Dacom, Inc. was founded in 1966 by two ex-Lockheed engineers, Daniel Hochman, President, and Don Weber, Vice President, building on their pioneering work on digital image compression invented for satellite communications.[3] Their work resulted in the first commercial digital fax[4] machine and later the first sub-minute facsimile transmission over a single standard phone line.[5] In 1973 Dacom was recipient of the IR-100 Award[6] (the name was later changed to the R&D 100 Awards) for the most significant new product in Information Technology. The patents and technology developed by Dacom have become the foundation of the modern desktop fax machine.
Industry | Fax and Data Compression |
---|---|
Founded | 1966 |
Founder | Daniel Hochman and Donald Weber |
Headquarters | Santa Clara, USA |
Area served | Global |
Products | Dacom Rapidfax 100, Dacom DFC-10, Dacom 111 Receiver, Dacom 212, Rapidfax 412[1][2] |
History
From the late 1950s Daniel Hochman, a pioneer in digital electronics, was head of a division of Lockheed Missiles & Space Company in Sunnyvale, California. In 1959 Hochman's team at Lockheed unveiled a 9-pound miniature television system that could transmit pictures from as far as 1000 miles in space, and in the early 1960s was working to develop a high-speed communications system for the transmission of images from space.[7][8]The team faced two related problems: the density of data of a high-resolution photograph, and the low-power, low-capacity transmitters on board satellites.[9] To address these problems, Hochman brought in Donald Weber to work on the problem of data compression - to achieve a higher rate of data transmitted with the same low-power equipment.[10]
In 1966 Hochman and Weber realized the potential application of the technology they had invented to create a digital facsimile machine, capable of transmitting images over a standard phone line in considerably less time than the then-current state-of-the-art analog facsimile machines offered by Xerox, Magnavox, and Stewart Warner. They left Lockheed to form their own company: Dacom (which stood for Data Compression).
The first systems were models DFC-10 and the Dacom 111, which came to market in the late 1960s. Hochman and Weber presented Dacom's data compression technology at the 1970 International Conference on Communications in a paper which has been since cited as a seminal work in the field of image digitization and data compression.[11] The company was awarded a number of patents that constitute the foundation of modern data compression and facsimile transmission (see table below).[12]
1971 brought a partnership with CBS and Savin to provide both development funds and commercial distribution for Dacom. Savin was a major distributor of Ricoh products at the time. The joint venture resulted in the creation of Rapifax Company, which purchased a majority interest in Dacom and was responsible for marketing Dacom products. The Dacom 412 Secure Fax, the first digital sub-minute facsimile came to market shortly after and in 1973 was awarded the IR-100 Best Product of the Year award.[13][14]
Also, in 1973 a majority interest in Rapifax was sold to Ricoh, a Japanese manufacturing company, which purchased the CBS holdings in the company. Dacom became a wholly owned subsidiary of Rapifax and its technology was transferred to the parent company. Savin retained a 23% in Rapifax, which was subsequently sold to Ricoh as well. Ricoh moved R&D and manufacturing to Japan, a move unsuccessfully contested by Dacom founders in court. Dacom technology was ultimately incorporated into the Ricoh brand fax machines.[15][16]
Dacom, Inc. succeeded not only in developing breakthrough technology[17] but successfully marketed high-end facsimile equipment in the 1970s for general business and special niche markets, including government agencies, military communications, and remote newspaper publishing.[18] In the mid-1970s, the Rapifax 100 established itself as the market leader in the "ultrafast facsimile market".[19]
Patents Assigned to Dacom, Inc.
Patent No. | Description | Inventors | Date granted |
---|---|---|---|
FR2053965 CA917571 US4135214 | A method and apparatus wherein novel adaptive encoding and decoding processes are utilized to reduce the quantity of symbols or descriptors required to transmit | Donald R. Weber | 4/16/1971 12/26/1972 1/16/1979 |
US3868477 | Binary facsimile communication system employing an automatic contrast enhancement method | Howard Katzman | 2/25/1975 |
GB1409365 US3916095 CA1002175-7 | Dual-line data compression method and system for compressing, transmitting and reproducing facsimile data | Donald R. Weber Lou Joseph Edward A. Poe Ralph W. Austed | 10/81975 10/28/1975 12/21/1975 |
US3965290 | Video-to-binary conversion apparatus for use in image reproduction systems and the like to convert an input video signal to an output binary signal… | James G. Tisue | 6/24/1976 |
US4000368 | An electronic non-uniform clock generating apparatus including a modulo N counter for counting uniform clock pulses in a controlled manner to develop a series | James G. Tisue | 12/28/1976 |
US 4084196 | An electronic half-tone generating circuit for enabling a black and white facsimile transmission system to accurately and efficiently transmit and reproduce images including shades… | James G. Tisue Donald R. Weber Peter A. Johanson | 4/11/1978 |
US4107610 | A data handling system for converting an analog signal into binary form for storage or transmission to a remote receiver and subsequent reconstruction back… | Donald R. Weber | 8/15/1978 |