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55-736: Rambus Inc. is an American technology company that designs , develops and licenses chip interface technologies and architectures that are used in digital electronics products . The company, founded in 1990, is well known for inventing RDRAM and for its intellectual property -based litigation following the introduction of DDR-SDRAM memory. Rambus was founded in March 1990 by electrical and computer engineers , Mike Farmwald and Mark Horowitz . The company's early investors included premier venture capital and investment banking firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers , Merrill Lynch , Mohr Davidow Ventures , and Goldman Sachs . Rambus

110-553: A "clear and convincing" show of bad faith, and ruled that Rambus' destruction of key related documents ( spoliation of evidence ) nullified its right to enforce its patents against Micron. In July 2009, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected 8 claims by Rambus against Nvidia. On November 24, 2009, the USPTO rejected all 17 claims in three Rambus patents that the company asserted against Nvidia in

165-515: A 9–3 vote. In a statement posted on the company's website, Rambus CEO Harold Hughes said: "We are reviewing our options for appeal". On January 24, 2012, a USPTO appeals board declared the third of three patents known as the "Barth patents" invalid. The first two had been declared invalid in September 2011. Rambus had used these patents to win infringement lawsuits against Nvidia Corp and Hewlett-Packard . On June 28, 2013, The Court of Appeals for

220-434: A change in strategy to a less litigious, more collaborative approach, distancing themselves from accusations of patent trolling . Ronald Black, Rambus's CEO, said, "Somehow we got thrown into the patent troll bunch...This is just not the case." Product design Product Design Process: The product design process is a set of strategic and tactical activities, from idea generation to commercialization, used to create

275-662: A complaint filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). However the ITC has announced that out of five patents, Nvidia did violate three of them. Due to this ruling Nvidia faced a potential U.S. import ban on some of its chips used in the nForce , Quadro , GeForce , Tesla, and Tegra series graphics products—nearly every video card type manufactured by Nvidia. On June 20, 2011, Rambus went to trial against Micron and Hynix in California, seeking as much as $ 12.9 billion in damages for "a secret and unlawful conspiracy to kill

330-513: A first impression of us. People usually do not appreciate a rude person even if they are good looking. Similarly, a product can have an attractive appearance but if its function does not follow through it will most likely drop in regards to consumer interest. In this sense, designers are like communicators, they use the language of different elements in the product to express something. Product designers must consider every detail: how people use and misuse objects, potential flaws in products, errors in

385-483: A minimum latency of 45 ns, compared to 15 ns for PC133 SDRAM. RDRAMs can also be told to increase their latencies in order to prevent the possibility of two or more chips transmitting at the same time and causing a collision. However, SDRAM latency depends on the current state of memory so its latency can vary widely depending on what happened earlier and the strategy used by the SDRAM controller, while RDRAM latency

440-409: A new product paradigm to force the rest of the industry to catch up—fueling further innovation. Products designed to benefit people of all ages and abilities—without penalty to any group—accommodate our swelling aging population by extending independence and supporting the changing physical and sensory needs we all encounter as we grow older. Cryptography Research Cryptography Research, Inc.

495-466: A person's thoughts towards buying the product. Therefore, it is in the product designer's best interest to consider the audiences who are most likely to be the product's end consumers. Keeping in mind how consumers will perceive the product during the design process will direct towards the product’s success in the market. However, even within a specific audience, it is challenging to cater to each possible personality within that group. One solution to that

550-400: A plastic like substance opposed to traditional printers that spread ink across a page. The product design process, as expressed by Koberg and Bagnell, typically involves three main aspects: Depending on the kind of product being designed, the latter two sections are most often revisited (e.g. depending on how often the design needs revision, to improve it or to better fit the criteria). This

605-463: A product design. In a systematic approach, product designers conceptualize and evaluate ideas, turning them into tangible inventions and products. The product designer's role is to combine art, science, and technology to create new products that people can use. Their evolving role has been facilitated by digital tools that now allow designers to do things that include communicate , visualize, analyze, 3D modeling and actually produce tangible ideas in

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660-423: A product that's already on the market, such as developing an existing invention for another purpose. Invention-push innovation happens when there is an advancement in intelligence. This can occur through research or it can occur when the product designer comes up with a new product design idea. Design expression comes from the combined effect of all elements in a product. Colour tone, shape and size should direct

715-413: A revolutionary technology, make billions of dollars and hang onto power", Rambus lawyer Bart Williams told jurors. Rambus lost on November 16, 2011, in the jury trial and its shares dropped drastically, from $ 14.04 to $ 4.00 per share. On November 16, 2011, Rambus lost the antitrust case against Micron Technology and Hynix Semiconductor. The San Francisco County Superior Court jury ruled against Rambus in

770-580: A security component in the Blu-ray disc format, and played a role in the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray . The company's services group assists with security testing, disaster recovery, and training. Cryptography Research protects its core operations from outside attack by maintaining a secured local network that is not connected to the Internet at all. Employees who need to work with sensitive data have two computers on their desks — one to access

825-463: A standard to agree to license that technology under terms that are "reasonable and non-discriminatory", and Rambus withdrew from the organization in 1995. Memos from Rambus at that time showed they were tailoring new patent applications to cover features of SDRAM being discussed, which were public knowledge (JEDEC meetings are not secret) and perfectly legal for patent owners who have patented underlying innovations, but were seen as evidence of bad faith by

880-648: A variety of products in the company's IP portfolio. Today, Rambus derives the majority of its annual revenue by licensing its technologies and patents for chip interfaces to its customers. According to The Wall Street Journal , history of Rambus has been "marked by litigation, including patent battles with numerous chip makers". In 2015, Rambus acquired Integrion Microelectronics, a small Toronto based IP provider of high-speed analog SerDes PHY for an undisclosed amount. Through this acquisition, Rambus opened its 1st Canadian office and boosted its high-speed serdes IP portfolio offering. On August 17, 2015, Rambus announced

935-764: A way that would have taken greater human resources in the past. Product design is sometimes confused with (and certainly overlaps with) industrial design , and has recently become a broad term inclusive of service, software, and physical product design. Industrial design is concerned with bringing artistic form and usability, usually associated with craft design and ergonomics , together in order to mass-produce goods. Other aspects of product design and industrial design include engineering design , particularly when matters of functionality or utility (e.g. problem-solving) are at issue, though such boundaries are not always clear. There are various product design processes and many focus on different aspects. One example formulation/model of

990-491: Is a San Francisco based cryptography company specializing in applied cryptographic engineering, including technologies for building tamper-resistant semiconductors. It was purchased on June 6, 2011, by Rambus for $ 342.5M. The company licenses patents for protecting cryptographic devices against power analysis attacks. The company's CryptoFirewall-brand ASIC cores are used in pay TV conditional access systems and anti-counterfeiting applications. CRI also developed BD+ ,

1045-406: Is a continuous loop, where feedback is the main component. Koberg and Bagnell offer more specifics on the process: In their model, "analysis" consists of two stages, "concept" is only one stage, and "synthesis" encompasses the other four. (These terms notably vary in usage in different design frameworks. Here, they are used in the way they're used by Koberg and Bagnell.) The Double Diamond Framework

1100-413: Is a widely used approach for product discovery, which emphasizes a structured method for problem-solving and solution development, encouraging teams to diverge (broad exploration) before converging (focused decision-making). The framework is divided into two primary stages: diverging and converging, each with its own steps and considerations. Diverging Stage: During the diverging stage, teams explore

1155-493: Is capable of running at 3.2 GHz and is said to be faster than any memory technology available in consumer entertainment devices and PCs at the time. Rambus purchased Cryptography Research on June 6, 2011, for $ 342.5M. This will enable Rambus Inc. to develop its semiconductor licensing portfolio to include CRI's content protection and security. According to Rambus CEO Harold Hughes, the CRI security technologies would be applied to

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1210-698: Is constant once it has been established by the memory controller. RDRAM memory chips also put out significantly more heat than SDRAM chips, necessitating heatsinks on all RIMM devices. Rambus also developed and licensed its XDR DRAM technology, notably used in the PlayStation 3 , and more recently XDR2 DRAM . In the early 1990s, Rambus was invited to join the JEDEC . Rambus had been trying to interest memory manufacturers in licensing their proprietary memory interface, and numerous companies had signed non-disclosure agreements to view Rambus' technical data. During

1265-517: Is required, brainstorming possible ideas, creating mock prototypes and then generating the product. However, that is not the end. Product designers would still need to execute the idea, making it into an actual product and evaluating its success (seeing if any improvements are necessary). The product design process has experienced huge leaps in evolution over the last few years with the rise and adoption of 3D printing . New consumer-friendly 3D printers can produce dimensional objects and print upwards with

1320-490: Is to create a product that, in its designed appearance and function, expresses a personality or tells a story. Products that carry such attributes are more likely to give off a stronger expression that will attract more consumers. On that note it is important to keep in mind that design expression does not only concern the appearance of a product, but also its function. For example, as humans our appearance as well as our actions are subject to people's judgment when they are making

1375-582: The European Commission launched antitrust investigations against Rambus, taking the view that Rambus engaged in intentional deceptive conduct in the context of the standard-setting process for example by not disclosing the existence of the patents which it later claimed were relevant to the adopted standard. This type of behavior is known as a " patent ambush ". Against this background, the Commission provisionally considered that Rambus breached

1430-467: The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia , saying the case with Samsung should be dismissed, saying Judge Robert E. Payne's findings critical of Rambus, were on a case that had already been settled, and thus had no legal standing . On January 9, 2009, a Delaware federal judge ruled that Rambus could not enforce patents against Micron Technology Inc., stating that Rambus had

1485-423: The fashion industry , and buildings in architectural design . Most product designs fall under one of two categories: demand-pull innovation or invention-push innovation. Demand-pull happens when there is an opportunity in the market to be explored by the design of a product. This product design attempts to solve a design problem. The design solution may be the development of a new product or developing

1540-458: The EC Treaty's rules on abuse of a dominant market position (Article 82 EC Treaty) by subsequently claiming unreasonable royalties for the use of those relevant patents. The commission's preliminary view is that without its "patent ambush", Rambus would not have been able to charge the royalty rates it currently does. In 2013 and 2014, Rambus settled and agreed on licensing terms with several of

1595-539: The FTC complaint asserted that through the use of patent continuations and divisionals, Rambus pursued a strategy of expanding the scope of its patent claims to encompass the emerging SDRAM standard. The FTC's antitrust allegations against Rambus went to trial in the summer of 2003 after the organization formally accused Rambus of anti-competitive behavior the previous June, itself the result of an investigation launched in May 2002 at

1650-556: The FTC overturned McGuire's ruling, stating that Rambus illegally monopolized the memory industry under section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act , and also practiced deception that violated section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act . February 5, 2007, the FTC issued a ruling that limits maximum royalties that Rambus may demand from manufacturers of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), which

1705-637: The Federal Circuit reversed the USPTO and the '109 Barth patent's validity was reinstated: "In conclusion, the Board's determination that all 25 claims of the '109 Patent are invalid as anticipated by Farmwald is not supported by substantial evidence. Accordingly, this court reverses." In May 2002, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed charges against Rambus for antitrust violations. Specifically,

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1760-1230: The Inphi Memory Interconnect Business, such as customer contracts, product inventory, supply chain agreements, and intellectual property. On November 2, 2017, Rambus announced partnership with Interac Association and Samsung Canada to assist in enabling Samsung Pay in Canada. In 2018, Rambus agreed to renew a patent license with Nvidia . Rambus would be sharing its patent portfolio, including those covering serial links and memory controllers , with Nvidia. On December 11, 2019, Rambus HBM2 PHY and Memory Controller IP were announced to be used in Inflame Technology's AI training chip. In 2019, Rambus announced that it will move headquarters from Sunnyvale, California to North San Jose , California. In 2021, Rambus announced that it started an expedited share buyback program with Deutsche Bank to buy up roughly $ 100 million in common stock. Rambus also acquired two companies, AnalogX and PLDA, which specialize in physical links for PCIe and CXL protocols. In May 2022, it

1815-424: The behest of the memory manufacturers. The FTC's chief administrative-law judge, Stephen J. McGuire, dismissed the antitrust claims against Rambus in 2006, saying that the memory industry had no reasonable alternatives to Rambus technology and was aware of the potential scope of Rambus patent rights, according to the company. Soon after, FTC investigators filed a brief to appeal against that ruling. On August 2, 2006,

1870-505: The case. Thus, the case returned to Virginia per the CAFC ruling. In January 2005, Rambus filed four more lawsuits against memory chip makers Hynix Semiconductor , Nanya Technology , Inotera Memories and Infineon Technology claiming that DDR2, GDDR2 and GDDR3 chips contain Rambus technology. In March 2005, Rambus had its claim for patent infringements against Infineon dismissed. When Rambus

1925-465: The companies involved in long-running disputes. On December 13, 2013, Rambus entered an agreement with Micron to let the latter use some of its patents, in exchange for $ 280 million worth of royalties over seven years. In June 2013, the company settled with SK Hynix, with Hynix paying $ 240 million to settle the disputes. In March 2014, Rambus and Nanya signed a 5-year patent licensing agreement, settling earlier claims. Rambus said these deals were part of

1980-442: The design process, and the ideal ways people wish they could interact with those objects. Many new designs will fail and many won't even make it to market. Some designs eventually become obsolete. The design process itself can be quite frustrating usually taking 5 or 6 tries to get the product design right. A product that fails in the marketplace the first time may be re-introduced to the market 2 more times. If it continues to fail,

2035-481: The early 1990s, finding that the memory manufacturers did not meet their burden of proving antitrust and fraud claims. On April 22, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned the FTC reversal of McGuire's 2006 ruling, saying that the FTC had not established that Rambus had harmed the competition. On February 23, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the bids by the FTC to impose royalty sanctions on Rambus via antitrust penalties. July 30, 2007,

2090-512: The jury in the first Infineon v. Rambus trial. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) rejected this theory of bad faith in its decision overturning the fraud conviction Infineon achieved in the first trial (see below). In 2000, Rambus began filing lawsuits against the largest memory manufacturers, claiming that they owned SDRAM and DDR technology. Seven manufacturers, including Samsung , quickly settled with Rambus and agreed to pay royalties on SDRAM and DDR memory. In May 2001, Rambus

2145-569: The later Infineon v. Rambus trial, Infineon memos from a meeting with representatives of other manufacturers surfaced, including the line "[O]ne day all computers will be built this way, but hopefully without the royalties going to Rambus", and continuing with a strategy discussion for reducing or eliminating royalties to be paid to Rambus. As Rambus continued its participation in JEDEC, it became apparent that they were not prepared to agree to JEDEC's patent policy requiring owners of patents included in

2200-547: The new R+ DDR4 server memory chips RB26 DDR4 RDIMM and RB26 DDR4 LRDIMM. The chipset includes a DDR4 Register Clock Driver and Data Buffer , and it's fully-compliant with the JEDEC DDR4. In 2016, Rambus acquired Semtech's Snowbush IP for US$ 32.5 million. Snowbush IP provides analog and mixed-signal IP technologies, and will expand Rambus' product offerings. In 2016, Rambus acquired Inphi Memory Interconnect Business, for US$ 90 million. The acquisition includes all assets of

2255-492: The problem space broadly without predefined solutions. This phase involves engaging with core personas, conducting open-ended conversations, and gathering unfiltered input from customer-facing teams. The goal is to identify and document various problem areas, allowing themes and key issues to emerge naturally. Converging Stage: As insights emerge, teams transition to the converging stage, where they narrow down problem areas and prioritize solutions. This phase involves defining

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2310-526: The problem, understanding major pain points, and advocating for solutions within the organization. Effective convergence requires clear articulation of the problem's significance and consideration of business strategies and feasibility. Iterative Process: The Double Diamond Framework is iterative, allowing teams to revisit stages as needed based on feedback and outcomes. Moving back to earlier stages may be necessary if solutions fail to address underlying issues or elicit negative user responses. Success lies in

2365-418: The process is described by Don Koberg and Jim Bagnel in "The Seven Universal Stages of Creative Problem-Solving." The process is usually completed by a group of people with different skills and training—e.g. industrial designers , field experts (prospective users), engineers (for engineering design aspects), depending upon the nature and type of the product involved. The process often involves figuring out what

2420-450: The product is then considered to be dead because the market believes it to be a failure. Most new products fail, even if there's a great idea behind them. All types of product design are clearly linked to the economic health of manufacturing sectors. Innovation provides much of the competitive impetus for the development of new products, with new technology often requiring a new design interpretation. It only takes one manufacturer to create

2475-591: The ruling did not prohibit Rambus from collecting royalties on products based on DDR2 SDRAM, GDDR2, and other JEDEC post-DDR memory standards. Rambus has appealed the FTC Opinion/Remedy and awaits a court date for the appeal. On March 26, 2008, the jury of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California determined that had Rambus acted properly while a member of the standard-setting organization JEDEC during its participating in

2530-508: The team's ability to adapt and refine their approach over time. In design , Creative Visualization refers to the process by which computer generated imagery , digital animation , three-dimensional models , and two-dimensional representations, such as architectural blueprints , engineering drawings , and sewing patterns are created and used in order to visualize a potential product prior to production. Such products include prototypes for vehicles in automotive engineering , apparel in

2585-452: The world's largest memory manufacturer, and terminated Samsung's license. Samsung had promoted Rambus's RDRAM and currently remains a licensee of Rambus's XDR memory. In February 2006, Micron Technology sued Rambus, alleging that Rambus had violated RICO and deliberately harmed Micron. On April 29, 2008, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a ruling vacating the order of

2640-496: Was incorporated and founded as California company in 1990 and then re-incorporated in the state of Delaware before the company went public in 1997 on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol RMBS. In the 1990s, Rambus was a high-speed interface technology development and marketing company that invented 600 MHz interface technology, which solved memory bottleneck issues faced by system designers. Rambus's technology

2695-573: Was accused of shredding key documents prior to court hearings , the judge agreed and dismissed Rambus's case against Infineon. This led Rambus to negotiate a settlement with Infineon, which agreed to pay Rambus quarterly license fees of $ 5.9 million and in return, both companies ceased all litigation against each other. The agreement ran from November 2005 to November 2007. After this date, if Rambus had enough remaining agreements in place, Infineon may make extra payments up to $ 100 million. In June 2005, Rambus also sued one of its strongest proponents, Samsung,

2750-559: Was an open standard , accessible to all semiconductor companies, such as Intel . Rambus provided companies who licensed its technology a full range of reference designs and engineering services. Rambus's interface technology was broadly licensed to leading DRAM , ASIC and PC peripheral chipset suppliers in the 1990s. Licensees of Rambus's RDRAM technology included companies such as Creative Labs , Intel , Microsoft , Nintendo , Silicon Graphics , Hitachi , Hyundai , IBM , Molex , Macronix and NEC . Rambus RDRAM technology

2805-673: Was announced Rambus had acquired the Montreal -headquartered electronic design company, Hardent. In July 2023, Rambus sold its SerDes and memory interface PHY IP business to Cadence Design Systems for $ 110 million. In September 2023, it was announced the acquisition had been completed. An early version of RDRAM , base RDRAM, was used in the Nintendo 64 that was released in 1996. Disadvantages of RDRAM technology include significantly increased latency, power dissipation as heat, manufacturing complexity, and cost. PC800 RDRAM operated with

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2860-407: Was based on a very high speed, chip-to-chip interface that was incorporated on dynamic random-access-memory ( DRAM ) components , processors and controllers , which achieved performance rates over ten times faster than conventional DRAMs . Rambus's RDRAM transferred data at 600 MHz over a narrow byte-wide Rambus Channel to Rambus-compatible Integrated Circuits (ICs). Rambus's interface

2915-480: Was found guilty of fraud for having claimed that it owned SDRAM and DDR technology, and all infringement claims against memory manufacturers were dismissed. In January 2003, the CAFC overturned the fraud verdict of the jury trial in Virginia under Judge Payne, issued a new claims construction, and remanded the case back to Virginia for re-trial on infringement. In October 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear

2970-426: Was integrated into products such as Nintendo 64 , Microsoft 's Talisman 3D graphics chip set, Creative Labs Graphics Blaster 3D Graphics cards for PCs , workstations manufactured by Silicon Graphics and Intel's system memory chipsets for PCs. In 2003, Rambus Incorporated announced that Toshiba Corp. and Elpida Memory Inc. will produce its new memory technology, known as XDR DRAM. The memory technology

3025-604: Was set to 0.5% for DDR SDRAM for 3 years from the date the commission's Order is issued and then going to 0; while SDRAM's maximum royalty was set to 0.25%. The Commission claimed that halving the DDR SDRAM rate for SDRAM would reflect the fact that while DDR SDRAM utilizes four of the relevant Rambus technologies, SDRAM uses only two. In addition to collecting fees for DRAM chips, Rambus will also be able to receive 0.5% and 1.0% royalties for SDRAM and DDR SDRAM memory controllers or other non-memory chip components respectively. However,

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