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MicroUnity
Private company located in Los Altos, California

MicroUnity Systems Engineering, Inc. was a private company located in Los Altos, California and an early developer of broadband microprocessor technologies licensed widely across digital media industries. John Moussouris was the CEO and Chairman for MicroUnity. In the 1990s the company had been developing what was described as a supercomputer-on-a-chip, designed to enable appliances to process and transmit videos, graphics, and audio.

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About

MicroUnity was founded in 1988 by John Moussouris, a physicist trained at Harvard University and as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University who had co-founded MIPS Computer Systems.234 The Chief Architect was Craig Hansen, who used to be Chief Architect at MIPS and NeXT.56 An early investor was Moussouris’ Harvard classmate William Randolph Hearst III, the publishing and media executive who became a partner at venture firm Kleiner Perkins.789 In the early 1990s, MicroUnity was backed by over $100 million from companies like Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Motorola, and telecommunications leaders like Time Warner and John Malone at Tele-Communications Inc.10111213

Early media processing technology

The company's main focus was a programmable media processor chip and associated software aimed at set-top boxes and other systems.141516

MicroUnity kept its product development secret until 1995.1718 In early 1996, the company published details at COMPCON 1920 of its media processor hardware and software designs. The technology processed media data of various types and width in a 128-bit data path in parallel.212223

Manufacturing innovations

MicroUnity developed its first designs in BiCMOS at a time when Intel Pentium Pro and Sun Microsystems SPARC were designed in BiCMOS.24 Company patents describe technologies intended for integration of analog media interfaces with digital circuits.25

MicroUnity patent infringement

In 2010, MicroUnity filed suit with 22 cellphone companies including some chip, system, and service providers on 15 of their patents26 on devices that "include TI's OMAP-3 and -4 processors, Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, the Apple iPhone 3GS, Google Nexus One, Motorola Droid, Nokia N900 and Palm Pre handsets..."27

References

  1. Helm, Leslie (1996-04-15). "John Moussouris has created a multimedia chip that could change the face of communications. Now he hopes the world will . . . : Follow His MUSE". Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-15-fi-58836-story.html ↩

  2. "Intel Settlement Revives a Fading Chip Designer". New York Times. 2005-10-20. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/technology/20micro.html?ei=5088&en=807c9200386edc49&ex=1287460800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1129817651-n+ShgGbjg0flxAD8txrwFQ&_r=0 ↩

  3. "John Moussouris". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://archive.today/20140706233958/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=6114524&privcapId=1025343 ↩

  4. "John Moussouris has created a multimedia chip that could change the face of communications. Now he hopes the world will . . . : Follow His MUSE". Los Angeles Times. 1996-04-17. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-15-fi-58836-story.html ↩

  5. "Intel Settlement Revives a Fading Chip Designer". New York Times. 2005-10-20. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/technology/20micro.html?ei=5088&en=807c9200386edc49&ex=1287460800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1129817651-n+ShgGbjg0flxAD8txrwFQ&_r=0 ↩

  6. "John Moussouris has created a multimedia chip that could change the face of communications. Now he hopes the world will . . . : Follow His MUSE". Los Angeles Times. 1996-04-17. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-15-fi-58836-story.html ↩

  7. "Intel Settlement Revives a Fading Chip Designer". New York Times. 2005-10-20. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/technology/20micro.html?ei=5088&en=807c9200386edc49&ex=1287460800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1129817651-n+ShgGbjg0flxAD8txrwFQ&_r=0 ↩

  8. "John Moussouris has created a multimedia chip that could change the face of communications. Now he hopes the world will . . . : Follow His MUSE". Los Angeles Times. 1996-04-17. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-15-fi-58836-story.html ↩

  9. "Chip Start-ups Big Payoff comes in at Last". New York Times. 2005-10-20. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.zdnet.com/article/chip-start-ups-big-payoff-comes-in-at-last/ ↩

  10. "Intel Settlement Revives a Fading Chip Designer". New York Times. 2005-10-20. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/technology/20micro.html?ei=5088&en=807c9200386edc49&ex=1287460800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1129817651-n+ShgGbjg0flxAD8txrwFQ&_r=0 ↩

  11. "John Moussouris has created a multimedia chip that could change the face of communications. Now he hopes the world will . . . : Follow His MUSE". Los Angeles Times. 1996-04-17. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-15-fi-58836-story.html ↩

  12. "Chip Start-ups Big Payoff comes in at Last". New York Times. 2005-10-20. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.zdnet.com/article/chip-start-ups-big-payoff-comes-in-at-last/ ↩

  13. "A Maverick Enters Chip Making". New York Times. 1994-02-23. Retrieved 2014-07-02. https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/23/business/business-technology-a-maverick-enters-chip-making.html?src=pm ↩

  14. "Intel Settlement Revives a Fading Chip Designer". New York Times. 2005-10-20. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/technology/20micro.html?ei=5088&en=807c9200386edc49&ex=1287460800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1129817651-n+ShgGbjg0flxAD8txrwFQ&_r=0 ↩

  15. "John Moussouris has created a multimedia chip that could change the face of communications. Now he hopes the world will . . . : Follow His MUSE". Los Angeles Times. 1996-04-17. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-15-fi-58836-story.html ↩

  16. "Chip Maker Introduces a Chip for Super Use and for Modems". New York Times. 1995-10-10. Retrieved 2014-07-02. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/10/business/chip-maker-introduces-a-chip-for-super-use-and-for-modems.html ↩

  17. "John Moussouris has created a multimedia chip that could change the face of communications. Now he hopes the world will . . . : Follow His MUSE". Los Angeles Times. 1996-04-17. Retrieved 2014-07-01. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-15-fi-58836-story.html ↩

  18. "Chip Maker Introduces a Chip for Super Use and for Modems". New York Times. 1995-10-10. Retrieved 2014-07-02. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/10/business/chip-maker-introduces-a-chip-for-super-use-and-for-modems.html ↩

  19. Hansen, C. (February 25–28, 1996). MicroUnity's Mediaprocessor Architecture. CompCon 1996 Technologies for the Digital Superhighway. IEEE Conference Publications. pp. 34–41. ↩

  20. Abbott, C.; Massalin, H.; Peterson, K.; Karzes, T.; Yamano, L.; Kellogg, G. (February 25–28, 1996). Broadband algorithms with the MicroUnity Mediaprocessor. CompCon 1996 Technologies for the Digital Superhighway. IEEE Conference Publications. pp. 349–354. ↩

  21. Hansen, C. (February 25–28, 1996). MicroUnity's Mediaprocessor Architecture. CompCon 1996 Technologies for the Digital Superhighway. IEEE Conference Publications. pp. 34–41. ↩

  22. Abbott, C.; Massalin, H.; Peterson, K.; Karzes, T.; Yamano, L.; Kellogg, G. (February 25–28, 1996). Broadband algorithms with the MicroUnity Mediaprocessor. CompCon 1996 Technologies for the Digital Superhighway. IEEE Conference Publications. pp. 349–354. ↩

  23. Yu Hen Hu (ed.). Programmable Digital Signal Processors. Marcel Dekker Inc. pp. 217–219. ↩

  24. Slater, Michael (November 13, 1995). "Intel Boosts Pentium Pro to 200 MHz". Microprocessor Report. ↩

  25. US 5112761, "BroadMX C/C++ Functions", published September 2009 https://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US5112761 ↩

  26. Merritt, Rick (17 March 2020). "MicroUnity sues mobile giants for patent infringement". https://www.eetimes.com/microunity-sues-mobile-giants-for-patent-infringement/ ↩

  27. Merritt, Rick (17 March 2020). "MicroUnity sues mobile giants for patent infringement". https://www.eetimes.com/microunity-sues-mobile-giants-for-patent-infringement/ ↩