Interval Research Corporation
Encyclopedia
Interval Research Corporation was founded in 1992 by Paul Allen
and David Liddle
, computer industry veterans. It was a Palo Alto
laboratory and technology incubator focusing on consumer product applications and services with a focus on the Internet.
A 1997 version of the company's web page described itself as "a research setting seeking to define the issues, map out the concepts and create the technology that will be important in the future.... [pursuing] basic innovations in a number of early-stage technologies and [seeking] to foster industries around them -- sparking opportunity for entrepreneurs and highlighting a new approach to research.". A 1999 Wired Magazine article based on a memo from Paul Allen described the company as under fire from Allen to produce "less R and more D." Interval Research Corporation officially closed its doors in April 2000, while a small group of former employees were kept on to form Interval Media to continue a few specific projects. Interval Media was closed in June, 2006. As of June 2008, the interval.com domain registration was maintained by Digeo, another Paul Allen company.
by Allen's Interval Licensing LLC, are the subject of a patent infringement
lawsuit Interval Licensing filed in August 2010 against AOL
, Apple, eBay
, Facebook
, Google
, Netflix
, Office Depot
, OfficeMax
, Staples, Yahoo!
, and YouTube
(but not Microsoft):
The lawsuit also points out that Interval Research was credited by Google in 1998 as an "outside collaborator" and one of the companies that funded research by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page that resulted in Google. On Mar. 3, 2011, Article One Partners
announced that one of the patents held by Interval Licensing would be posted to their online community to utilize Public participation in patent examination
. The patent in question was U.S. Patent No. 6,263,507, defined as "Browser for Use in Navigating a Body of Information, With Particular Application to Browsing Information Represented By Audiovisual Data."
Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...
and David Liddle
David Liddle
David Liddle is co-founder of Interval Research Corporation, consulting professor of computer science at Stanford University, and credited with heading development of the groundbreaking Xerox Star computer system. He has served on the board of many corporations. He was chair of the board of...
, computer industry veterans. It was a Palo Alto
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
laboratory and technology incubator focusing on consumer product applications and services with a focus on the Internet.
A 1997 version of the company's web page described itself as "a research setting seeking to define the issues, map out the concepts and create the technology that will be important in the future.... [pursuing] basic innovations in a number of early-stage technologies and [seeking] to foster industries around them -- sparking opportunity for entrepreneurs and highlighting a new approach to research.". A 1999 Wired Magazine article based on a memo from Paul Allen described the company as under fire from Allen to produce "less R and more D." Interval Research Corporation officially closed its doors in April 2000, while a small group of former employees were kept on to form Interval Media to continue a few specific projects. Interval Media was closed in June, 2006. As of June 2008, the interval.com domain registration was maintained by Digeo, another Paul Allen company.
Former employees
During its brief existence, Interval employed many well-known computer technology pioneers, including:- Denise CarusoDenise CarusoDenise Caruso is an American journalist and analyst specializing in the industries of digital technology and biotechnology. She was dubbed “the Walter Winchell of Silicon Valley” by WIRED magazine...
, technology journalist - Lawrence Axil Comras, green e-commerce entrepreneur and eco-expert
- Gillian Crampton-Smith, educator and interaction designer
- Franklin C. CrowFranklin C. CrowFranklin C. Crow or Frank Crow is a computer scientist who has made important contributions to computer graphics, including some of the first practical anti-aliasing techniques. Crow also proposed the shadow volume technique for generating geometrically accurate shadows...
, inventor of important anti-aliasing techniques - Marc DavisMarc Davis (academic)Marc Davis was founding director of Yahoo! Research Berkeley, and led Garage Cinema Research.Davis received his Bachelor's degree in 1984 from Wesleyan University, his Masters in Literary Science and Philosophy from University of Konstanz in 1987 and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of...
, founder of Yahoo! Research Berkeley - Paul DebevecPaul DebevecPaul Debevec is a researcher in computer graphics at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies. He is best known for his pioneering work in high dynamic range imaging and image-based modelling and rendering....
, computer graphics researcher - Glenn Edens, founder of Grid Systems, which made the first laptop computer
- Lee FelsensteinLee FelsensteinLee Felsenstein is an American computer engineer who played a central role in the development of the personal computer...
, designer of the first mass-produced portable computer - Paul Freiberger, Silicon Valley journalist
- Don HopkinsDon HopkinsDon Hopkins is an artist and programmer specializing in human computer interaction and computer graphics.He inspired Richard Stallman, who described him as a "very imaginative fellow", to use the term copyleft. He coined Deep Crack as the name of the EFF DES cracker, and built "AJAXian"...
, new-media artist, The SimsThe SimsThe Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...
developer and pie menuPie menuIn computer interface design, a pie menu is a circular context menu where selection depends on direction. A pie menu is made of several "pie slices" around an inactive center and works best with stylus input, and well with a mouse...
interface designer - Brenda LaurelBrenda LaurelBrenda Laurel is a pioneering writer, researcher, designer and entrepreneur in the fields of human-computer interaction, interactive narrative and cultural aspects of technology ....
, author, entrepreneur, virtual-reality artist - Golan LevinGolan LevinGolan Levin is an American new media artist, composer, performer and engineer interested in developing artifacts and events which explore supple new modes of reactive expression.-Biography:...
, new-media artist - Daniel LevitinDaniel LevitinProfessor Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D. is a prominent American cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, record producer, musician, and writer...
, cognitive neuroscientist, best-selling author - David LiddleDavid LiddleDavid Liddle is co-founder of Interval Research Corporation, consulting professor of computer science at Stanford University, and credited with heading development of the groundbreaking Xerox Star computer system. He has served on the board of many corporations. He was chair of the board of...
, venture capitalist - Michael NaimarkMichael NaimarkMichael Naimark is a media artist and researcher who often explores “place representation.”- Biography :Naimark helped found a number of prominent research labs including the MIT Media Laboratory , the Atari Research Lab , the Apple Multimedia Lab , Lucasfilm Interactive , and Interval Research...
, new-media artist - John R. Pierce, electrical engineer, inventor of satellite telecommunication and the travelling wave tube
- Dean RadinDean RadinDean Radin is a researcher and author in the field of parapsychology. He has been Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences , in Petaluma, California, USA, since 2001, and is on the Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychology at Sonoma State University, on the Distinguished...
, parapsychologist - David P. ReedDavid P. ReedDavid P. Reed is an American computer scientist, educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known for a number of significant contributions to computer networking....
, inventor of TCP/IP - Robert ShawRobert Shaw (physicist)Robert Stetson Shaw is an American physicist who was part of Eudaemonic Enterprises in Santa Cruz in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1988 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for his work in Chaos theory.-Chaos theory:...
, physicist and chaos theory pioneer - Richard Shoup, creator of SuperPaintSuperPaintSuperPaint was a pioneering graphics program and framebuffer computer system developed by Richard Shoup at Xerox PARC. The system was first conceptualized in late 1972 and produced its first stable image in April 1973...
- Malcolm Slaney, electrical engineer, and creator of the first sound toolkit for Apple ComputerApple ComputerApple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
- Scott SnibbeScott SnibbeScott Snibbe is an interactive media artist, researcher, and entrepreneur. He is one of the first artists to work with projector-based interactivity, where a computer-controlled projection onto a wall or floor changes in response to people moving across its surface, with his well-known full-body...
, new-media artist - Bill VerplankBill VerplankWilliam Verplank is a designer and researcher who focuses on interactions between humans and computers. He is currently a visiting scholar at Stanford University's CCRMA and is involved in Stanford's D-school. He received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and product design from...
, interface designer of the Xerox StarXerox StarThe Star workstation, officially known as the Xerox 8010 Information System, was introduced by Xerox Corporation in 1981. It was the first commercial system to incorporate various technologies that today have become commonplace in personal computers, including a bitmapped display, a window-based...
, the first WIMP (computing)WIMP (computing)In human–computer interaction, WIMP stands for "windows, icons, menus and pointers", denoting a style of interaction using these elements. It was coined by Merzouga Wilberts in 1980...
GUI
Patents
Interval Research was issued approximately 130 US patents. Four of its patents, now ownedPatent holding company
Patent holding companies are companies set up to administer, consolidate and license patents or otherwise enforce patent rights, such as through litigation...
by Allen's Interval Licensing LLC, are the subject of a patent infringement
Patent infringement
Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may vary by jurisdiction, but it typically includes using or...
lawsuit Interval Licensing filed in August 2010 against AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
, Apple, eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
, Office Depot
Office Depot
Office Depot is a supplier of office products and provides many services. The company's selection of brand name office supplies includes business machines, computers, computer software and office furniture, while its business services encompass copying, printing, document reproduction, shipping,...
, OfficeMax
OfficeMax
OfficeMax , is an American office supplies retailer that was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Naperville, Illinois.-History:On April 1, 1988, OfficeMax was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, by Bob Hurwitz and Michael Feuer. Hurwitz served as executive chairman and chief executive officer and Feuer...
, Staples, Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
, and YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
(but not Microsoft):
- "Attention manager for occupying the peripheral attention of a person in the vicinity of a display device". View Patent Landscape Map.: "Attention manager for occupying the peripheral attention of a person in the vicinity of a display device (continuation)". View Patent Landscape Map.: "Browser for use in navigating a body of information, with particular application to browsing information represented by audiovisual data". View Patent Landscape Map.: "Alerting users to items of current interest". View Patent Landscape Map.
The lawsuit also points out that Interval Research was credited by Google in 1998 as an "outside collaborator" and one of the companies that funded research by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page that resulted in Google. On Mar. 3, 2011, Article One Partners
Article One Partners
Article One Partners, L.L.C. is a venture-funded online prior art search community based in New York City, New York.-History:The company was incorporated in November 2008 by founder Cheryl Milone...
announced that one of the patents held by Interval Licensing would be posted to their online community to utilize Public participation in patent examination
Public participation in patent examination
The involvement of the public in patent examination has been proposed and is currently used in some forms to help identifying relevant prior art and, more generally, to help assessing whether patent applications and inventions meet the requirements of patent law, such as novelty, inventive step or...
. The patent in question was U.S. Patent No. 6,263,507, defined as "Browser for Use in Navigating a Body of Information, With Particular Application to Browsing Information Represented By Audiovisual Data."
External links
- Think Tanked Wired Magazine, December 1999