Invention and intellectual property company Rambus has had its difficulties over the past few years, and garnered an unfortunate reputation in the media as something of a patent troll, but the firm is determined to change its image by making good on its technology inventions.
At CES the firm was showing off two technologies; a completely reinvented LED lightbulb with an open top to allow for thermal dissipation, and a mobile TV platform which combines visual search with a plethora of social features.
Rambus said its LED lightbulb design combined high efficiency with longevity and ease-of-use, designed to provide consumers with the quality and lighting distribution of traditional incandescent bulbs using close to one-quarter the power and lasting up to 25 times longer.
The firm said the bulbs were also unique in terms of their “fundamentally different” design, which includes an open top to allow for thermal dissipation.
The bulb family also boasts Rambus’ MicroLens optical technology, allowing for the use of a cylindrical light guide inside the bulb to produce a consistent, spherical distribution of light. MicroLens optics are already used in backlighting cell phones, computer screens, televisions and other displays.
Rambus said it has also designed the bulbs to have a very low bill of materials, ensuring the product would cost less than any other bulb on the market.
Since Rambus only deals in IP, the firm has partnered with a Canadian company out of Montreal, called Elite, to bring the bulbs to big retail stores in North America within the next two quarters.
“That is the new model of Rambus; to license technology and patents when appropriate, but also to bring that into product,” noted Jerome Nadel, Rambus’ CMO.
At CES, Rambus was also showing off its new Imerz platform which combines visual search with a plethora of social features.
The firm said it saw mobile as a replacement for television and that Imerz would allow consumers to interact with and access “over the top” video in a personalized, immersive way. That includes being able to connect one’s mobile to the TV and use the handheld almost like a remote control. It also allows for on-screen interactivity with video and broadcast content, including frame-by-frame synchronization of temporal/spatial tags for story-telling, product information and e-commerce content tagging.
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