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Håkan Lans

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Håkan Lans
Born
Anders Håkan Lans

(1947-11-02) 2 November 1947 (age 77)
NationalitySwedish
OccupationInventor

Anders Håkan Lans (born 2 November 1947 in Enskede) is a Swedish inventor whose primary contribution is the Self-Organized Time Division Multiple Access (STDMA) datalink technology used in Automatic Identification System (AIS) for vehicle navigation.[1]

Lans is also known for various ultimately unsuccessful legal disputes over his computer-related patents.

STDMA

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Håkan Lans is the designer of a tracking system which makes use of a Self-Organized Time Division Multiple Access (STDMA) datalink. The STDMA datalink is currently in use in Automatic Identification System (AIS). AIS is a short range coastal tracking system which is mandatory aboard international voyaging ships with gross tonnage (GT) of 300 or more tons, and all passenger ships regardless of size.

STDMA is also in use as one of the three physical layer models proposed for Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), a cooperative surveillance technique for air traffic control. Lans's protocol is used for ADS-B in Sweden.

For his STDMA invention, Lans was nominated for the 2007 European Inventor Award, though he did not win. The STDMA patent was awarded to Lans in 1996, but a US patent ex-parte reexamination certificate was issued in 2010 canceling all claims.[2][3]

Computer graphics

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In the late 1960s, Lans invented a graphics tablet with a handheld puck.[4] He sold the technology to Houston Instruments, which marketed the device as the HIpad in 1971. Some thereby claim Lans to be the inventor of the computer mouse,[5] despite others making similar inventions independently several years earlier.[6] In 1996 Lans received the highest award of the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology for his tablet puck.[7]

Lans holds a patent on a memory controller for a framebuffer: "Data processing system and apparatus for color graphics display".[8] Framebuffers with memory controllers had been in common use for years at the time of his 1979 patent filing.[9] In 1997 Lans as an individual sued eleven companies for allegedly infringing his patent. The eleven cases were soon combined. The merits of the case were never heard, however, because the defendants, led by Digital Equipment Corporation, counterclaimed that the patent had been assigned to Uniboard AB, a patent holding company wholly owned by Lans. Lans lost the case and was ordered to pay defendants' legal fees, a ruling that was upheld on appeal.[10] The subsequent attempted suit by Uniboard AB failed because the patent had expired ten months before the suit.[11]

These legal failures led to a dispute between Lans and his attorneys, who Lans sued for misconduct. The attorneys' defense was that they had not been told about the transfer to Uniboard AB.[12] This suit was settled in April 2012.[13]

In 1984 Lans patented a color calligraphic photo plotter,[14] though it was never mass produced. Despite color displays,[15] color frame buffers,[16] and color calligraphic displays[17] already being common prior to 1984, Lans insists that his filings constitute the invention of color computer graphics.[7]

References

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  1. ^ European Patent Office (2021-07-15). Hakan Lans - STDMA data link. Retrieved 2025-02-10 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ USPTO ex-parte reexamination certificate 7428, issued on March 30, 2010
  3. ^ US5506587A, Lans, Hakan, "Position indicating system", issued 1996-04-09 
  4. ^ Larsson, Thomas; Stenlund, Ulf (2008). "Vignettes of Sweden's Computer Graphics History". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 1 (1): 50–58. ISSN 1934-1547.
  5. ^ "Hakan Lans".
  6. ^ Bardini, Thierry (2000). Bootstrapping: Douglas Engelbart, Coevolution, and the Origins of Personal Computing. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-8047-3871-2.
  7. ^ a b "Swedish inventor of the computer mouse awarded". Vestkusten. 1 September 1996. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  8. ^ US patent 4303986, Lans, Håkan, "Data processing system and apparatus for color graphics display", issued 1981-12-01 
  9. ^ Richard Shoup (2001). "SuperPaint: An Early Frame Buffer Graphics System" (PDF). Annals of the History of Computing. IEEE. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-06-12.
  10. ^ Alpman, Marie (10 June 2016). "HÅKAN LANS LOST". Ny Teknik. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  11. ^ "Hakan Lans v. Digital Equipment | Casetext". casetext.com. Retrieved 2025-02-10.
  12. ^ "The Håkan Lans Case" (PDF).
  13. ^ "Håkan Lans pustar ut efter förlikning - NyTeknik". nyteknik.se. 26 April 2012. Archived from the original on 29 April 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  14. ^ US patent 4717928, Lans, Håkan & Cano, Jean, "Arrangement for producing a pattern on a light-sensitive surface", issued 1988-01-05, assigned to Inrad S.A 
  15. ^ "Atari's New Color Quadrascan (X-Y) Monitor" (PDF) (Press release). Atari Incorporated. 1981-09-24. Retrieved 2025-02-06.
  16. ^ Peddie, Jon (2018-10-07). "GPU History: Hitachi ARTC HD63484". IEEE Computer Society. Retrieved 2025-02-10.
  17. ^ Margolin, Jed (2002-03-01). "The Secret Life of X-Y Monitors" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-02-06.
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