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SUNNYVALE, Calif., and HSINCHU, Taiwan — Trident Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRID), a leading provider of set-top box and TV semiconductor solutions, and MStar Semiconductors, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a patent license agreement relating to a part of Trident's motion estimation and motion compensation (MEMC) patent portfolio. The licensed MEMC patents are directed to the display of high definition and 3D images for high-quality televisions and other video enabled LCD display devices and are a de facto standard approach for enhancing picture quality. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. MStar Semiconductor is a leading SOC chip supplier for consumer devices, with leading positions in solutions for portable and mobile consumer devices.
This patent license agreement follows an August 31, 2010 announcement that Trident was making a limited number of patent licenses available to TV OEMs and consumer electronics semiconductor providers for use in their consumer video devices under a portion of the Trident MEMC patent portfolio originally developed by Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Trident, a technology leader in the TV and set-top box markets, controls a broad patent portfolio that includes patents directed to MEMC, demodulators, audio, video, television interfaces, 3D, conditional access and general semiconductor circuit technology.
Trident has not disclosed the financial details of its licensing program. For additional information or to request a license, interested companies can contact Trident at: IP_Legal@tridentmicro.com.
{complink 9772|Trident Microsystems Inc.}
{complink 12928|MStar Semiconductor Inc.}
Thanks for the post Joseph
definitely there should be a sequenced life cycle in the field of semiconductor for defence because the requirementa may shoot up suddenly its very uncertain. the dubbed concept of SLim is really good especially th e waffer manufacturing should improve and speed up their process.
The approach of wafer banking to ensure the supply of the outdated ICs is a good insurance against the unavailability of old components. Here I would suggest another approach , that of portability. Most of the Semiconductor companies publish their product maps for the next 3 – 5 years and have planned phasing out of some component series while introducing new generation components. While designing the Electronics for military and aviation products if these product maps are taken into account and similar migration plans are made right at the time of initial design of the product then the problem of old parts becoming non-available can be solved by planned replacement of compatible newer components into the existing designs and thus keeping the product up-to-date.
SLim is definitely an answer to the woes of many military and avionics OEM companies struggling to get the required supply of older components. But who is going to actively start doing this. Is it the OEM's that should be formed as an organization to encourage this practice or the component suppliers who will be also benefited by this Slim to have constant sales for years? This will also result in making the OEM's stick to the working designs for very long times with out regularly changing designs. In addition to this it is also important for the engineers to design products by getting in line with component supplier road maps to avoid the faster obsolescence.
Interesting, yet naive. This approach would work for major components like the processors E2V provides, but the world of Mil / Aero Engineering is so comples and uses such a high mix of components, both Mil-Spec and COTS, that having this type of agreement in place for every component, even every manufacturer, is impossible. And there are a number of manufacturers who wouldn't even hear of it. They are driven by next gen technology and profit. Then there are a lot of fabless companies that would go undeer if they had to manage a program like this long-term. I think it is idealistic, but simplistic.