Abstract: A product-display system for displaying and securing a retail product. The system may include a retainer having a retainer bracket and a retainer body coupled to the retainer bracket. A retaining cable may be coupled to the retainer body at an opening in the retainer body. A fastener that may be unfastened to release the product from the retainer may only be accessed through the opening of the retainer body such that when the retaining cable is coupled to the opening, no fasteners of the retainer may be visible or accessible. The system may also include a display stem for holding the retainer and product. The display stem may include a recess for receiving at least a portion of the retainer body. The retaining cable may extend through the display stem and may simultaneously transmit power and data to a displayed product. The retainer may be returned to and held on top of the display stem using a retaining cable.

Abstract: A fabricating method of a semiconductor device is provided. Pillars are formed on a substrate. A first oxide layer is continuously formed on upper surfaces and side walls of the pillars by non-conformal liner atomic layer deposition. The first oxide layer continuously covers the pillars and has at least one first opening. The first oxide layer is partially removed to expose the upper surfaces of the pillars, and a first supporting element is formed on the side wall of each of the pillars. The first supporting element is located at a first height on the side wall of the corresponding pillar and surrounds the periphery of the corresponding pillar. The first supporting elements around two adjacent pillars are connected and the first supporting elements around two opposite pillars do not mutually come into contact and have a second opening therebetween.

Abstract: Four nylon legs were added to old Lazy Susan to allow much improved functionality of the device. Work to date demonstrates that the addition of a set of four nylon legs represents a major departure from, and adds a new dimension to, the age-old Lazy Susan. As such, this seemingly small difference between Lazy Susan and my Moby Susan may prove to be very substantial and significant. Incorporation of Moby Susan as a built-in feature in the design of future microwave ovens is suggested.

Abstract: An integrated circuit device includes a semiconductor substrate having a first region and second region, a conductive via positioned in the first region of the semiconductor substrate, at least one active element positioned in the second region of the semiconductor substrate, a conductive layer extending from the first region to the second region and electrically connecting the conductive via to the active element, and an auxiliary structure positioned in the first region of the semiconductor substrate and proximate to the conductive via. The auxiliary structure can be a stress-absorbing structure, and the volume of the stress-absorbing structure decreases as the volume of the conductive via increases. The auxiliary structure can be a heat-evacuating structure, and the heat-evacuating structure is configured to transfer the operating heat generated by the active element from the first region of the semiconductor substrate to the conductive via through the conductive layer.

Abstract: An integrated circuit device includes a semiconductor substrate having a first region and second region, a conductive via positioned in the first region of the semiconductor substrate, at least one active element positioned in the second region of the semiconductor substrate, a conductive layer extending from the first region to the second region and electrically connecting the conductive via to the active element, and an auxiliary structure positioned in the first region of the semiconductor substrate and proximate to the conductive via. The auxiliary structure can be a stress-absorbing structure, and the volume of the stress-absorbing structure decreases as the volume of the conductive via increases. The auxiliary structure can be a heat-evacuating structure, and the heat-evacuating structure is configured to transfer the operating heat generated by the active element from the first region of the semiconductor substrate to the conductive via through the conductive layer.

Abstract: A fabricating method of a semiconductor device is provided. Pillars are formed on a substrate. A first oxide layer is continuously formed on upper surfaces and side walls of the pillars by non-conformal liner atomic layer deposition. The first oxide layer continuously covers the pillars and has at least one first opening. The first oxide layer is partially removed to expose the upper surfaces of the pillars, and a first supporting element is formed on the side wall of each of the pillars. The first supporting element is located at a first height on the side wall of the corresponding pillar and surrounds the periphery of the corresponding pillar. The first supporting elements around two adjacent pillars are connected and the first supporting elements around two opposite pillars do not mutually come into contact and have a second opening therebetween.

Abstract: Hierarchical modulation preferably uses a 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulator with a convolutional encoder that combine to effectively provide unequal protection to two different segments of streaming input data, with improved power efficiency with the same bandwidth efficiency, by encoding the first segment as coded data as LSBs as the second segment remains uncoded as uncoded MSBs, with the MSBs used for QAM constellation modest reliability interquadrant demodulation and detection, and with the LSBs used for low reliability intraquadrant detection, but with the LSBs subject to convolutional encoding and decoding rendering the LSBs with high reliability detection, such that, the two segments have unequal coding and modulation for providing unequal levels of reliability detection.

Abstract: A method is provided for providing a shoe sole profile shape for an individual who has a prescribed ankle angular motion for at least a partial heel-to-toe foot motion of the individual. A shoe sole geometry is determined that provides a substantially invariant roll-over shape for level ground walking that accommodates the prescribed ankle angular motion of the individual. The shoe sole geometry then is imparted to a shoe sole by machining, molding or other shaping operation.

Abstract: Hierarchical modulation preferably uses a 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulator with a convolutional encoder that combine to effectively provide unequal protection to two different segments of streaming input data, with improved power efficiency with the same bandwidth efficiency, by encoding the first segment as coded data as LSBs as the second segment remains uncoded as uncoded MSBs, with the MSBs used for QAM constellation modest reliability interquadrant demodulation and detection, and with the LSBs used for low reliability intraquadrant detection, but with the LSBs subject to convolutional encoding and decoding rendering the LSBs with high reliability detection, such that, the two segments have unequal coding and modulation for providing unequal levels of reliability detection.

Abstract: A parallel orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) communications system includes a transmitter and receiver, the transmitter having a parallel fast Fourier transform (FFT) module operating in parallel to a conventional inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) module for providing respective orthogonal outputs received by the receiver. The receiver has a parallel IFFT module and a conventional FFT module for providing respective orthogonal outputs. The respective orthogonal outputs are combined to form a composite signal that provides improved insensitivity to relative frequency offsets and Doppler frequency offsets. The parallel FFT and IFFT modules in the OFDM communication system provides improved signal diversity and performance in the presence of relative frequency offsets and Doppler frequency offsets, and provides improved tracking capability for the receiver with backward compatibility.

Abstract: A turbo coded communication system includes a gray scale mapper in a transmitter for generating a symbol constellation of modulated signals points that can be separated by boundary lines in the constellation space into bitwise groups of zero bits and one bits where the shortest distance from a boundary line to received value in the constellation space indicates the bitwise soft metrics that is computed using a set of bitwise soft metric equations are a function of the minimum distance using closed form algebraic equations in turbo decoding receiver. In the case of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), the bit boundary lines are predetermined by a minimum distance in the constellation space for a specified M-ary modulation, so that, the soft metric equations are only a function of the received signal value for providing efficient computation of the bitwise soft metric.

Abstract: A turbo coded communication system includes a gray scale mapper in a transmitter for generating a symbol constellation of modulated signals points that can be separated by boundary lines in the constellation space into bitwise groups of zero bits and one bits where the shortest distance from a boundary line to received value in the constellation space indicates the bitwise soft metrics that is computed using a set of bitwise soft metric equations are a function of a minimum angle using closed form algebraic equations in turbo decoding receiver. In the case of phase shift keying (PSK) modulation, the bit boundary lines are predetermined by a minimum angle in the constellation space for a specified M-ary modulation, so that, the soft metric equations are only a function of the received signal value for providing efficient computation of the bitwise soft metric.

Abstract: A turbo coded communication system includes a gray scale mapper in a transmitter for generating a symbol constellation of modulated signals points that can be separated by boundary lines in the constellation space into bitwise groups of zero bits and one bits where the shortest distance from a boundary line to received value in the constellation space indicates the bitwise soft metrics that is computed using a set of bitwise soft metric equations are a function of a minimum angle using closed form algebraic equations in turbo decoding receiver. In the case of phase shift keying (PSK) modulation, the bit boundary lines are predetermined by a minimum angle in the constellation space for a specified M-ary modulation, so that, the soft metric equations are only a function of the received signal value for providing efficient computation of the bitwise soft metric.

Abstract: A parallel orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) communications system includes a transmitter and receiver, the transmitter having a parallel fast Fourier transform (FFT) module operating in parallel to a conventional inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) module for providing respective orthogonal outputs received by the receiver. The receiver has a parallel IFFT module and a conventional FFT module for providing respective orthogonal outputs. The respective orthogonal outputs are combined to form a composite signal that provides improved insensitivity to relative frequency offsets and Doppler frequency offsets. The parallel FFT and IFFT modules in the OFDM communication system provides improved signal diversity and performance in the presence of relative frequency offsets and Doppler frequency offsets, and provides improved tracking capability for the receiver with backward compatibility.

Abstract: This invention disclosure describes a stretchable and continuously adjustable strap of my design. It is shown that pairs of this type of straps can accommodate an essentially complete range of human waistlines from that of an infant to as large as 58″ with minimal stretching, and up to 100″ with 100% elongation of the elastic belts, when used in one of the recommended configurations in connection with a commercially available incontinence garments (a.k.a. belted undergarments). Straps of my invention can be made with elastic material that is readily available in the textile industry. Significant economic advantage inherent in my invention for mass-production and distribution is expected.

Abstract: An adaptive predistorter system receives and predistorts an input signal so as to linearize the output signal of a nonlinear high power amplifier amplifying the predistorted input signal using closed-loop feedback of the output signal in complex form at baseband so as to adaptively change the amount of the predistortion of the input signal in the presence of high power amplifier changing characteristics.

Abstract: An adaptive predistorter system receives and predistorts an input signal so as to linearize the output signal of a nonlinear high power amplifier amplifying the predistorted input signal using closed-loop feedback of the output signal in complex form at baseband so as to adaptively change the amount of the predistortion of the input signal in the presence of high power amplifier changing characteristics.

Abstract: The turbo coding system combines: a) repetitive turbo encoder bit partitioning and decoder bit deletion; with b) error-floor mitigating encoder non-flushing the second constituent encoder with the second a-posteriori probability (APP) decoder starting backward recursion from any possible states as a powerful improvement to conventional turbo coding. The repetitive turbo encoding process repeats the bits of the systematic root sequence and appends flushing sequence prior to interleaving and encoding by the second constituent turbo encoder for providing an interleaved repetitive second encoded output for turbo decoding. The error-floor mitigating turbo encoding process does not flush the second constituent encoder to the zero ending state so that turbo decoding forward recursion may be end in any possible state and backward recursion may start from any possible state to avoid potential mismatches between the forward and backward recursions.

Abstract: The turbo encoding process does not flush tail bits of the second constituent encoder at the end of a block systematic data so that this second constituent encoder is not placed in a known zero ending state but placed in any possible ending state from which backward recursion starts at all possible beginning states during decoding to estimate the systematic data while avoiding potential mismatches between the forward and backward recursions during decoding, and between the systematic and second parity-check tail bits during decoding. The modified a posterior probability second decoder implements the backward recursion starting from all possible states. Significant bit error rate improvement is had without a significant error floor in the range of interest. Iterative decoding provides iterative results that are subject to majority voting selection for improved estimations of the decoded systematic data sequence.

Abstract: An nth root transformation is used for generating near Gaussian metrics from non-Gaussian metrics for input into a conventional turbo decoder that is based on the assumption that the input sequence to the decoder has a Gaussian distribution. The nth root transformation transforms channel non-Gaussian statistics to near Gaussian statistics for use with conventional turbo decoding for improved noncoherent communications over a non-Gaussian channel, such as a fading channel. For a differential coherent PSK waveform, where the channel statistics of a demodulator are non-Gaussian, for example, in the presence of fading, the nth root transformation is used to transform the non-Gaussian statistics to near Gaussian statistics for generating near Gaussian metrics, for improved PSK communications.