DECLARATION OF WALTER BENDER
`
`I, Walter Bender, declare as follows:
`
`1.
`
`I am over 18 years of age and make this declaration based
`
`upon my own personal knowledge. If called upon to testify in person, I
`
`would testify competently to the matters contained herein.
`
`2.
`
`My current title
`
`is Senior Research Scientist at the
`
`Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. I am also founder of
`
`Sugar Labs, a. m ember project of the non-profit Software Freedom
`
`Conservancy that promotes the d evelopment of educational software.
`
`3.
`
`I supervised Michael R. Truog in his work on The Television
`
`Pause Function, (the "Truog Thesis") a thesis Mr. Truog submitted to the
`
`Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science al
`
`Massachusetts Institute of Technology ("MIT") on or about May 16, 1989.
`
`Based in part on this thesis, Mr. Tmog received a B.S. degree in Electrical
`
`Engineering and Engineering from MIT in 1989. My title at the time this
`
`thesis was prepared was Principle Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab.
`
`4.
`
`I was familiar with the process for publication of theses by MIT
`
`at the time of the Truog Thesis. In particular, student theses were certified
`
`by
`
`the student's
`
`thesis supervisor,
`
`then submitted
`
`to
`
`the relevant
`
`1
`
`,
`
`Dish, Exh. 1009, p. 1
`
`
`
`I, Walter Bender, declare as follows:
`
`1.
`
`I am over 18 years of age and make this declaration based
`
`upon my own personal knowledge. If called upon to testify in person, I
`
`would testify competently to the matters contained herein.
`
`2.
`
`My current title
`
`is Senior Research Scientist at the
`
`Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. I am also founder of
`
`Sugar Labs, a. m ember project of the non-profit Software Freedom
`
`Conservancy that promotes the d evelopment of educational software.
`
`3.
`
`I supervised Michael R. Truog in his work on The Television
`
`Pause Function, (the "Truog Thesis") a thesis Mr. Truog submitted to the
`
`Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science al
`
`Massachusetts Institute of Technology ("MIT") on or about May 16, 1989.
`
`Based in part on this thesis, Mr. Tmog received a B.S. degree in Electrical
`
`Engineering and Engineering from MIT in 1989. My title at the time this
`
`thesis was prepared was Principle Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab.
`
`4.
`
`I was familiar with the process for publication of theses by MIT
`
`at the time of the Truog Thesis. In particular, student theses were certified
`
`by
`
`the student's
`
`thesis supervisor,
`
`then submitted
`
`to
`
`the relevant
`
`1
`
`,
`
`Dish, Exh. 1009, p. 1
`
`
`
`department's committee on undergraduate theses for acceptance. Once
`
`accepted, the thesis would be transmitted to the MIT Library, where it would
`
`-
`be indexed in the Library's catalog, and made available for public viewing
`
`and copying. The theses would generally be indexed and publicly available
`
`within a month or two of submission. In addition, hard copies of student
`
`theses related to work done in the MIT Media Lab, including the Truog
`
`Thesis, were made available to visitors to the MIT Media Lab.
`
`s.
`
`Exhibit 1002 is a true and correct copy of the Truog Thesis,
`
`followed by a record from the MIT's Library catalog showing the public
`
`availability of the Thesis in the MIT Library. The Truog Thesis was
`
`submitted for acceptance by the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering
`
`and Computer Science on or about May 1989. To best of my understanding,
`
`the stamped date of June 16, 1989 on the front of Exhibit 1002 indicates the
`
`date that the Truog Thesis was cataloged and publicly available in the MIT
`
`Library.
`
`I also spoke publicly to various audiences of academics and
`
`broadcast industry participants about the work described in the Truog Thesis
`
`on several occasions prior to April1992.
`
`6.
`
`Mr. Truog worked on the project described in the Truog
`
`Thesis during the 1988-1989 academic year. Mr. Truog successfully
`
`built a prototype of the design described in the Thesis. The prototype
`
`2
`
`Dish, Exh. 1009, p. 2
`
`
`
`was operational and successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the
`
`design described in the Truog Thesis. The prototype was left in the
`
`custody of the MIT Media Lab after th e acceptance of the Truog Thesis.
`
`7.
`
`In my role at the MIT Media Lab, I was aware of the general
`
`operation and state of the art of television communications equipment and
`
`video cassette recorders (VCRs) in the 1980s. During that time, I conceived
`
`of the idea of a system that allowed users to pause a live television broadcast
`
`(such as during a temporary interruption) and subsequently resume the
`
`playback of the program immediately after the end of the interruption. I also
`
`conceived of the idea of using a fast-forward function so the user could
`
`speed over portions of the recorded program to catch up to th~ real-time
`
`broadcast. I eventually suggested these ideas to Mr. Truog as a basis for a
`
`thesis project. These concepts that I suggested to Mr. Truog are described in
`
`the Truog Thesis, as explained below.
`
`8.
`
`The abstract of the Truog Thesis described the "television
`
`pause function" as follows: "a new pause function is designed and
`
`implemented which enables a television viewer to pause a live television
`
`program for a variable length of time, and then to return at a later time
`
`and continue watching without missing any portion of the program:· I d.
`
`at Abstract. Thus, the Truog Thesis described "pausing a live television
`3
`
`Dish, Exh. 1009, p. 3
`
`
`
`program."
`
`9.
`
`In the introduction of the Truog Thesis, the pause function
`
`is described in more detail: "The new 'television pause' function I have
`
`designed is a third option which will enable viewers to continue
`
`watching the program from where they left off to completion as soon as
`
`they return."
`
`Id. at pg. 1. In addition, as explained in the Truog Thesis,
`
`the "television pause" feature that I had conceived and suggested to Mr.
`
`Truog was designed to pause a live TV broadcast and not a previous
`
`recording: "Although the television program continues to be broadcast,
`
`the 'television pause' feature leads the viewer to believe that the
`
`broadcast has been put on hold." Id Thus, my idea, as described in the
`
`Truog Thesis, was the "live pause" of a broadcast television program as
`
`the term is understood today.
`
`10. The Truog Thesis also described the aspect of my idea
`
`mentioned above where the playback speed of the paused video could
`
`be altered by the user. For example, the Truog Thesis explained that
`
`"the user should be able to catch up to actual time by fast forwarding
`
`through commercials."
`
`Id. p. 4. The implem entation of this feature is
`
`described in the Truog Thesis as follows:
`
`4
`
`Dish, Exh. 1009, p. 4
`
`
`
`When a commercial is reached, the 'fast forward' button should be
`pushed. My circuit will then tell the VCR to search in fast forward
`mode. When the commercials are over, the 'fast forward' button is
`pushed again, so that my circuit knows to end the search mode. By
`allowing the user to fast forward through unnecessary portions, he
`will be able to approach real time and thus save viewing time.
`
`Id. p. 22.
`
`11. A "television pause" or "live pause" feature had not been
`
`implemented in low cost, consumer electronics due to the relatively high
`
`cost of digital memory technologies in the 1989 timeframe and the
`
`limitations of a single VCR tape system. However as stated in th e Truog
`
`Thesis, the feature could easily be achieved technically using digital
`
`memory once those technologies matured. Indeed, prior to the time Mr.
`
`Truog began working on his implementation of the Television Pause
`
`function, I had already been involved with work in the MIT Media Lab
`
`that had successfully digitized and stored video programming onto a
`
`digital hard disk drive ("HDD"). (Between 1987 and 1989 we developed
`
`family of full motion digital video decoders for the IBM PC and
`
`Macintosh II. These systems, which featured the storage and retrieval of
`
`video programming on a digital hard disk drive were demonstrated to
`
`the public on numerous occasions.) Therefore, before I suggested the
`
`idea of the Television Pause function to Mr. Truog, I knew that the
`
`.s
`
`Dish, Exh. 1009, p. 5
`
`
`
`functionality could be implemented using digital storage media, such as
`
`hard drives.
`
`12.
`
`This is explained in the Truog Thesis as follows:
`
`[ t]here are two methods for storing the these signals for later
`playback. One is digitizing the signals and storing the information on
`a disk in the form of bytes of video information. This method
`provides very easy access to video data. Using conventional means
`it is extremely cosdy and also difficult to do due to the high frequency
`at which the signals are broadcast...
`
`Truog Thesis, pg. 2. (emphasis added).
`
`13. Thus, by 1989,
`
`there was no
`
`technical
`
`issue with
`
`implementing "live pause" as a TV viewing feature. Instead, it was the
`
`cost of memory sufficient to record enough video to enable a r~as onable
`
`pause length that made this solution impractical in that time period.
`
`Thus, the Truog Thesis described an alternative implementation that
`
`used a combination of three, off-the-sh elf VCRs storing broadcast
`
`programming on removable magnetic tape cassettes as a feasible, lower-
`
`cost solution for the consumer electronics market. Id. at pg. 2. In other
`
`words, the Truog Thesis described an interim solution until the cost per
`
`byte of RAM and/or HDD memory dropped sufficiently.
`
`14. The conclusion of the Truog Thesis predicts that once the
`
`.6
`
`Dish, Exh. 1009, p. 6
`
`
`
`cost of "digital encoding of video" became less expensive, digital storage
`
`techniques should replace the VCR's:
`
`Once digital encoding of video becomes more prevalent and less
`expensive, a digital recording technique should be used in place of the
`VCR's. If the search time of a disk became fast enough to switch
`within a time much less than the vertical sync of a TV signal, then
`only two or only one disk(s) would be needed for storage and much
`of the guess work as to timing would be eliminated. This would be a
`clear advantage over the slow and inaccurate VCR's.
`
`Tmog Thesis, pg. 23 (emphasis supplied).
`
`15.
`
`The digital encoding referred to here was replacement of
`
`the VCR recording onto tapes with a digital encoding into one or two
`
`hard disks or to RAM memory.
`
`16.
`
`I am being compensated at my standard hourly consulting
`
`rate for my time spent on this matter. My compensation is not
`
`dependent on the content of my testimony nor the outcome of any
`
`matter in which my testimony is used.
`
`17. All statements made herein of my own knowledge are true
`
`and all statements made on information and belief are believed to be
`
`true. I further understand that willful false statements and the like are
`
`punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both under Section 1001 of Title
`
`18 of the United States Code. I declare under penalty of perjury that the
`7
`
`Dish, Exh. 1009, p. 7
`
`
`
`foregoing is true and correct.
`
`Executed on December 22, 2014 at Boston, Massachusetts
`
`Walter Bender
`
`8
`
`Dish, Exh. 1009, p. 8
`
`
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