2011 August: Khyber sells U.S. Patents 7,120,462 & 7,831,276 and all
related foreign granted patents to a major intellectual property
company.
News 2008-2011
Transform Your Smartphone Into An E-reader, Tablet Or Notebook: One Inventor’s Idea
Creating Form and Functions of Portable Digital Devices
2011 August: Khyber sells U.S. Patents 7,120,462 & 7,831,276 and all
related foreign granted patents to a major intellectual property
company.
2007 March: With the sale of its PDA patent-family behind it, Khyber turns its focus to marketing its new patents, especially the patent-families Khyber calls the Docking Display and the Integrated Headset. As a result, Raj Kumar and his family move to San Francisco Bay Area to be closer to prospective clients for licensing and other ventures.
2007 January: Khyber sells U.S. Patent 5,696,496 and its related family of patents to a major intellectual property company. These patents were previously licensed to US and Japanese makers of smartphones and handheld computers.
2006 December: Khyber is awarded U.S. Patent 7,149,543, its second U.S. patent relating to Detachable Headset technology.
2006 October: Khyber is awarded U.S. Patent 7,120,462 relating to Docking Display technology, where a smartphone docks onto a ‘dumb’ notebook, doubling as its central processor. The key benefit is that – for an incremental cost of a mere display screen and a keyboard over a smartphone – the user gets handheld as well as notebook form-factors for emails, voice, web-browsing, multimedia, and basic computing.
2005 December: Favorable settlement of patent infringement suit and sale of a license under Khyber U.S. Patents 5,696,496 to one of the world’s largest IT companies.
2005 October: Khyber is awarded a US Patent 6,952,617 relating to Detachable Headset technology – a unique concept where a detachable (Bluetooth) headset is built into modified cellphones, laptops, and tablet PCs. The concept promises to extend the current popularity of Bluetooth headsets to main-stream users of cell phones and laptops.
2004 December: Favorable settlement of the patent infringement suit and sale of a license under Khyber U.S. Patent 5,696,496 to one of the world’s leading manufacturers of consumer electronics and business equipment solutions.
2004 July: Favorable settlement of the patent infringement suit involving sale of Khyber U.S. Patent 5,902,991.
2004 April: Favorable settlement of the patent infringement suit involving license under Khyber U.S. Patents 5,548,477 and 5,638,257 and payment of royalties.
2003 November: U.S. Patent and Trade Office reaffirms Khyber US Patent 5,696,496, ending the re-examination process requested by Khyber for the patent. The ’496 patent relates to Khyber’s technology of PDAs having pen input and voice notes.
2003 June: Khyber files a suit in the U.S. District Court for infringement of Khyber U.S. Patent 5,902,991 relating to Khyber’s technology of PC cards with integrated scanners.
2003 June: Khyber files a suit in the U.S. District Court for infringement of Khyber U.S. Patents 5,548,477 and 5,638,257 relating to Khyber’s sliding keyboard technology.
Khyber Wins “Designing & Engineering Showcase” Award
FAIRLAWN, OH , January 25, 2001 – Khyber Technologies’ newest product, the PocketPartner, was showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this month. Khyber’s booth was located in the Emerging Technologies pavilion. Khyber was also presented with the Design & Engineering Showcase Award for the PocketPartner 200.
In addition to the award, the PocketPartner and the PocketDock (a peripheral device for the PocketPartner) were displayed in the “Best of Show” display case at CES. When asked for a comment about the show, Khyber’s founder and CEO, Raj Kumar stated, “The feedback that we received at the show was outstanding. Many who saw the PocketPartner and the PocketDock were very excited about it. We have received numerous inquiries about the products and Khyber in general since we returned from the show. Our focus now will be continued engineering on both the PocketPartner and the PocketDock, as well as marketing of the product to various industries.”
Kumar went on to mention that production on the first set of PocketPartner units began this month. Production on the PocketDock will commence later this year.
Khyber to have Booth at Consumer Electronics Show
FAIRLAWN, OH , December 28, 2000 – While being showcased at Khyber’s booth during the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the Pocket Partner will be featured on TechTV. Jim Lauderbeck, co-host of the popular show Fresh Gear, will be demonstrating and showing-off the Pocket Partner live at 4:00pm – 5:00pm PST (7:00pm – 8:00pm EST) on Fresh Gear’s live coverage of CES. Don’t forget to set your calendars and tune-in with us at CES.
PocketPartner Roll-Out Featured in Akron Beacon Journal
KHYBER TECHNOLOGIES’ POCKET PARTNER WILL LINK RETAIL CLERKS TO WEB
Wednesday, July 19,2000
Page: BUSINESS – D1
By Dave Scott, Beacon Journal business writer
Khyber Technologies Corp., a tiny company in Fairlawn, is about to launch its first major product line.
The first 1,500 Pocket Partners, a hand-held device designed to link retail clerks to the Web, will be produced next month. With a price of more than $1,000 each, the Pocket Partners could generate more than $1.5 million in revenue.
Raj Kumar, president and chief executive of Khyber, declined to say who would buy the devices except to say it would be a major Ohio company that provides mobile computing for industries. The two major players in that field are Telxon Corp., a former Fairlawn company now based in Cincinnati, and Symbol Industries of Holtsville, N.Y. “A company selling computer products will be the first retailer to use the product,” he said.
The Pocket Partners will be equipped with a bar code scanner, a magnetic strip reader, a telephone, a Web browser and a place to store dates, addresses and other personal data.
Kumar said the goal is to free store clerks from their desks and cash registers and make them more efficient. For example, the clerk would be able to scan a product’s label while meeting a customer in the aisle. Then they could link to complete product information from the Internet or an in-store network.
The information would be displayed on the Pocket Partner’s monochrome (black-and- white) screen. A color version is in the works, Kumar said.
The magnetic strip reader on the Pocket Partner would allow the clerk to sell the item using the customer’s credit card right there in the aisle or even make a running total of products as they move through the store.
If that clerk gets a phone call, it can be answered with the Pocket Partner, avoiding a trip back to the store office.
“The store associates won’t be tied to a desk anymore,” said Kumar.
Kumar said the Pocket Partners would cost “$1,000 plus” and be built by MCMS Inc. of Durham, N.C.
Cisco Systems confirmed that the Pocket Partners will use its Cisco Aironet radios. Aironet was a Telxon subsidiary before it was spun off last year. Cisco purchased Aironet earlier this year.
Kumar envisions a day when consumers will carry Pocket Partners with them as they shop, allowing them to scan product tags for prices and information and even charge them to their credit cards as they load up their shopping cart.
When Kumar announced the Pocket Partner in December, he said his target customers were the 90 million users of cellular telephones and 4 million people who own “personal digital assistants” like the Palm Pilots or Handspring Visors.
But for now, Kumar said the devices will be sold to the retail industry.
“It’s such a huge market,” he said. “That’s the good news. And because it is such a huge market, it just takes time,” he said.
Kumar formerly worked in product development for Telxon and found it easier to pursue industrial uses for the Pocket Partner.
“Right now we just focus on the wirelesswide area networks,” he said. “…this is our gateway to consumer applications….We will be getting to the consumers. We will be able to take it to the homes.”
Ex Telxon Chief joins Khyber’s board as the startup begins vertical marketing of its product.
FAIRLAWN, OH , February 8, 2000 – Khyber Technologies Corporation, a privately held developer of handheld computers, announced its new Board of Directors. Messrs. Michael Gallucci of Akron and Raymond D. Meyo of Fairlawn will be joining Khyber’s CEO Raj Kumar, who founded the company in 1990. The Meyo family and the Gallucci family have both made previous investments in Khyber.
As the Chief Executive Officer of Telxon from 1985 through 1992, and the Chief Operating Officer prior to that, Mr. Meyo led Telxon through its rapid growth and an IPO in 1983 (Nasdaq: TLXN). During the eleven years under Meyo’s tenure as the CEO and the COO, Telxon realized compounded annual growth of 23% for revenue and 26% for income. “I am delighted to be on Khyber’s board and look forward to helping the company take the product to the market”, said Meyo. “In the barcode field, Khyber has targeted end-user companies with large installed base of traditional data-entry products. Khyber’s Internet-based technology is an ideal upgrade for them”.
Mr. Gallucci has been in the hotel management and development business for over 20 years. He is a law graduate of Cleveland Marshall College of Law. He said, “Khyber has a great opportunity in the market with its new technology. In the near future we expect Khyber to become a leading provider of finished products as well as intellectual property related to portable Internet appliances”.
“With production planned for this summer, the timing couldn’t be better for acquiring access to such seasoned and well-connected business professionals”, said Raj Kumar. “Ray is highly regarded in the industry and brings with him an intimate knowledge of the barcode field where we have just begun to market our key product. Mike has already been advising us on various matters of finance and developments. We will continue to benefit from his guidance”.
Khyber recently announced a revolutionary new product, a pocket PC that doubles as an engine to a notebook computer. The company is direct-marketing the product, called the PocketPartner, in vertical barcode applications. Khyber has just begun seeking first round of financing. It is also seeking alliances and strategic investments from makers of wireless phones, PDAs, and laptop computers, from providers of Internet-based services, and from wireless carriers, to manufacture and/or market the product to their subscribers and general consumers.
Khyber Technologies Introduces a Revolutionary Product
“A smart phone doubles as an engine to a notebook computer.”
FAIRLAWN, OH , January 6, 2000 – Khyber Technologies Corporation, a privately held developer of handheld computers, introduced a product today that is said to employ a revolutionary design, making it potentially the most economical and versatile digital appliance in the market when it begins shipment later this year. Khyber is demonstrating a prototype of the product this week in its booth at the 2000 International CES in Las Vegas.
Khyber’s new product, the PocketPartner, consists of a smart phone and a companion notebook monitor. The smart phone unit is powered by a 130MHz Intel processor and Microsoft WindowsCE operating system. It also contains a 3″display with pen input and accepts standard compact-flash modules of various sizes. The companion notebook monitor provides a 7.8″ color display, an 80% reduced-size laptop-style keyboard and a telephone line interface that works with a modem contained within the smart phone unit.
The company is seeking alliances with makers of wireless phones, PDAs, and laptop computers to manufacture and market the product tailored to their markets. Khyber intends to direct-market customized products into vertical applications of barcode scanning by establishing alliances with wireless carriers and providers of services and applications based on the Internet.
“This product reflects our intimate understanding of not only the mobile work-force but also the technologies for creating perfect tools for them”, said Raj Kumar, Khyber’s CEO. “The PocketPartner unit will give the user more bang for the buck. To our licensees, the product design serves as a complete platform upon which to build their new product-line, based on their technology and tailored to their market needs”.
Khyber was founded in 1990 by Raj Kumar who previously led Telxon Corporation’s R&D during its rapid growth and an IPO in the 1980’s (Nasdaq: TLXN). At Telxon, he developed several leading products and brought in wireless technology, which was later spun-off in another IPO (Nasdaq: AIRO). In the last 7 years, Khyber has designed and built over a dozen products for customers worldwide and has developed a sizable portfolio of patents, specializing in portable digital appliances with new form-and-functions. Khyber has recently filed a suit alleging that various pocket-sized electronic organizers infringe a 1997 patent held by the company.
Khyber Technologies Corp. Developing Electronics That Could Become Next Wave of Hand-Held Devices
Tuesday, December 21, 1999
Section: BUSINESS
Page: C7 – Akron Beacon Journal
By Dave Scott, Beacon Journal business writer
Fairlawn businessman Raj Kumar has a lot riding on his trip to Las Vegas next month, but not at the gambling tables.
He’s going to unveil the Pocket Partner, an 8-ounce electronic device that has a list of features that begs for comparison to the old Swiss army knives.
It can be a telephone, music player, calendar and personal planner, TV remote control, e-mail sender, clock radio, bar-code scanner or electronic book. And it can even link up with a keyboard and become a laptop computer.
Kumar is chief executive officer and product designer for Khyber Technologies Corp. of Fairlawn, a 10-employee company that has produced new products for industry for the last nine years.
Now Khyber has a product aimed at the consumer market.
The Pocket Partner will compete with 3Com’s Palm Pilots, Handspring’s Visors and other devices that are seen by many retailers as the next trend in personal technology.
“There are 90 million cell-phone users and 4 million Palm Pilots,” said Kumar. “We want to go after the 86 million people who have cell phones without the Palms.”
So Kumar and other Khyber representatives will attend the 2000 International CES, a major consumer electronics trade show Jan. 5-9 in Las Vegas, to demonstrate the Pocket Partner to potential investors.
Kumar develops prototypes and manufacturing plans and turns the marketing and production over to other experts. He did that when he worked for Telxon Corp. in the 1980s and he’s been doing it with Khyber for the last eight years.
His projects include developing a scanner for the A.C. Nielsen Co. that goes in homes to allow consumers to record what they have purchased and send the information back to retailers. The 100,000 units help companies track consumer trends.
Kumar said Nielsen is interested in the Pocket Partner to replace some of those scanners that are outdated.
He also developed several products for Telxon that helped the company become a major player in the bar-code scanner business.
With Khyber, he has helped Telxon competitor Symbol Technologies of Holtsville, N.Y., transfer its scanner technology for use in Palm Pilots. Those devices are used to keep track of inventory and other data that can be stored on product bar codes.
Alex Csiszar, a spokesman for Telxon, said his company also is looking at adjusting its products to fit in with smaller personal digital assistants (PDA) such as Palm Pilots.
“We certainly are aware of the PDA platform and what Symbol is doing with it,” Csiszar said.
Now Kumar is turning his attention to the consumer market and is looking for financing to turn the device into a household product.
“I have a lot of confidence in Raj and the team at Khyber,” said Mike Galluci, a shareholder in the privately held company. “And I think people will be what makes the difference.”
Galluci, known in the Akron area as a hotel developer, said investors will look at personnel behind a deal as much as the technology and marketing.
“Investors want to know who’s on the team that’s gonna run it,” he said. “That’s what really is going to make a difference.
Galluci said he will be approaching investors soon after the prototype is developed for the Las Vegas show.
“We need to work through all of the bugs that I know will be there,” Galluci said. “I think then we will be able to put this thing together.”
Kumar said he is resisting the temptation to rush the product to market, despite competition from Palm Pilot, Handspring and others. He plans to sign a joint venture or licensing deal with a company that can have the devices in stores by this summer.
“I don’t think we have to be first,” he said. “It’s much more important to be right on target.”
That means creating the right mix of features to make the product easy for consumers to use.
Patrick Callahan of Forrester Research analyzed PDAs and noted that many people believe the devices are limited to keeping calendars, to-do lists and other organization tools. “
To thrive, PDA makers must demonstrate that PDAs are more than just organizers,” he said.
The products alleged to infringe the Khyber patent are Casio’s CASSIOPEIA™, Everex Systems’ FREESTYLE™, Hewlett-Packard’s JORNADA™, Philips Electronics’ NINO™ and Uniden’s UNIPRO™. The patent covers pocket-sized organizers having the ability to store and non-sequentially retrieve audio messages and messages entered through handwriting on the screen of the device. The patent also covers such pocket-sized devices with a homebase station for transmitting and receiving messages to and from the device. All of the above products are alleged to contain these infringing characteristics.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants’ products infringe at least eight of the patent’s claims. Khyber has requested injunctive relief as well as damages.
Counsel for Khyber, Victor Polk of Bingham Dana LLP in Boston, said: “Prior to filing this lawsuit, we carefully scrutinized both the validity and the infringement of the patent. The Complaint is very detailed in describing this analysis. As reflected there, we believe Casio, Everex, Hewlett-Packard, Philips Electronics and Uniden all infringe Khyber’s patent.” Bingham Dana LLP is a 400-attorney international law firm based in Boston and having offices in the US, Europe and Asia.
Raj Kumar, President of Khyber and the inventor of the patented technology, said: “With years of research and development effort, Khyber has created new form-and-function technology for use in portable Internet appliances. We have been heartened to see the market adopt our technologies. For a small company like us, however, it is unfair that after making such a substantial investment, we are being pushed out by the giants in the field.”
Khyber was founded in 1990 by Raj Kumar who previously led Telxon Corporation’s research and development during its rapid growth and an IPO in the 1980’s (Nasdaq: TLXN). At Telxon, he developed several market-leading products and brought in a wireless technology acquisition which was later spun-off as Aironet Wireless Communications Inc. in another IPO (Nasdaq: AIRO).
Khyber is developing its own product, the POCKET PARTNER™ unit, which is designed to serve as a wireless phone, organizer and an Internet appliance. The global market for such devices is projected to continue the 43% compounded annual growth started in 1998 and reaching 25 million units and $13 billion in sales by the year 2002. Khyber intends to produce and distribute the POCKET PARTNER™ units through strategic alliances, first launching it into niche markets and then selling its manufacturing and marketing rights to OEMs in the general
Bingham Dana LLP: Vic Polk 617-951-8000,
polkvh@bingham.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
FAIRLAWN, OH , October 29, 1999 – Khyber Technologies has Moved to a New Location!
You can now find us at:
3009 Smith Road
Suite 600
Fairlawn, OH 44333
Phone: 330-670-0033
Fax: 330-670-8484
FAIRLAWN, OH , April 21, 1999 – CEO Raj Kumar and VP of Operations John Lopez travelled to Chicago for the Mobile/PDA Expo. They demonstrated the Pocket Partner prototypes during the Mobile Solutions session on Wednesday afternoon. The presentation was a success and it generated a great deal of interest in our product.
FAIRLAWN, OH , February 24, 1999 – The Pocket Partner personal electronic organizer is currently in the prototyping/debugging phase of developement. A working model and field testing are expected soon. The first prototype was shown in January at an industry trade show. Production is tentatively planned for fall of 1999.
FAIRLAWN, OH , October 19, 1998 – An interview with Rajendra Kumar was featured on the cover of the October 19, issue of Crain’s Cleveland Business. Mr. Kumar discusses his latest licensing deal with Symbol Technologies and the use of the new funds for Khyber’s next product: The Pocket Partner. The first prototype will be shown in January at an industry trade show. Production is tentatively planned for fall of 1999.
FAIRLAWN, OH , October 6, 1998 – Khyber Technologies Corporation (www.khyber.com), a privately held developer of pocket PCs and handheld computing devices, announced today a licensing agreement with Symbol Technologies Inc., the world leader in bar code driven transaction systems. Under the agreement Symbol will receive exclusive rights to twenty-three of Khyber patents in Symbol’s field of use. Symbol will also get the right to sublicense these patents.
“Our patents teach innovative form and function for the next generation of mobile computing and communication devices”, said Raj Kumar, Khyber’s CEO. “Symbol is a globally respected technology leader. Their licensing of our patents recognizes the significance of the work Khyber has been doing for future products. In addition to Symbol, several major companies have been evaluating our patents for licensing, including 3Com, HP, Philips, and Sony. I expect this to be the first of a number of significant licenses for Khyber patents.”
Khyber Technologies was founded in 1991 by Mr. Kumar who previously led Telxon Corporation’s research and development during eleven years of its rapid growth and an IPO. In the last seven years Khyber has designed and built over a dozen leading edge products for customers worldwide and has developed a sizeable portfolio of patents for use in future hand-held computers, smart cell-phones, and digital cameras. The company is completing the design and prototype development of its Pocket Partner product. It plans to tailor this patented design for interested clients and licensees in various market segments.
Symbol Technologies is a global leader in mobile computing and communications systems with innovative customer solutions based on wireless local area networking for data and voice communications, application-specific mobile computing and bar code data capture. Symbol’s wireless LAN solutions are installed at more than 30,000 customer locations worldwide and support more than 6 million Symbol scanners and hand-held computers.