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Seeing David Cutler mentioned brought back memories: Back in the late 1980s I wrote a patent (now long expired) for DEC in which Cutler was one of two co-invent

Seeing David Cutler mentioned brought back memories: Back in the late 1980s I wrote a patent (now long expired) for DEC in which Cutler was one of two co-inventors: "Radix-16 divider using overlapped quotient bit selection and concurrent quotient rounding and correction." [0] I've always faintly regretted that I never got to interact directly with Cutler — although the lead inventor, Dr. Ted Kehl (RIP) [1], was great to work with. [0] https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/5132925 https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloa... [1] https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/seattletimes/name/theodore-kehl-obituary?id=13252890 https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/seattletimes/name/theod...

trentnelson 3y ago
Interesting that Cutler was working on circuit-oriented stuff that late in the 80s? Or was this invented much earlier, just patented later? He was courted by Microsoft in '89, so this patent looks like it went through after he'd left DEC, which I guess explains why you didn't have the opportunity to interact with him. I'd be interested in hearing more about this though!
- dctoedt 3y ago
  The link I posted is public information; I can't say more than that (and don't remember much in any case). Normally the "prosecution history" documents would be available online [0], because they're also a public record, but for this patent that doesn't appear to be the case (it was a long time ago, so possibly the USPTO just hasn't yet digitized the documents). It's been some time since I did patent-application work so I'm probably not up to date on USPTO procedures and resources. [0] https://patentcenter.uspto.gov/applications/07233378/ifw/transactions?application= https://patentcenter.uspto.gov/applications/07233378/ifw/tra...
sillywalk 3y ago
Random Question, but as a DEC employee, do you know why their processors are prefixed with KA ?
- dctoedt 3y ago
  Sorry, no idea; I wasn’t a DEC employee — I was (one of their many) outside counsel.

trentnelson 3y ago

Interesting that Cutler was working on circuit-oriented stuff that late in the 80s? Or was this invented much earlier, just patented later? He was courted by Microsoft in '89, so this patent looks like it went through after he'd left DEC, which I guess explains why you didn't have the opportunity to interact with him. I'd be interested in hearing more about this though!

dctoedt 3y ago
The link I posted is public information; I can't say more than that (and don't remember much in any case). Normally the "prosecution history" documents would be available online [0], because they're also a public record, but for this patent that doesn't appear to be the case (it was a long time ago, so possibly the USPTO just hasn't yet digitized the documents). It's been some time since I did patent-application work so I'm probably not up to date on USPTO procedures and resources. [0] https://patentcenter.uspto.gov/applications/07233378/ifw/transactions?application= https://patentcenter.uspto.gov/applications/07233378/ifw/tra...

sillywalk 3y ago

Random Question, but as a DEC employee, do you know why their processors are prefixed with KA ?

dctoedt 3y ago
Sorry, no idea; I wasn’t a DEC employee — I was (one of their many) outside counsel.