Re: XTB - the Future of X10 has arrived!

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

I don't think SmartHome existed back then. I don't know when the predecessor
of SmartLabs (bought a few years ago by SmartHome) started.

PCS started by selling their own designs but using licensed X-10 technology.
UPB came long after the X-10 patent expired.

Marrick sold devices that interfaced with the TW523 until after the X-10
patent expired when they introduced their own PLC interface (which still
uses the X-10 protocol).

CeBus started in 1984 but used spread spectrum so that probably got around
any patent issues. In any event, it's PLC version never really worked.

Centralite, Vantage, Touchplate, LiteTouch, etc. do not use PLC so they
would not have any patent issues. Anyway, their designs predate X-10, going
back to the '50s. They address different markets as hardwiring is more
costly than PLC.

The fact that several rather large companies chose to work with X-10 (GE,
IBM, RadioShack, Magnavox, RCA, etc.) is probably evidence that they had a
strong patent.

"Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>"Dave Houston" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>
> <stuff snipped>
>
>> X-10 became a monopoly during the years their patent was in
>> effect. Their dominance (and installed base) is more a result
>> of that than of technical superiority.
>
>That's an interesting point.  Where were Insteon, UPB and all the rest of
>them back then?  Would they have been stopped by patent infringement?  Of
>the competitors that did show up, like CeBus and Echelon, who still thrives?
>Centralite's still alive.  Then there's ah, um, I dunno.  Centralite's still
>alive.  (-: