U.S. government awards Media Fusion patent for groundbreaking powerline communications technology

9 Dec 1999

DALLAS - Media Fusion has been awarded a U.S. patent on its revolutionary powerline communications technology, which will enable households and businesses across the globe to plug into low-cost, premium-quality voice, video and Internet data with near unlimited bandwidth.

The lengthy patent on Media Fusion's groundbreaking technology, invented by Chairman and Chief Scientist William “Luke” Stewart, encompasses 46 claims for the company's Advanced Sub-Carrier Modulation™ process, which will empower the vast electrical power grid of any nation to deliver communications services to businesses, homes, schools and underserved rural areas. Anyone with a simple electrical outlet will be able to plug into the ultimate in telephone, television and Internet services.

Media Fusion's powerline communications process is available for licensing to communications companies, energy providers or other companies interested in adopting all or parts of the technology.

“This patent will provide Media Fusion and its partners with substantial control of the development and deployment of this revolutionary technology around the world,” says Edwin G. Blair, Media Fusion's chief executive officer. “This is a big step in our evolution, as we continue to forge relationships with business partners, both domestically and abroad.”

The patent for Media Fusion's Advanced Sub-Carrier Modulation™ is important because the technology solves the problems of line noise, electrical load imbalances and transformer interference that hindered other powerline communications companies' past efforts. Media Fusion's patent and its claims center on the naturally occurring magnetic wave surrounding electrical power lines. Media Fusion's process writes phone, radio, video, Internet and satellite data within the magnetic wave by using proprietary software and hardware, allowing the electrical grid to carry these communications services at near light speed. Media Fusion is developing user-friendly, portable outlet connectors that will enable phones, televisions and computers to communicate on the electrical grid as a single, low-cost source of premium-quality voice, video and computer data. The total package for an average household is expected to retail for under $60.

“Our revolutionary process and its components - including polymer, magnetic, microwave and quantum electro-dynamic technologies - will create new industries with novel applications that will employ thousands,“ said Mr. Stewart, whose expertise with signal processing, microwave technologies, supercomputing and neural networks has contributed to numerous U.S. military defense projects and advanced private sector innovations.

“We are developing a system with near-limitless capacity that will increase data transfer rates to the exabit region,” Mr. Stewart says. “With these incredible transmission capabilities, you'll also see dramatic advances in hardware and software products that will further facilitate operating speeds for computers and computing - including the way computers talk to each other and share work with each other.”

Media Fusion's technology promises to be the “last mile solution” sought by Section 706 of the U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996, in which the government seeks to expedite the delivery of advanced voice, video and Internet data to public schools and rural areas. Media Fusion solves the last-mile quandary at incredible savings to taxpayers and end users by tapping a vast communications infrastructure already in place - the electrical power grid. By using the power grid, Media Fusion eliminates the need for expensive public funding outlays to connect schools and underserved areas with fiber optic cable, co-axle or other types of communications lines.

Unlike prior efforts at developing powerline communications networks, Media Fusion's proprietary technology also guarantees security of confidential Internet data. In addition, electric utilities are interested in Media Fusion's technology because it offers a way to monitor distribution and maintenance costs, as well as user consumption, more accurately than ever before.

Filed: Dec 1999, BPL, Press, VOIP, Co: Media Fusion, Tech: None