BBC talks about the similarity of Kodak Truesense W-RGB filter and Sony "RGBW Coding". BBC says:
"When Kodak patented the idea it noted that the technology would be suitable in situations involving "short exposure time, small aperture, or other restriction on light reaching the sensor". It specifically mentioned "non-camera devices such as mobile phones and automotive vehicles" as two examples."
And then: "Neither Sony nor Kodak responded to requests for more detail about the patents involved".
Omnivision now owns the relevant Kodak patents for RGBW. Kodak managers are the worst business people on the planet, ever! The sell valuable patents and sue over meaningless patents. Managers have no clue about technology.
ReplyDelete@ "Omnivision now owns the relevant Kodak patents for RGBW"
ReplyDeleteAre you sure it's in Omnivision's portfolio? What about RGB-W CCDs from Kodak's spin-off Truesense Imaging? Does Truesense license these patents from Omnivision?
The RGBW patents are in OVs portofolio, as well as all the other CMOS patents that belonged to Kodak (including several related to stacked BSI sensors). If Truesense has a lincense or not it is not clear.
ReplyDeleteThe general idea of RGBW goes back a long time. In fact, Bayer's original patents included such an idea. So, the only things one can defensibly patent are specific implementations and especially the color interpolation algorithm.
ReplyDeleteThe unexpired Kodak RGBW patents are mostly the latter. They were part of a large overpriced portfolio that no one cared to purchase over the course of a couple of years. Finally the price dropped to where I guess Omnivision thought they were helpful to defend against BSI-related and other future litigation.
Sony and Kodak have a cross licensing agreement.
ReplyDeleteSo much for RGBW in sony.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201209/12-0921E/index.html