News and Reviews....

Digital Cable See it NOW or NOT   May 2007

By Robert Lieto

A Gremlin lies beneath all Digital HDTV signals which surfaced at the National Cable Television Show in Las Vegas (May 7). It is quietly voiced in the form of multiple patent-infringement lawsuits by Rembrandt technologies against U.S Cable companies. Rembrandt is a patent controlling company and it is going against the biggest in the cable industry including Charter, Cox, Cablevision, Comcast and Time-Warner. It alleges that by offering digital cable programs they have infringed on a portfolio of patents controlled by Rembrandt related to the reception and transmission of signals based on the U.S. digital HDTV standard.  Yes folks the very HDTV signals that the cable companies are using to promote their services are in the balance. The worst case for cable operators is a preliminary injunction ordering them to stop distributing HDTV until the case goes through court. The cable guys aren't the only ones in the balance, ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX were also hit with infringement complaints.

Rembrandt is armed with eight U.S. patents covering varying aspects of the U.S digital TV standard. The two most often cited are for "signal point interleaving technique" (#5,243627) and "system and method for establishing link-layer parameters based on physical-layer modulation" (#5,852631)

The story starts a long time ago (Circa 1990) when the FCC allocated the process of a Digital Standard to the Grand Alliance, a group of TV industry movers and shakers (* See Reviews Listed Below) They had among them AT & T Bell Labs which had acquired a portfolio from a company called Paradyne, once a unit of AT & T/Lucent technologies. Rembrandt acquired the patent portfolio from A T & T Bell Labs. The first complaint filed in September 2005 against Comcast is scheduled for hearing soon in U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Rembrandt feels their chances of winning in court are very good. Industry observers are treating the complaints "related to the transmission of digital data over band-limited channels" relevant enough to cause concern for cable operators. The devil in the details is that it is unlikely that the users actually manufacture the equipment that uses or abuses the techniques.  And so it may come down to whose equipment they use and whether they have a license. And does the manufacturer promise to indemnify their customers. The cable operators may still be held or worse, the judge can enjoin operators from delivering HDTV. More to come.

Comment .....  And so while we are at the brink of Analog to Digital change, the very format for delivery is under fire. Hold on to your hats folks and hope the consumer doesn't pay the price. Then again, who else is there.

Supporting Reviews

HDTV... AS I See It    October 2001

The End of Analog TV   January 2005