Sonic Awarded Key Patents For Advanced Interactivity; Innovations Slated For Blu-ray And HD DVD Formats; Expands Sonic's Licensing Potential

17-Oct-05

Sonic Solutions announced that it has been awarded several new patents, the most significant of which is US Patent 6,944,621 for dynamic content revision. The Sonic technology covered in the '621 patent allows the updating or augmenting of multimedia content on portable storage media including CD, DVD, UMD, Blu-ray Disc (BD), HD DVD, and flash memory. Originally deployed on DVDs, this technology is now a studio-required feature in the proposed specifications for the next-generation Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. The patent allows Sonic to develop unique features in its professional and consumer applications, as well as to license the technology to content owners, software developers, game console and consumer electronics manufacturers, and other industry partners.  Sonic's dynamic content revision technology allows the publishers of content on portable storage media to update or augment that content over the Web or through a local cache. Game publishers or movie studios, for example, can replace trailers and advertisements or change menu selections, providing a very cost-effective way to keep content ""fresh"" as well as deliver ongoing promotions and e-commerce offerings. The technology has been embraced by major Hollywood studios for their DVD releases of InterActualÆ-enabled titles such as Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Star Wars Trilogy and is expected to be available soon on BD and HD DVD discs. ""These latest patents underscore the increasing technical depth and breadth of Sonic's role in the digital media industry,"" said Richard Doherty, research director of the Envisioneering Group. ""The patents are a foundation of Sonic's strength because they secure the company's Sonic, RoxioÆ, and InterActual products, which lead their respective sectors and enable professionals and consumers to author, record, and play audio-visual content and data files to and from disc. By licensing its patented technologies, Sonic also offers the entire industry an opportunity to benefit from new and enhanced capabilities."" In addition to the '621 patent, Sonic also obtained a second patent on its Virtual Theater technology (US Patent 6,941,383), which allows multiple users to simultaneously view and interact with a live or archived video event. Deployed on motion picture DVDs including The Matrix and Spider-Man, Virtual Theater makes it possible to host live events including video-enabled chats hosted by directors and actors that connect thousands of viewers over the internet. In the optical media recording field, Sonic received patents for an image mastering application programming interface (API) for data recording (US Patent 6,882,795), for efficient host processing of data files selected for recording to an optical disc media (US Patent 6,910,038), and for eliminating redundancy in the recording of data files while maintaining multiple links to those files (US Patent 6,910,038). A patent was also granted for Sonic's multi-channel surround sound mastering and reproduction techniques that preserve spatial harmonics in three dimensions (US Patent 6,904,152). ""With our acquisition in recent years of respected companies such as InterActual and Roxio, Sonic has gained not only top brand names and a well-diversified product base, but also a great wealth of engineering talent and expertise,"" said Dave Habiger, president and CEO of Sonic Solutions. ""The patent process is one way that we are maximizing the value of these assets, protecting our innovations, while leveraging our investments to create new opportunities for the future growth of our company and our industry.""

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