Ivan Sutherland

Sketchpad Demonstration

Alan Kay, another recipient of the Turing Award, has taken a  copy of the earliest known movie showing Sketchpad in operation and has added a commentary to explain what it is happening. That presentation is available here.

Sutherland’s Patents

Sutherland holds 60 or more patents. Most cited is his 1975 patent entitled, “System of Polygon Sorting by Dissection,” a system for subdividing three-dimensional polygons to sort for the purpose of determining visible parts of polygons, for determining shadows and portions of polygons obstructed by semi-transparent surfaces, and for determining polyhedral interpenetration (when shapes intersect each other).

7,994,501 Method and apparatus for electronically aligning capacitively coupled mini-bars
7,786,427 Proximity optical memory module having an electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical converter
7,660,842 Method and apparatus for performing a carry-save division operation
7,636,361 Apparatus and method for high-throughput asynchronous communication with flow control
7,417,993 Apparatus and method for high-throughput asynchronous communication
7,384,804 Method and apparatus for electronically aligning capacitively coupled mini-bars
7,200,830 Enhanced electrically-aligned proximity communication
7,064,583 Arbiters with preferential enables for asynchronous circuits
7,046,017 Full-wave rectifier for capacitance measurements
7,026,867 Floating input amplifier for capacitively coupled communication
7,020,779 Secure, distributed e-mail system
7,012,459 Method and apparatus for regulating heat in an asynchronous system
6,995,039 Method and apparatus for electrostatically aligning integrated circuits
6,987,412 Sense amplifying latch with low swing feedback
6,987,394 Full-wave rectifier for capacitance measurements
6,925,411 Method and apparatus for aligning semiconductor chips using an actively driven vernier
6,870,271 Integrated circuit assembly module that supports capacitive communication between semiconductor dies
6,847,247 Jittery polyphase clock
6,825,708 Apparatus and method for an offset-correcting sense amplifier
6,812,046 Method and apparatus for electronically aligning capacitively coupled chip pads
6,769,007 Adder circuit with a regular structure
6,753,726 Apparatus and method for an offset-correcting sense amplifier
6,741,616 Switch fabric for asynchronously transferring data within a circuit
6,710,436 Method and apparatus for electrostatically aligning integrated circuits
6,707,317 Method and apparatus for asynchronously controlling domino logic gates
6,675,246 Sharing arbiter
6,600,325 Method and apparatus for probing an integrated circuit through capacitive coupling
6,559,531 Face to face chips
6,500,696 Face to face chip
6,496,359 Tile array computers
6,486,709 Distributing data to multiple destinations within an asynchronous circuit
6,456,136 Method and apparatus for latching data within a digital system
6,420,907 Method and apparatus for asynchronously controlling state information within a circuit
6,360,288 Method and modules for control of pipelines carrying data using pipelines carrying control signals
6,356,117 Asynchronously controlling data transfers within a circuit
6,351,261 System and method for a virtual reality system having a frame buffer that stores a plurality of view points that can be selected and viewed by the user
6,304,125 Method for generating and distribution of polyphase clock signals
6,188,262 Synchronous polyphase clock distribution system
6,085,316 Layered counterflow pipeline processor with anticipatory control
6,072,805 Observing arbiter
5,955,898 Selector and decision wait using pass gate XOR
5,943,491 Control circuit of mutual exclusion elements
5,861,762 Inverse toggle XOR and XNOR circuit
5,838,939 Multi-issue/plural counterflow pipeline processor
5,805,838 Fast arbiter with decision storage
5,758,139 Control chains for controlling data flow in interlocked data path circuits
5,748,539 Recursive multi-channel interface
5,742,182 Symmetric selector circuit for event logic
5,713,025 Asynchronous arbiter using multiple arbiter elements to enhance speed
5,684,724 Flashback simulator
5,638,009 Three conductor asynchronous signaling
5,600,848 Counterflow pipeline processor with instructions flowing in a first direction and instruction results flowing in the reverse direction
5,592,103 System for fast switching of time critical input signals
5,572,690 Cascaded multistage counterflow pipeline processor for carrying distinct data in two opposite directions
5,567,110 Robot arm structure
5,187,800 Asynchronous pipelined data processing system
4,900,218 Robot arm structure
4,679,213 Asynchronous queue system
4,622,992 Reaction control valve
4,209,240 Reticle exposure apparatus and method 

Oral History Interviews

The Charles Babbage Institute provides a transcript of a 1989 oral history interview conducted by William Aspray here.