JPH06259542A - Pattern generator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To generate a pattern while supporting the concept of a supposed pattern without applying an excess request to a user by providing variation in the deformation of a previously stored prototype pattern based upon the pattern. CONSTITUTION:Prototype patterns are previously stored in a memory 1, and when a supposed pattern is specified by a candidate pattern selecting device 3, a pattern generating device 2 consisting of an oscillation neural network generates a periodical or chaotic output by continuously interpolating respective stored patterns in relation between an input pattern and a storage pattern to be a prototype and displays the generated output on a display device 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pattern generation device, and more particularly to a pattern generation device for embodying an assumed pattern from an ambiguous initial image with respect to an illustrative graphic pattern or voice pattern.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since there is almost no conventional technique for freely generating and embodying other patterns such as voices other than the graphic patterns like illustrations, the following description focuses on the graphic patterns. The same argument holds when generating patterns other than. The conventional technique for generating graphics is basically a metaphor of paper and pencil.
Although it is based on the idea of drawing and editing a line drawing in r), it can be roughly divided into the case of drawing from a state where there is no source, and the case of scanning input of a photographic image or the like and using it.

The former relates to a figure editing tool such as a personal computer as shown in FIG. 7, and draws a broken line or a free curve with a mouse or the like, selects a basic figure such as a quadrangle, a triangle, a circle or an ellipse. Furthermore, the pattern is embodied by combining those that are enlarged, reduced, and rotated. In this method, the skill of the user to draw a picture largely depends on the skill.

The latter is a method of manually converting an image from an image data, or automatically converting it into a line drawing by image analysis to embody the pattern, and the pattern can be generated regardless of the drawing skill of the user. Moreover, once converted into a line drawing of a spline curve or a polygonal line, the same editing as the former becomes possible. However, the fact that the source image that one wants to draw must exist must be a major constraint on the requirement to draw freely.

On the other hand, a pattern generation method related to generation of a shape by a deformation operation metaphor of an elastic body such as viscosity is often used in computer graphics. This method is called an internal division method or a middle division method, and is a method of linearly interpolating two prototype line drawing patterns associated with each feature point to generate various continuous deformation patterns. . For example, a caricature generation system in which the difference between the line drawing pattern and the average face pattern is interpolated by this method and exaggerated is described in A. K. Dutney. Computer portrait school, High-dimensional mysterious journey, Science, Computer recreation, Vol. 12, 160-165, 1
It was introduced in 986. It is a common approach on paper to draw a picture by referring to the plot type pattern of a model such as an illustration book and then exaggerating and slightly modifying it.

[0006]

However, when embodying an assumed pattern from an ambiguous initial image, since the conventional pattern generation technique is basically based on the pencil metaphor, it requires an embodied image to some extent. At the same time, there is a drawback that the user is required to have a skill for drawing a picture well.

Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a variation of those plot type patterns based on pre-stored plot type patterns, thereby supporting conceptualization of the assumed pattern without undue demand from the user. It is another object of the present invention to provide a pattern generation device capable of generating a pattern.

[0008]

The invention according to claim 1 is
By selectively generating or editing patterns,
A pattern generation device for acquiring a desired pattern,
Input means for inputting an assumed pattern from the outside, and based on the input pattern and a prototype pattern stored in advance, generate a periodic or chaotic output by interpolating between the stored prototype patterns. It is configured to include a pattern generation unit for

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the pattern generating means of the first aspect uses a neural network in which excitatory-inhibitory pair elements are mutually coupled to store a plurality of prototype patterns in the associative memory. Destabilize and cause oscillation.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the neural network according to the second aspect, the value of each element of the assumed pattern to be embodied or the information pattern such as a symbol that can define them can be specified in each part. The value of the element is set, and an intermediate value representing ambiguity is set in the unspecified part.

[0011]

The pattern generating apparatus according to the present invention inputs an assumed pattern from the outside, and based on the input pattern and the prototype pattern stored in advance,
A pattern is generated by generating periodic or chaotic output by interpolating between prototype patterns.

[0012]

1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a memory 1 stores a parameter such as a connection weight, and this parameter is given to a pattern generation device 2. The pattern generation device 2 autonomously generates an output based on a parameter given from the memory 1 according to an input pattern given from the candidate pattern selection device 3, and a concrete interpolation corresponding to an analog pattern or expression vector. Display pattern 4
To display it. The candidate pattern selection device 3 allows the user 6 to select a desired pattern from the candidate patterns displayed on the display device 4. The editing device 5 is for editing the pattern displayed on the display device 4.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention. Next, a specific operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, step (abbreviated as SP in the figure) SP
1, the user 6 initializes and stores parameters such as the connection weight in the memory 1. The parameters include, for example, the correlation matrix W _{ij of the} memory pattern and the parameters K _IE and K _EI that define the natural frequency of each pair element that constitutes the pattern generation device. As the parameter K _IE has a larger value, a more complicated oscillation output is generated and a wider range is searched. Therefore, in the following pattern generation process, the value is increased or decreased as necessary to search the range. Can be consciously adjusted.

Next, in step SP2, the user 6 initializes an assumed input pattern through the editing device 5 and the candidate pattern selection device 3 and gives initial data to the pattern generation device 2. If there are elements whose values can be specified, those elements are set to the values, and the other elements are set to the intermediate value 0 indicating that the values are unknown. At this time, when the image of the pattern to be drawn cannot be assumed at all, the input pattern in which all the elements are set to 0 is used. The value of an element that can be identified may be given as a fuzzy confidence level as an analog value between {-1, + 1}.

In step SP3, the pattern generation device 2 autonomously generates an output by an oscillation neural network built in for a given input, and outputs an analog output pattern at intervals of a certain fixed time T _d , or those. A plurality of specific interpolation patterns corresponding to the expression vector of are displayed on the display device 4. However, if the candidates can be selected, the generated patterns may be successively displayed in order, not at regular intervals.

At step SP4, the user 6 uses the candidate pattern selection device 3 to select a plurality of possible patterns from the displayed patterns. In step SP5, the user 6 interrupts the selection of the pattern and determines whether or not to edit, and if there is no need for editing,
In step SP6, it is determined whether or not there is a desired pattern in the selected patterns. If there is a desired pattern, the search process is terminated, and if not, step SP
In step 7, a new input pattern is set in the candidate pattern selection device 3, the data is given to the pattern generation device 2, and the operations in steps SP3 to SP7 described above are repeated. For example, the new input pattern is set as the average pattern of the selected multiple candidates. At this time, if an element whose value can be newly specified is found, the search range can be further narrowed by setting those values.

If there is a need for editing in step SP5, the editing device 5 may edit the line drawing as in the conventional case. In step SP8, the user 6 determines whether or not the editing result of the line drawing is used as the input pattern. When the editing result is used as the input pattern, the editing of the line drawing returns to the iterative selection.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an oscillating neural network included in the pattern generating apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the arithmetic processing of the neural network shown in FIG.

Next, referring to FIG. 3 and FIG.
The operation of the Ural network will be described. Of FIG.
In step SP11, the dialogue explained in FIG.
Input pattern I given in processing_iIs entered
It Then the oscillation neural network step
In SP12 to SP15, the following expression (1) and expression
The arithmetic processing of the equation (2) is performed for a certain time T_f(> T_d) Only
Output pattern x _i(T) is autonomously generated.

[0020]

[Equation 1]

Here, · represents the differential, and x _i and y _i represent the active values of the excitatory element and the inhibitory element, respectively. W
_ij is the coupling weight value between excitatory elements, and is the above (3)
It is set by the correlation matrix of M storage patterns ζ ^b as shown in the equation. (Δ _ij is Kronecker's delta). -K _EI , K _IE
Represents an inhibitory coupling and an excitatory coupling between excitatory and inhibitory elements (different values are possible for each element), and I _i represents an input pattern (also referred to as an input bias) to each excitatory element. G (z) is a continuous saturated S-shaped function, and is, for example, a non-linear function (a is a parameter that determines the steepness of the function G (z)) as expressed by the following equation (4).

[0022]

[Equation 2]

FIG. 5 is a concrete block diagram of the oscillation neural network shown in FIG. Next, with reference to FIG. 5, the operation of the oscillation neural network defined by the above equations (1) to (4) will be described. The register 24 holds the value of each excitatory element x _i , and the register 29 holds the value of the inhibitory element y _i .
The value of each excitatory element x _i held in the register 24 is given to the multiplier 25 and is multiplied by the coupling weight coefficient W _ij ,
Interaction coefficient W _ij x between the weighted excitable elements x _i
j is given to the adder 21. On the other hand, the value of the inhibitory element y _i held in the register 29 is given to the multiplier 30 and is multiplied by the inhibitory coupling coefficient −K _EI . Multipliers 25 and 3
The output of 0 is given to the adder 21 and the input bias I _i , the weighted input −K _EI y _i and the interaction coefficient W _ij are added. Then, via the adder 21 and the nonlinear function processor 22, the state update amount dx _i is the difference state updating unit 23,
The updated value is calculated in accordance with the above-mentioned value (1), and the updated value is held in the register 24 again.

Excitatory element x _i held in register 24
The value of is also given to the multiplier 26, multiplied by the excitation coupling coefficient K _IE, and given to the differential state updater 28 via the non-linear function processor 27 as the weighted input K _IE x _i . The differential state updater 28 calculates the state update amount d according to the above equation (2).
y _i is calculated, and the updated value is held in the register 29 again. By combining in this way, a periodic orbit near the memory point depending on the input and a chaotic orbit that autonomously searches between the memory points can be obtained.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a three-dimensional representation of the temporal change of each excitatory element value in three pairs of elements.
In FIG. 6, two inputs close to the memory point each draw a relatively simple periodic orbit, whereas some inputs near the origin far from the three memory points draw a complicated chaotic orbit. There is.

The oscillation neural network shown in FIG. 5 described above can be realized by a dedicated analog arithmetic circuit or digital arithmetic circuit, and can also be executed by a program on a computer by discrete approximation of continuous time processing. it can. In the block diagram of FIG. 5, the connection weight value is stored in the memory 1 shown in FIG.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, the generation of a pattern in which the plot type patterns stored in the system are interpolated through various paths and the selection from the generated candidates are interactively performed. As a result, it is not necessary to request a specific initial image or drawing skill from the user, and the mental and time burden on the user can be reduced. In addition, the expansion, reduction, and movement of the search range according to the user's intention or concept level can be controlled unconsciously by the user, and if necessary, consciously, so that step-wise concept formation that does not disturb the user's thinking process It is possible to generate a pattern with.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram showing an example of a model of an oscillating neural network included in the pattern generation device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a calculation process of the oscillation neural network shown in FIG.

5 is a specific block diagram of the oscillation neural network shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of two periodic orbits and one chaotic orbit in which changes in output values of three excitatory elements are three-dimensionally displayed.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a graphic editing tool of a conventional pattern generation method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Memory 2 Pattern Generation Device 3 Candidate Pattern Selection Device 4 Display Device 5 Editing Device 21 Adder 22, 27 Nonlinear Function Processor 23, 28 Difference State Updater 24, 29 Register 25, 26, 30 Multiplier

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pattern generation device for acquiring a desired pattern by selectively generating or editing a pattern, the input means for inputting an expected pattern from the outside, and the input means. A pattern generation device comprising pattern generation means for generating a periodic or chaotic output by interpolating between the stored prototype patterns based on the stored patterns and the prototype patterns stored in advance. 2. The pattern generating means uses a neural network in which excitatory-inhibitory pair elements are mutually coupled to destabilize the memory point of the associative memory storing the plurality of prototype patterns to cause oscillation. The pattern generation device according to claim 1, which is caused. 3. The neural network sets a value of each element in a portion where an information pattern such as a value of each element of an assumed pattern to be embodied or a symbol that can define them can be specified. The pattern generation device according to claim 2, wherein an intermediate value indicating ambiguity is set in a specific portion.