Patents by Inventor Howard Hicks

Howard Hicks has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7440392
    Abstract: A deinterleaver module in an OFDM wireless transceiver includes partitioned memory banks for storage of code word fragments from an interleaved data stream, each code word fragment associated with a prescribed subcarrier frequency. Each code word fragment includes a prescribed number of code word bits based on a prescribed modulation of the interleaved data stream, and the code word bits for each code word fragment are written into respective selected locations of the corresponding memory bank based on the prescribed modulation and the corresponding prescribed subcarrier frequency. The deinterleaver module outputs deinterleaved data from the memory banks based on parallel output of the respective stored code word bits from a selected address of the memory banks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2008
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Chien-Meen Hwang, Peter Chan, Howard Hicks, Chih (Rex) Hsueh, Liping Zhang
  • Patent number: 7382831
    Abstract: A Viterbi decoder is configured for subtracting each survivor metric for each corresponding encoder state by a prescribed subtraction operator based on a prescribed event. The subtraction of each survivor metric by a prescribed subtraction operator based on a prescribed event minimizes memory requirements in the accumulated metric table by limiting the survivor metric values to a identifiable range. Hence, the Viterbi decoder can be implemented in an economical manner with reduced memory requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2008
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Chihming (Norman) Chen, Howard Hicks, Chien-Meen Hwang
  • Patent number: 7248637
    Abstract: A Viterbi decoder is configured for outputting a prescribed plural number of decoded bit pairs upon execution of each backtracing operation based on accessing a second prescribed number of state history table entries from a surviving state history table. The outputting of more bits per backtrace operation lowers the number of memory accesses, and enables the Viterbi decoder to maintain a high throughput of data flow while maintaining an acceptable bit error rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Chien-Meen Hwang, Christine Lee, Howard Hicks
  • Patent number: 7233612
    Abstract: A deinterleaver module in an OFDM wireless transceiver includes partitioned memory banks for storage of code word fragments from an interleaved data stream, each code word fragment associated with a prescribed subcarrier frequency. Each code word fragment includes a prescribed number of code word bits based on a prescribed modulation of the interleaved data stream, and the code word bits for each code word fragment are written into respective selected locations of the corresponding memory bank based on the prescribed modulation and the corresponding prescribed subcarrier frequency. Write enable signals, bit selection signals, and address signals for each of the code word bits are generated based on applying logical operands to a cascaded sequence of successively delayed signals synchronous with a local clock signal. The deinterleaver module outputs deinterleaved data from the memory banks based on parallel output of the respective stored code word bits from a selected address of the memory banks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2007
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Liping Zhang, Peter Chan, Howard Hicks, Chih (Rex) Hsueh, Chien-Meen Hwang
  • Publication number: 20040252794
    Abstract: A Viterbi decoder is configured for outputting a prescribed plural number of decoded bit pairs upon execution of each backtracing operation based on accessing a second prescribed number of state history table entries from a surviving state history table. The outputting of more bits per backtrace operation lowers the number of memory accesses, and enables the Viterbi decoder to maintain a high throughput of data flow while maintaining an acceptable bit error rate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2003
    Publication date: December 16, 2004
    Inventors: Chien-Meen Hwang, Christine Lee, Howard Hicks
  • Publication number: 20040162931
    Abstract: A deinterleaver module in an OFDM wireless transceiver includes partitioned memory banks for storage of code word fragments from an interleaved data stream, each code word fragment associated with a prescribed subcarrier frequency. Each code word fragment includes a prescribed number of code word bits based on a prescribed modulation of the interleaved data stream, and the code word bits for each code word fragment are written into respective selected locations of the corresponding memory bank based on the prescribed modulation and the corresponding prescribed subcarrier frequency. The deinterleaver module outputs deinterleaved data from the memory banks based on parallel output of the respective stored code word bits from a selected address of the memory banks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 19, 2003
    Publication date: August 19, 2004
    Inventors: Chien-Meen Hwang, Peter Chan, Howard Hicks, Chih Hsueh, Liping Zhang