Company Overview
Implicit LLC was founded in 1996 with the goal of developing distributed computing platforms for resource oriented, distributed devices and applications. Implicit's solution allows applications to be composed on the fly from reusable resources at the intra-device level and inter-device level. This model provides a basis for interoperability, flexible processing of rich-media, and transparent access to network services for connected devices. The platform includes an operating environment for connected devices, a dynamic component delivery model, a gesture interface for media and content-centric devices, a mechanism for discovering and controlling media-rich content in a network, dataflow processing engines, and novel ways to connect devices across both the LAN and WAN.
Technology
The following is a subset of the technology developed by Implicit and currently available for licensing:
Operating Environment for resource-oriented & connected devices
Implicit's platform for distributed computing enables devices to effectively 'plug-in' to a network, discover services, and dynamically assemble application functionality through a declarative model that requires no knowledge of device characteristics, network constraints, or data formats. In addition to dramatically reducing code size and working-set size on devices, this platform enables the development of new resources and services in a reusable manner that extends device and application functionality in profound ways. This platform has been ported to Linux, Windows CE/XP, FreeBSD, and ucLinux. In practice, this solution has been used for developing a diverse range of devices including residential gateways, set-top-boxes, handheld media players, and home control systems.
Dynamic Component Delivery Model
Implicit's dynamic component delivery system facilitates versioning, provisioning and billing for 3rd party development of components. The system allows developers to build components at algorithm level granularity in the language that is best suited to the domain. Components can be requested at run time by devices of varying form factors and processing requirements. The system can dynamically target (including compiling, transforming, and packaging) and deliver components to client devices. Centralized management of components allows operators to administer services, while developers focus on algorithm development. In addition to provisioning software, the system also provides a billing model that can track usage of components on clients.
Gesture Interface for Media Rich Devices
Implicit's gesture-based user interface maximizes usage of the screen real estate for displaying of content while improving usability in multimedia applications. The interface provides gestures for direct manipulation of content without the need for extraneous buttons or toolbars. Example gestures include support for scaling images, skipping through audio and video tracks, and rewinding and forwarding motion video. This interface has been used for improving usability on handheld devices, televisions, and other media-rich devices.
Content Discovery and Media Management
Implicit's content discovery and media management platform enables dynamic discovery of devices, content, and resources within a LAN and WAN environment. This system allows devices to aggregate their resources on the fly to create virtual appliances that users can then interact with in an intuitive manner. A user can, for example, create a virtual 'home-theater' appliance by combining a networked television with a networked stereo and a wireless handheld. The user can then watch a movie on this appliance such that the video from the movie is routed to the screen of the network television, the audio routed to the speakers of the network stereo, and instant-replays and control accessed from the handheld. Resources and services on each device can be developed without premonition of being used in this manner. Likewise, the resource discovery model allows the network to manage the routing and rendering of content without requiring the user to have understanding of the nuances of media-formats, device capabilities, or network topologies.
Dataflow Processing Engine
Implicit's data processing engine dynamically assembles components to process constraint-based dataflows at an intra-device and inter-device level. The engine combines stateful packet inspection with a rules engine to provide efficient and dynamic handling of dataflow processing. This architecture has proven to be far more flexible and efficient than traditional network stacks since it relies on inspection of application layer data and flow mapping to guide path construction. As a result dataflows can be dynamically constructed after a first packet of a dataflow is received and then reused to process remaining packets of the flow. Next-generation firewalls, application gateways and related devices benefit from this model since they are able to flexibly and efficiently process a large number of flows across their network interfaces.
Implicit's technology is protected by the following patents: US 6324685, US 6976248, US 7774740, US 8056075, US 8856779, US 9325740, US 9848031, US 6507349, US 8046687, US 7391791, US 8406257, US 8942252, US 7730211, GB GB1177514, US 7778966, US 7778966, US 8856185, US 8990787, US 6907446, US 10225378, US 10027780, US 10033839, US 9591104, US 9270790, US 8694683, US 7711857, US 8055786, US 6629163
Licensing
For information about licensing Implicit's intellectual property portfolio and technology platform, please contact us.