Paul Gray – Director, European TV Research, DisplaySearch

The surprise announcement that Trident intends to license its motion detection patents raises questions on the company’s intentions.

These patents are fundamental to the operation of many 120 Hz or 240 Hz frame rate conversion (FRC) systems in the market, although there are alternatives:  Zoran use a wavelet computation and Broadcom appear to use a pixel-based approach to identify moving objects.  Mediatek already uses Trident’s fundamental patents (a legacy from the days when Philips owned the patents) and apparently pays a license.

Trident’s comments in its interview with EE Times suggest that it has strong suspicions that some of its patents are being infringed—and is therefore offering license terms is a first salvo in what is likely to be a longer battle.  Its targets are apparently in Taiwan, but one company is in Silicon Valley.  It has always been a subject of conjecture how MStar’s FRC algorithm works, so it will be interesting if the suspects get named.

It makes sense for Trident to take action to fortify its commanding position in FRC, especially as it is an essential component of 3D sets, and it fortunately avoids Trident locking horns with any of its potential customers.   Trident may also be under pressure from its customers to allow a second supplier—understandable this year when IC foundry capacity is in shortage.  The concern is whether Trident mutates into (in its CTO’s words) a ‘patent troll,’ which would serve nobody well.