Sony buys IPIX assets
As reported first by Scott Highton in the forums, it turns out that Sony is the thus far anonymous buyer of the IPIX assets. When IPIX filed chapter 7 almost 6 months ago, the industry was abuzz with speculation what would happen with the infamous fisheye patents.
Read the news as it emerges
At this time, still very little is known about what Sony will do with the assets and IP they acquired. The news seems to focus on IPIX' gigapixel technologies, but in the past Sony has had an interest in VR photogrpahy, judging from an earlier product: a Full-Circle 360° Camera Module. The PDF has some more images.
The SONY product seems to be a research prototype, more than a commercial product. Interestingly, the applications seem to focus on security, like IPIX used to do in their final years. In this area, gigapixel technology means more detail and better recognition. Even though that makes sense, all of this is still pure speculation.
Re: Sony buys IPIX assets
One of the more interesting conversations I had at Photokina 2006 was with a senior producer, in Sony's Imaging System Development Section,
Mr. T. Yoshimura. As I recall he mentioned that he had developed a 360-video system over three years ago at Sony, and had
been pushing the company to include 360º video into some of the products like PlayStation. So $3.6 million to own US
Patents from IPIX, would seem to be a bargain vs. defending your R&D IP in the courts. I suspect 360º video for
everyday use is much closer than many of us believed.
Re: Sony buys IPIX assets
Andrew
Those would be the original patents.
iPIX has filed many patents since then, especially in the 360° Video area.
I suspect Sony's main interest is in the 360° Video technology and Gigapixel Video Camera technology as they have gotten into security cameras in a big way. I was looking at "web-cam" equipment suppliers online and Sony was heavily represented.
Douglas Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
Re: Sony buys IPIX assets
When do their patents expire?
If I recall, patents are good for 17 years. Bypassing even the napkin calculation protocol it would seem that they are well past the half-way point.
Please correct me.
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btw - cool update that adds pop up thumbnails of what to expect at the links. I'm guessing this is site-wide.