For further details, please scroll down and click below on the technology of interest.  For copies of issued US Patents, published applications, and PTO prosecution activity, please go to our page entitled "View IP at PTO".

- Cell Phone Technology -

 Video Voicemail

SOLD at ICAP Live IP Auction on Nov 17, 2011 !!!  

The ways people communicate with phones today are well established - you make the call, if the other party is available you talk, if they're not, you leave a message.  It's the natural way to communicate.  The Video-Voice paradigm described in US Patent 7,092,735 and new Reissue Patent RE42210 builds upon this natural mechanism adding high-resolution images and video clips to the conversation.  If the other party is not available, you still leave a message - it just has more information than before.  And, if you want a record of what was said, you can record a realtime conversation, something that is never done today but can be extremely useful. Video-Voice communications and Video-Voicemail are the next generation of image-enhanced mobile communications for mobile workgroups and mobile families.

To view a detailed description, please click here.

Courtesy Answer

SOLD

Making Cell Phones Courteous!

To a large percentage of the populace, cell phones are annoying - especially when operated by people who are less than courteous.  This document describes functionalities that reduce the level of annoyance, or in some cases, eliminate it.

These functionalities fall into three categories:

Ø      Flip-Phone Ring Truncation

Ø      Courtesy Answer method

Ø      Vibrating Bluetooth Headset

§         Remote Ring Indicator/Controller/Communicator

Claims have been allowed and the first patent should issue in Q207.  A Divisional application is also being filed.

To view a detailed description, please click here.

- Programmable IC Technology -

Hybrid-FPGA  (Embedded FPGA)

SOLD 

What is a Hybrid-FPGA, anyway?

Ø      An Application-Specific FPGA?

Ø      A DSP Accelerator or co-processor?

Ø      The first practical Embedded FPGA for Structured ASIC and SOC?

Well actually, it’s all three.  In technical terms, it’s an FPGA with a Hybrid Interconnect Structure.  In other words, a Hybrid FPGA fabric consists of a combination of logic modules and a unique combination of interconnect.  The logic modules may have either fixed function or field-programmable function, while the interconnect between the modules consists of a (hybrid) combination of fixed wiring and field-programmable wiring.

 To view more detailed information, please choose from one of the following topics:

Hybrid FPGA Architecture

Hybrid FPGA as part of a Programmable Instruction DSP

Hybrid FPGA as a DSP Coprocessor

Structured SIP - Shippable ASIC Emulator

SOLD

A Structured SIP (System-In-Package) performs the function of the final embedded processor-based ASIC with the identical footprint.  It consists of a family of custom package substrates, each including a Processor ASIC device which contains an embedded processor (ARM, DSP, etc.) as well as many common functions such as processor RAM, ROM, Analog I/O, and standard bus interfaces.  It also has provision to mount a standard packaged FPGA or Structured ASIC device on top.

It’s an emulator you can ship!

To view a detailed description, please click here.

Binning for Structured ASICs

 SOLD 

The First practical binning for solution for ASICs

Speed-grading (binning for speed) has been offered on standard semiconductor ICs for decades.  Even FPGAs which are field-customizable are offered at different performance levels, often providing up to a 35% increase in speed and selling at up to a 100% premium.  But FPGAs are actually manufactured as standard components.  Speed grading, however, has never been offered for mask-programmed ASICs.  Structured ASICs (module-based ASICs configured with a small number of custom masks) are now becoming more popular every day due to high mask costs for SOC Standard Cell Devices.  For Structured ASICs as well as traditional mask-programmed gate arrays, an opportunity now exists to offer speed grading for ASICs - for the first time.

To view a detailed description, please click here.

This application was never published by the PTO. 

        To view the text as filed, please click here.

        To view the drawings as filed, please click here.

- Other Technologies -

Energy-Smart Home System

SOLD

An "Energy-Smart" Home System is described where the existing proliferation of electrical junction boxes in the typical home or building are used for a unique combination of purposes, supporting diverse functionalities that heretofore have not been combined, and enabling ease of installation with no new wiring.  The system relies on either wireless or power line network communication.  Energy-related information is gathered by way of EMAC (Energy Monitoring And Control) points installed at convenient locations such as electrical junction boxes used for power plug receptacles and wall switches.  In addition to being visually displayed at the point of energy use or measurement, energy-related information - electrical and thermal - is communicated through wireless or power line data links to a centrally located intelligent device such as a PC, Residential Gateway or Smart Thermostat. There, this information may be monitored, analyzed, profiled, viewed, and also used to enable energy-related control functions.  Energy consumption can be alternately displayed in terms of cost-per-time.  Energy monitoring is also added to the electrical breaker box, offering an easy way to supplement distributed EMAC points.  In general, this Energy-Smart Home System creates a form of "Bio-Feedback for Home Energy", making the consumer far more aware, enabling more effective and efficient energy usage, while at the same time creating an electrical power distribution and communications infrastructure that enables significant advancements in security, communications, and comfort, in addition to enhanced energy control and conservation.

The mother application was divided into 8 different inventions by the PTO.  One was prosecuted and issued as US Patent No 6,993,417 entitled “System for Energy Sensing, Analysis, and feedback”. One served as the basis for the CIP below entitled “Home Intrusion Confrontation Avoidance System” which combines video surveillance and remote control for lighting.  The other inventions have not been prosecuted and can be filed as divisional applications by a licensee.

To view a detailed description, please click here.

Home Intrusion Confrontation Avoidance System

SOLD

This system is enables the user to deal with an intrusion into their home without having to personally confront the intruder.  Given the night-time nature of many intruder events, a display and control unit is described that is suitable for residing on a bedside table, typically in the Master Bedroom, performing a remote viewing and control function.  Various locations within the particular home are represented by buttons such that the user can easily choose the location(s) to be viewed and can verify, among other things, the presence of an intruder.  Motion detection is various rooms may be included and viewing can be enhanced by lights controlled from this unit. The vision system can operate in low lighting conditions without alerting an intruder, or alternately, lights can be turned on by remote control to better view and frighten the intruder.  User interface features are included that are simple to operate when the user is half-awake.  Surveillance and control features may be combined with common bedside appliance functions including a clock-radio, a television, or a telephone.

To view a detailed description, please click here.

Multi-Window Internet Search with Preload

FOR SALE

 Today, Internet browsers and search engines operate independently. Users receive lists of links, and ping-pong back and forth between lists and individual Webpages, waiting on Internet delays each time. To view images on each page, this is especially painful. For auction and theme-based sites, users spend extended periods of time viewing images. Here, a new paradigm for browser and search engine is possible. By combining browser and search UI functions along with Webpage preloading, this new technology extracts maximum bandwidth from the PC and Internet enabling users to literally flip through actual Webpages 100x faster than conventional methods. 

The IP includes browser and search enhancements that improve the Internet search experience and webpage viewing experience. Issued claims cover prefetching webpages corresponding to search result hyperlinks and simultaneously displaying multiple active webpages in a configurable multi-window display. Not only are webpages corresponding to search result hyperlinks prefetched, descendent webpages of these webpages are also prefetched to further accelerate the search and viewing experience. In an alternative embodiment with issued claims, search requests are sent simultaneously to multiple search engines where the search results are aggregated and prioritized, webpages corresponding to search result links being viewed simultaneously in a configurable multi-window display. A pending Continuation application covers variations on multi-window browsing, and also a facility for altering the webpage zoom-factor in a manner utilized by current browsers including IE.

As predicted by the inventor in 2002, computer processing and network bandwidth has increased enormously over the last decade while search engine paradigms have remained relatively static. The IP represented in this lot offers the possibility of a major step forward where the ability to view multiple webpages simultaneously is advantageous. The IP offers potential enhancements to existing browsers and search engines to further enhance the search experience.  

To view more detailed information, please choose from one of the following topics:

Multi-Window Search Demo Video (audio required)