grg (04/01/83)
I wonder at all the activity in ring networks, boards, controllers,
chips, etc. as I tought that a Swedish engineer (Olaf Soderblom)
had a patent on this, and In fact IBM had paid $5,000,000 for a
one time licensing fee.
Although there is an issue of centralized control needed for the
patent, these issues are generally open to wide ranges of
interpretation and many legal hassles.
The fact that IBM paid seemed to lend credibility to his claim.
Any information? Has this been settled or is there a storm
brewing? An article excerpt is enclosed.
Greg Guthrie
Bell Labs
Internet: grg@ihuxp.UUCP
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iEEE Micro, Nov. 1982, p.74
"Token Ring Patent: Olaf Soderblopm, a Sewdish engineer with a
United States Patent on a token-ring access method using a
central control node, explained his patent and licensing fees
to the [IEEE-802 Committee] working group in Boulder. In the
802 standard, control is de-centralized, passing from one node
to the next with the token. His locense fee, $25,000 intially
and $45 for each node, was considered high, particularly in
light of VLSI access chips whose privce will fall unto the
few-hundred dollar range.
... The existance of this patent may inhibit some companies,
.... IBM has already taken out a license to use Soderblom's
patent, for a one time fee said to be somewhere in the
vicinity of $5,000,000."