Tivo patents

[haysdb]

According to the US Patent Office, Tivo holds 189 patents.

List of Tivo patents (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=TIVO&FIELD1=&co1=AND&TERM2=&FIELD2=&d=PTXT)

These patents are pretty dry reading, but there's some interesting stuff in there: Multimedia time warping system - this was one of Tivo's first patents, and essentially patents the DVR. Obviously that one hasn't held up very well.
Automatic playback overshoot correction system
Multimedia visual progress indication system Multimedia schedule presentation system Television viewer interface system

[haysdb]

Tivo holds several patents on their remote control, specifically on the SHAPE and button layout. D424061
D424577
D431552
D433403
D463788

Check this out: 7,116,891 describes a method for using a single button for play, skip, and multiple fast forward speeds. A single button on the remote control would be useful to achieve the fast forward features, the skip feature, and the return to typical viewing. This would provide easier control for the user and alleviate the need to search for various buttons on the remote control.Press the play button once briefly and it skips 30 seconds. Hold it down for a second and you get 2x fast-forward. Continue to hold it down and you get 4x and 8x speed. Press the button while in FF mode returns to 1x speed. Absolutely bloody brilliant. When will we see it? WILL we see it?

[haysdb]

Not sure why the patent for the one-button play/skip/FF showed up in a search for Tivo. The patent itself doesn't seem to be a Tivo patent.

I do like the idea though.

[ChuckyBox]

Multimedia time warping system - this was one of Tivo's first patents, and essentially patents the DVR. Obviously that one hasn't held up very well.

It has held up well enough for them to win a $90 million award and an injunction against Echostar. (Pending appeal, of course.)

[Justin Thyme]

This Tivo patent (http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=tivo.AS.&OS=AN/tivo&RS=AN/tivo) makes very interesting reading too- lots of features that don't exist today, like taking your remote to someone else's house or while on a business trip and it lets you MRV to that Tivo and watch it there, because there is an RFID chip that authenticates you. Presumably when you leave, the show is still on the Tivo, but it cannot be played by anyone that doesn't have the remote.

Other features listed here (http://archive2.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3490651&&#post3490651)

[Gregor]

It has held up well enough for them to win a $90 million award and an injunction against Echostar. (Pending appeal, of course.)

Thought this had been appealed and lost once, and it's now in the rinse and repeat stage?

[hookbill]

Thought this had been appealed and lost once, and it's now in the rinse and repeat stage?

Yeah, that appeal is over. Last I head Echostar was threatening to buy TiVo to avoid having to exchange their boxes, but that was a while back.

[haysdb]

Yeah, that appeal is over. Last I head Echostar was threatening to buy TiVo to avoid having to exchange their boxes, but that was a while back.Then there is something more recent than this?

TiVo Loses Ground on Appeals Court Ruling (http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/oct2006/pi20061004_960230.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_investing )
TiVo (TIVO) shares went into rewind mode Oct. 4, a day after a federal appeals court granted EchoStar Communications' (DISH) request to stay a permanent injunction imposed by a lower court that would have prevented EchoStar from making, using, or selling certain digital video recorders (DVR) in the U.S. The appeals court ruling means that EchoStar will still sell its DVRs and keep existing ones in customers' homes, pending the outcome of EchoStar's appeal.

[MichaelK]

there's a thread here all about the case:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=293670&highlight=dish

Tivo won.

Tivo then got an injunction that DISH had to shut down basically all their dvr's.

Dish appealed that and got a stay of injunction pending their appeal.

The appeals seem to be ongoing.


Honestly I'm not sure if which patent it was- it might be that main one listed above. Basically the reason DISH lost was that Tivo patented (again not sure which patent- see the thread abopve to find out. the specific way they do things- not just the concept of the DVR. Basically TiVo uses a custom chip to handle the mpeg data so that it all doesn't have to run through the cpu. This allows the hardware to have a much wimpier CPU and barely any memory- so it makes the hardware much cheaper to produce.

[haysdb]

It was the "Time Warping System" patent.

Tivo can't lay claim to inventing the DVR. They did not. They CAN lay claim to the clever implementation details described in their "Time Warping System" patent, i.e. things which they DID invent.