E-mail Sent: Monday, January 08, 1996 10:56 AM
Subject: Higher Performance IEEE Std. 488.1 Working Group Meeting

The next Higher Performance IEEE Std. 488.1 Working Group meeting will be in Austin, Texas on February 22nd. This will be a one day meeting starting at 9:00 AM and running no later than 5 PM. The meeting will be held in the Pecan Room at the Embassy Suites Hotel at 300 South Congress. The Embassy Suites registration phone number is 800-EMBASSY.

Several things have happened since our meeting on August 9th:

1) At the last meeting, it was agreed that we should allow time for members to review the two proposals and possibly submit additional proposals. This time period has elapsed and no additional proposals have been submitted.

2) There has been some dialog between CEC and NI since the last meeting regarding how to proceed with two different proposals and related patent issues. CEC has agreed to support the adoption of NI's HS488 proposal and allow any entity to use any and all claimed patent rights covered by any present or future CEC patents required to implement the HS488 standard. In turn, NI has agreed to allow any entity to use any and all claimed patent rights covered by it's patent on HS488 (patent #5,315,706). This should resolve several of the issues that came up during the last meeting.

3) One concern raised at the last meeting was doubts about the merit of developing and reviewing a specification that was covered by a patent. This agreement should resolve that concern. Also the issue of a non-neutral chairman should be resolved since there is no longer two competing standards.

The February 22nd meeting will cover the following agenda:
- Minutes of the first meeting and review of the tentative agenda
- Presentation and discussion of the CEC & NI agreement
- Discussion of how to proceed with the HS488 proposal
- Discussion and possible resolution of any comments from members not present
- Action items and planning for the next meeting

One issue that must be resolved before significant work can begin on converting the proposal into a standard is the format of the proposed extensions. The current HS488 proposal is essentially an instruction list of how to modify and merge the extensions into the existing IEEE 488.1 standard. Another possibility is to lump the extensions into an appendix that could be added to the existing IEEE 488.1 standard. Any comments on this issue will be helpful as well as any comments on the proposal itself.

You should all have the latest version of the HS488 proposal (version 1.0). If not, contact me as soon as possible so that I can send you a copy.

If you will be attending the meeting, let me know so that I can reserve an appropriate meeting room. If you cannot attend the meeting, please provide me with your feedback or comments via email, fax, or regular mail by February 16th.

Please note that a copy of this letter will also be sent by regular mail to ensure that everyone receives it in one form or another.

Sincerely,
Robert Canik
Chairperson, Higher Performance IEEE Std. 488.1 Working Group