitting infront oC Ite computer console, to perform, interactively, the following operations:I. Keceive layout instructions for each page, from the central system, includingloc, ion and size of graphical elements.2. Scan pictures into the system using parameters derived from the layout infor-mation.3. View scanned pictures on the display and perform aesthetic corrections, if re-quired. View entire page on display to verify layout.4. Organize graphical data in local memory as required by page layout and initiatedata transfer to the central system.The novel features of this system revolve around the use of a small computer, incombination with a graphics arts quality laser scanner and some special-purpose digitalhardware, to permit input of graphic elements, aesthetic corrections, and the organiza-tion of data for each page according to layout information, all on an interactive basis,and in a cost-effective manner.PR No. 121 120(XXII. COGNITIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING)5. DIGITAL COLOR TV CODINGSony Corporation (Grant)William F. Schreiber, Donald E. Troxel, Robert R. Buckley, Geoffrey J. BunzaThe object of this research is to produce commercial quality color TV picturesusing a data rate low enough to facilitate applications at present nonfeasible or too ex-pensive. The technique uses separate coding of luminance and chrominance components,with previously developed monochrome coding methods being applied to luminance. Ini-tial work has been done by computer simulation. Design of a real-time (hardware) coderis under way.PR No. 121

Cognitive Information Processing

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Cognitive Information Processing

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