MERL Saffron Licensing
Since the fall of 2003, MJK Partners has been leading technology licensing efforts for the Saffron Type System at Mitsubishi Electric's Research Labs in Cambridge, MA. (www.merl.com). This has included packaging and positioning the technology and developing and executing the go-to-market plan.
The first licensing agreement was with Macromedia where Saffron has been integrated into the Flash 8 family of products as the default text rendering engine. This is a major new feature for Flash and it greatly improves the visual quality of the platform as well as giving designers a great deal of creative control.
The latest licensing agreement is with Monotype Imaging, the leading provider of fonts and font technology for use in OEM hardware and software.
Press Release:
January 18th, 2006
Monotype Imaging Becomes Exclusive Provider of Saffron Rendering TechnologyAgreement with Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs Sets Course for Enhanced Text Rendering Capabilities
WOBURN, Mass. & SALFORDS, Surrey, England, Jan. 18, 2006 – Monotype Imaging Inc., a global provider of font and imaging software technologies, has entered into an exclusive agreement with Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (MERL), a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Electric Corp., to license to customers its Saffron type rendering technology.
Saffron technology, which has been previously licensed by MERL to Adobe Systems Incorporated (formerly Macromedia Inc.), for improving text display quality in programs authored using current and future releases of Adobe’s Macromedia® Flash® product, will be integrated into future versions of Monotype Imaging technologies designed for manufacturers and developers of consumer devices, such as mobile phones, digital television systems and set-top boxes.
“Saffron is a rich addition to our technology portfolio and represents a natural step in bringing advanced solutions to our customers,” said Robert M. Givens, president and chief executive officer of Monotype Imaging. “We’ve aligned our R&D team, which includes the inventors of our font and image manipulation technologies, to work with the originators of Saffron. Together, these highly experienced, world-class R&D teams will jointly build products that incorporate Saffron for rendering fonts and objects in a variety of current and new applications.”
“The technology is ideally suited for addressing the increasingly sophisticated text display requirements of Monotype Imaging’s development customers and OEMs of consumer devices,” said Dick Waters, president of MERL. “The technology provides Monotype Imaging and its customers with an extensible platform for the future. We look forward to working with Monotype Imaging as it moves forward with Saffron.”
Robert M. Givens (left) and Dick Waters (right)
Jack Murphy, Monotype Imaging’s vice president of research and development, commented on MERL’s patented “adaptively sampled distance field” approach to rendering and describing character glyphs and shapes. “The ADF approach is unique. It brings with it several benefits in addition to exceptional on-screen readability, such as the ability to be adapted for optimized rendering using alternative or emerging display technologies,” he said.
The improved text clarity delivered by MERL’s technology, branded as the FlashType™ text rendering engine within the new Flash Professional 8 multimedia authoring program, has received positive reviews or comments in publications such as CNET, Macworld and StreamingMedia.com.
About MERL
Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. is the North American arm of the corporate R&D organization for the Mitsubishi Electric Corp. MERL conducts application-motivated basic research and advanced development in computer and communications technology. Guided by a long-term, market-driven vision, MERL seeks to contribute to the advancement of science and to meet human needs by creating fundamental new technology that expands the productive use of computers. Information about MERL is available at www.merl.com.
About Mitsubishi Electric
With nearly 80 years of experience in providing reliable, high-quality products to OEMs and consumers all over the world, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. is a recognized world leader in the manufacturing, marketing and sales of electrical and electronic equipment used in information processing and communications, space development, satellite communications, consumer electronics, industrial technology, energy, transportation and construction. Information about Mitsubishi Electric is available at global.mitsubishielectric.com.
About Monotype Imaging
Based in Woburn, Mass. with regional offices in the U.K., Chicago, Redwood City, Calif., Japan and China, Monotype Imaging provides fonts and font technologies to graphic professionals, software developers and manufacturers of printers and display devices. The company also provides print drivers and color imaging technologies to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). Monotype Imaging is home to the Monotype® typeface library, a collection that includes widely used designs such as the Arial®, Times New Roman® and Gill Sans® typeface families. Monotype Imaging offers fonts and industry-standard solutions for most of the world’s written languages. Information about Monotype Imaging and its products can be found on the company’s Web sites at
www.monotypeimaging.com
www.fonts.com
www.monotypefonts.com
www.customfonts.com
www.fontwise.com
www.itcfonts.com
www.faces.co.uk.
Monotype and the Monotype Imaging logo are trademarks of Monotype Imaging Inc. registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Arial, Times New Roman and Gill Sans are trademarks of The Monotype Corporation registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2005 Monotype Imaging Inc. All rights reserved.
Press Release:
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August 08, 2005 12:51 PM US Eastern Timezone
Mitsubishi Research Labs Licenses Saffron Type Rendering to Macromedia(R); Breakthrough Technology to Ship in Macromedia Flash(R) Player 8 CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 8, 2005--Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs Inc. (MERL), a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corp., today announced that Macromedia(R) has licensed Saffron type-rendering technology for integration into its Macromedia Flash family of products.
The Macromedia Flash Player is the most widely deployed multimedia player, installed across more than 98 percent of Internet-connected desktops and a growing number of mobile devices. Through this agreement, hundreds of millions of users will be able to experience the superior quality of text rendered with Saffron technology.
Saffron, developed at MERL, is based on Adaptively Sampled Distance Fields (ADF), a set of patented approaches for describing and rendering shapes. The ADF approach has been applied to the very difficult problem of rendering high-quality text on digital displays. Saffron is powering the new advanced text features of Flash Player 8 that will bring a whole new level of quality and control to Flash authors and viewers.
"We really put a lot of effort into improving the text capabilities of Macromedia Flash Player 8, and MERL's Saffron is the cornerstone of that effort. MERL has provided us with cutting-edge technology and has proven to be a valuable and responsive partner," said David Mendels, general manager, Macromedia.
"We couldn't be more proud," said Dick Waters, president of MERL. "MERL is a corporate research lab, and we measure our success in how we impact Mitsubishi Electric's products and the world, whether these impacts are new features for digital HDTV, contributions of global communications standards, or innovative computer vision technologies for the security market. The fact that Macromedia, the world leader in digital media content, selected MERL's Saffron type technology for its Flash product is a testament to our ability to innovate and apply new technology successfully."
Macromedia Flash Player 8 public beta, a free download, was released by Macromedia today. MERL's Saffron type-rendering technology is available for license. For more information, see http://www.merl.com/projects/ADF-Saffron/.
ABOUT MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES
Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories Inc. (MERL) is the North American arm of the corporate R&D organization for Mitsubishi Electric. MERL conducts application-motivated basic research and advanced development in computer and communications technology. Guided by a long-term, market-driven vision, MERL seeks to contribute to the advancement of science and to meet human needs by creating fundamental new technology that expands the productive use of computers. Additional information on Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories is available at www.merl.com.
ABOUT MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC
With nearly 80 years of experience in providing reliable, high-quality products to OEMs and consumers all over the world, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. is a recognized world leader in the manufacturing, marketing and sales of electrical and electronic equipment used in information processing and communications, space development, satellite communications, consumer electronics, industrial technology, energy, transportation and construction. For more information about Mitsubishi Electric, visit http://global.mitsubishielectric.com.
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