SightSound

Last updated
SightSound
Industry Intellectual Property & Audio / Video eCommerce
Founded1995
HeadquartersPittsburgh, USA
Key people
Arthur R. Hair & Scott C. Sander (founders)
Website http://www.sightsound.com/

SightSound Technologies is an intellectual property company focused on licensing its portfolio of domestic and international patents. SightSound Technologies has been issued 50 patents. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

History

SightSound Technologies began in the mid-1980s when company founder Arthur R. Hair invented a method and system for the electronic sale of digital audio and video recordings. In 1995, Mr. Hair and Scott C. Sander founded SightSound Technologies to commercialize Hair’s invention. On March 2, 1993, Arthur Hair was issued his first patent, "Method for Transmitting a Desired Digital Video or Audio Signal." [4]

On August 18, 1995, SightSound Technologies signed the first distribution deal with a recording artist to sell music on the internet as file downloads: The Gathering Field sold their debut album on SightSound.com. [2]

On October 7, 1997, Arthur Hair receives his second patent, "System for Transmitting Desired Digital Video or Audio Signals." [5]

On April 13, 1999, SightSound Technologies sold Darren Aronofsky's Pi as a pay-per-view download, making it the first ever film to be sold as a download on the Internet. [2] On April 18, 2000, SightSound Technologies announced an agreement with Miramax to distribute twelve of its films for download via Miramax's websites. [6]

On May 5, 2000, SightSound releases Quantum Project, the first celebrity-driven movie created to be distributed solely through the internet. [7] Quantum Project stars Stephen Dorff, Fay Masterson and John Cleese. [8]

Related Research Articles

In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compression reduces bits by identifying and eliminating statistical redundancy. No information is lost in lossless compression. Lossy compression reduces bits by removing unnecessary or less important information. Typically, a device that performs data compression is referred to as an encoder, and one that performs the reversal of the process (decompression) as a decoder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital television</span> Television transmission using digital encoding

Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advancement and represented the first significant evolution in television technology since color television in the 1950s. Modern digital television is transmitted in high-definition television (HDTV) with greater resolution than analog TV. It typically uses a widescreen aspect ratio in contrast to the narrower format (4:3) of analog TV. It makes more economical use of scarce radio spectrum space; it can transmit up to seven channels in the same bandwidth as a single analog channel, and provides many new features that analog television cannot. A transition from analog to digital broadcasting began around 2000. Different digital television broadcasting standards have been adopted in different parts of the world; below are the more widely used standards:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lossy compression</span> Data compression approach that reduces data size while discarding or changing some of it

In information technology, lossy compression or irreversible compression is the class of data compression methods that uses inexact approximations and partial data discarding to represent the content. These techniques are used to reduce data size for storing, handling, and transmitting content. The different versions of the photo of the cat on this page show how higher degrees of approximation create coarser images as more details are removed. This is opposed to lossless data compression which does not degrade the data. The amount of data reduction possible using lossy compression is much higher than using lossless techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MP3</span> Digital audio format

MP3 is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg, with support from other digital scientists in other countries. Originally defined as the third audio format of the MPEG-1 standard, it was retained and further extended—defining additional bit rates and support for more audio channels—as the third audio format of the subsequent MPEG-2 standard. A third version, known as MPEG-2.5—extended to better support lower bit rates—is commonly implemented but is not a recognized standard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MPEG-2</span> Video encoding standard

MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods, which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission bandwidth. While MPEG-2 is not as efficient as newer standards such as H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC, backwards compatibility with existing hardware and software means it is still widely used, for example in over-the-air digital television broadcasting and in the DVD-Video standard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television</span> Telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images

Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set, rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, entertainment, news, and sports. The medium is capable of more than "radio broadcasting", which refers to an audio signal sent to radio receivers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone</span> Telecommunications device

A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals that are transmitted via cables and other communication channels to another telephone which reproduces the sound to the receiving user. The term is derived from Ancient Greek: τῆλε, romanized: tēle, lit. 'far' and φωνή, together meaning distant voice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital audio</span> Technology that records, stores, and reproduces sound

Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical samples in a continuous sequence. For example, in CD audio, samples are taken 44,100 times per second, each with 16-bit sample depth. Digital audio is also the name for the entire technology of sound recording and reproduction using audio signals that have been encoded in digital form. Following significant advances in digital audio technology during the 1970s and 1980s, it gradually replaced analog audio technology in many areas of audio engineering, record production and telecommunications in the 1990s and 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadband</span> Data transmission concept

In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide-bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Internet access. The transmission medium can be coaxial cable, optical fiber, wireless Internet (radio), twisted pair cable, or satellite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Analog recording</span> Category of techniques that allow later playback of analog signals

Analog recording is a category of techniques used for the recording of analog signals. This enables later playback of the recorded analog audio.

A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio files that users can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. Podcasts are primarily an audio medium, but some distribute in video, either as their primary content or as a supplement to audio; popularised in recent years by video platform YouTube.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic media</span> Media that require electronics or electromechanical means to be accessed by the audience

Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical means for the audience to access the content. This is in contrast to static media, which today are most often created digitally, but do not require electronics to be accessed by the end user in the printed form. The primary electronic media sources familiar to the general public are video recordings, audio recordings, multimedia presentations, slide presentations, CD-ROM and online content. Most new media are in the form of digital media. However, electronic media may be in either analogue electronics data or digital electronic data format.

Video Encoded Invisible Light (VEIL) is a technology for encoding low-bandwidth digital data bitstream in video signal, developed by VEIL Interactive Technologies. VEIL is compatible with multiple formats of video signals, including PAL, SECAM, and NTSC. The technology is based on a steganographically encoded data stream in the luminance of the videosignal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video sender</span> Device for transmitting audio and video signals wirelessly

A video sender is a device for transmitting domestic audio and video signals wirelessly from one location to another. It is most commonly used for sending the output of a source device, such as a satellite television decoder, to a television in another part of a property and provides an alternative to cable installations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satellite television</span> Broadcasting of television using artificial satellites

Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commonly referred to as a satellite dish and a low-noise block downconverter.

MPEG Surround, also known as Spatial Audio Coding (SAC) is a lossy compression format for surround sound that provides a method for extending mono or stereo audio services to multi-channel audio in a backwards compatible fashion. The total bit rates used for the core and the MPEG Surround data are typically only slightly higher than the bit rates used for coding of the core. MPEG Surround adds a side-information stream to the core bit stream, containing spatial image data. Legacy stereo playback systems will ignore this side-information while players supporting MPEG Surround decoding will output the reconstructed multi-channel audio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio</span> Use of radio waves to carry information

Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to an antenna which radiates the waves. They are received by another antenna connected to a radio receiver. In addition to communication, radio is used for radar, radio navigation, remote control, remote sensing, and other applications.

Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the amplitude of the analog signal is sampled at uniform intervals, and each sample is quantized to the nearest value within a range of digital steps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinavia</span> Analog watermarking and steganography system

Cinavia, originally called Verance Copy Management System for Audiovisual Content (VCMS/AV), is an analog watermarking and steganography system under development by Verance since 1999, and released in 2010. In conjunction with the existing Advanced Access Content System (AACS) digital rights management (DRM) inclusion of Cinavia watermarking detection support became mandatory for all consumer Blu-ray Disc players from 2012.

Satellite subcarrier audio is audio transmitted by way of satellite that uses a separate analog or digital signal carried on a main radio transmission on a specific satellite transponder. More technically, it is an already-modulated signal, which is then modulated into another signal of higher frequency and bandwidth. In a more general sense, satellite subcarrier audio is an early form of satellite radio not intended for the consumer market but was initially unencrypted, thus receivable to satellite hobbyists.

References

  1. "SightSound Technologies Successfully Settles Patent Case Against CDnow and N2K" (Press release). PR Newswire. 24 February 2004. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 Petzinger Jr., Thomas (7 May 1999). "Two Entrepreneurs Try to Turn Net Patent Into a Blockbuster". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2022-02-19. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  3. Sweeting, Paul (23 February 2004). "Music e-tailers agree to play SightSound's tune". Variety. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  4. "US 5191573: Method for transmitting a desired digital video or audio signal". United States Patent 5191573. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  5. "US 5675734: System for Transmitting Desired Digital Video or Audio Signals". United States Patent 5675734. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  6. Orwall, Bruce (18 April 2000). "Disney's Miramax to Distribute Films Online via SightSound.com Technology". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  7. "Future Features". Variety. 14 April 2000. Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  8. Lyman, Rick (14 April 2000). "At The Movies; 'Quantum' Leap To The Internet". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2011.