Task One LLC is a consulting firm with the following specializations:
- Business Development and Strategic Planning
- Software Architecture, Design, Development and Test Automation
- Targeted Intellectual Property Services
Business Development and Strategic Planning
At Task One, we specialize in helping companies seeking initial funding rounds with their business and strategy needs. Our services include business plan creation, financial analysis, and venture identification. Our co-founder, Dr. Congcong Zheng, is a tenured professor of Management at San Diego State University, with deep community ties to entrepreneurship organizations in the San Diego metropolitan area.
Business Plan Creation and Financial Modeling
Many founders and executives are inundated with requests and problems on a daily basis , and they often lack the time to develop long-term visions and plans. We help clients to develop a long-term plan (3 to 5 years) to guide business growth or to raise external capital. Our business planning process starts with understanding the client’s business processes, routines, and personal goals. Together with this knowledge, we apply our strategic planning methodology to analyze our client's internal strengths and weaknesses, identify external opportunities and threats, and develop a unique business plan for our client. Finally, we complete the SWOT analysis and business plan validation process by applying the plan to existing and potential customers to ensure its validity and accuracy.
Venture Funding
As a Southern California based company, Task One has ties with local incubators, venture firms and seed-fund organizations. We can engage your organization and lay out a plan for getting your idea funded at the idea stage all the way to series-A funding.
At Task One, we specialize in helping companies seeking initial funding rounds with their business and strategy needs. Our services include business plan creation, financial analysis, and venture identification. Our co-founder, Dr. Congcong Zheng, is a tenured professor of Management at San Diego State University, with deep community ties to entrepreneurship organizations in the San Diego metropolitan area.
Business Plan Creation and Financial Modeling
Many founders and executives are inundated with requests and problems on a daily basis , and they often lack the time to develop long-term visions and plans. We help clients to develop a long-term plan (3 to 5 years) to guide business growth or to raise external capital. Our business planning process starts with understanding the client’s business processes, routines, and personal goals. Together with this knowledge, we apply our strategic planning methodology to analyze our client's internal strengths and weaknesses, identify external opportunities and threats, and develop a unique business plan for our client. Finally, we complete the SWOT analysis and business plan validation process by applying the plan to existing and potential customers to ensure its validity and accuracy.
Venture Funding
As a Southern California based company, Task One has ties with local incubators, venture firms and seed-fund organizations. We can engage your organization and lay out a plan for getting your idea funded at the idea stage all the way to series-A funding.
Software Architecture, Design, Development, and Test Automation
Our company provides expertise in software and firmware architecture, design, and development targeting embedded and cloud platforms. We can help in a variety of projects utilizing the following:
Software Architecture
Software architecture is typically viewed as the bridge between product management and engineering design. Upfront software architecture also lends itself well to Agile task breakdown and cost estimation, and in our experience helps in projecting more accurate project deadlines. We have extensive experience in providing software architecture and design documentation for software and firmware projects, targeting small and medium-sized engineering teams.
Software Design, Development, and Test Automation
At Task One, we can deliver on a variety of software design and development projects for embedded and cloud platforms. Additionally, we believe that software reliability can be achieved more economically through upfront investment in test automation. Generally we recommend that clients adopt a healthy mix of unit testing (e.g. white-box) as well as end-to-end regression testing (e.g. black-box), with a goal of automating as much of the process as possible. We have direct experience with setting up in-house test automation frameworks as well as unit tests frameworks, for a variety of programming languages.
Our company provides expertise in software and firmware architecture, design, and development targeting embedded and cloud platforms. We can help in a variety of projects utilizing the following:
- Programming Languages: C/C++, Python, Matlab/Octave, Javascript, Perl
- Video codec platforms: FFMPEG, x.264
- Video compression standards: AVC (ITU-T H.264), HEVC (ITU-T H.265), MVC
- Adaptive streaming standards: HLS /HTTP Live Streaming (RFC 8216), MPEG-DASH (ISO/IEC 23009-1)
- Multimedia containers: Transport Stream (ISO/IEC 13818-1), MP4 (ISO/IEC 14496-12), MMT (ISO/IEC 23008-1), MKV
- Test automation: Jenkins, Google Test, Google Mock, Python unittest
Software Architecture
Software architecture is typically viewed as the bridge between product management and engineering design. Upfront software architecture also lends itself well to Agile task breakdown and cost estimation, and in our experience helps in projecting more accurate project deadlines. We have extensive experience in providing software architecture and design documentation for software and firmware projects, targeting small and medium-sized engineering teams.
Software Design, Development, and Test Automation
At Task One, we can deliver on a variety of software design and development projects for embedded and cloud platforms. Additionally, we believe that software reliability can be achieved more economically through upfront investment in test automation. Generally we recommend that clients adopt a healthy mix of unit testing (e.g. white-box) as well as end-to-end regression testing (e.g. black-box), with a goal of automating as much of the process as possible. We have direct experience with setting up in-house test automation frameworks as well as unit tests frameworks, for a variety of programming languages.
Targeted Intellectual Property Services
We provide patent and related intellectual property services pertaining to multimedia standards and adjacent technologies. Our expertise include the following specializations:
Prior Art Searches
In performing prior arts searches, our primary aim is validate or invalidate patent claim(s) per the law that is laid out by USC 102 and USC 103. In our opinion, performing a thorough prior art search is ideally the first step in both defensive and offensive patent strategies. In offensive patent enforcement scenarios, it may be helpful to determine the validity of a patent before the start of acquisition or prosecution activities. In defensive patent cases, the discovery of prior art may lead to outright invalidation of a patent and hence void its assertion rights. And while the assumption of validity upon grant is a reasonable starting point, there may be a number of reasons why a particular piece of prior art did not present itself during the examination phase. We perform prior art searches according to the following general steps:
Patent Claims Analysis and Claim Chart Creation
We examine patent claims for both offensive and defensive purposes. After thoroughly reviewing the patent and ensuring adherence to USC 112, we evaluate each individual assertion and limitation of the claim under review, in order to evaluate its technical merit and validity. Once the overall validity of a patent claim is completed, we present evidence of its applicability from either offensive or defensive purposes. In conjunction with patent claims analysis, we are often requested to prepare a claim chart. Claim chart generation typically requires a thorough understanding of the claim and the underlying invention, as well as the infringement source. Our methodology in preparing claim charts goes well beyond simple keyword matches, and relies of both logical and technical constructs. We provide a detailed document for both our claim chart analysis as well as claim charts, including all supporting technical references and their application to the claim(s) under review.
Intellectual Property Development
Companies vary in the importance they place on intellectual property. With our co-founder holding over 50 issues patents, Task One holds intellectual property in high regards, and as such can aid like-minded clients in developing their intellectual property portfolio. In this process, we generally hold interviews with engineers, product managers and other stake holders on one-on-one or group settings, review their past work, and make an initial assessment for potential areas for intellectual property development. Subsequently we perform a brief prior art search for the most promising ideas, follow up with individuals to gather additional details where necessary, and make a final recommendation to the client for a list of possible inventions.
We provide patent and related intellectual property services pertaining to multimedia standards and adjacent technologies. Our expertise include the following specializations:
- Video compression standards: AVC (ITU-T H.264), HEVC (ITU-T H.265), MVC
- Adaptive streaming standards: HLS /HTTP Live Streaming (RFC 8216), MPEG-DASH (ISO/IEC 23009-1)
- Multimedia containers: Transport Stream (ISO/IEC 13818-1), MP4 (ISO/IEC 14496-12), MMT (ISO/IEC 23008-1), Common Encryption (ISO/IEC 23001-7)
- General multimedia technologies: motion estimation/compensation, audio/video synchronization, frame-rate conversion, encryption and Digital Rights Management (DRM), multimedia containers and indexing, adaptive streaming, program guides, trick play and visual search
Prior Art Searches
In performing prior arts searches, our primary aim is validate or invalidate patent claim(s) per the law that is laid out by USC 102 and USC 103. In our opinion, performing a thorough prior art search is ideally the first step in both defensive and offensive patent strategies. In offensive patent enforcement scenarios, it may be helpful to determine the validity of a patent before the start of acquisition or prosecution activities. In defensive patent cases, the discovery of prior art may lead to outright invalidation of a patent and hence void its assertion rights. And while the assumption of validity upon grant is a reasonable starting point, there may be a number of reasons why a particular piece of prior art did not present itself during the examination phase. We perform prior art searches according to the following general steps:
- Review the patent and understand the details pertaining to the claim(s) under review
- Perform prior art search using Google patents, USPTO, and other available means
- Perform a literary document search using publicly available databases
- Review the inventor backgrounds, publications, and standards body attendance records (where applicable)
Patent Claims Analysis and Claim Chart Creation
We examine patent claims for both offensive and defensive purposes. After thoroughly reviewing the patent and ensuring adherence to USC 112, we evaluate each individual assertion and limitation of the claim under review, in order to evaluate its technical merit and validity. Once the overall validity of a patent claim is completed, we present evidence of its applicability from either offensive or defensive purposes. In conjunction with patent claims analysis, we are often requested to prepare a claim chart. Claim chart generation typically requires a thorough understanding of the claim and the underlying invention, as well as the infringement source. Our methodology in preparing claim charts goes well beyond simple keyword matches, and relies of both logical and technical constructs. We provide a detailed document for both our claim chart analysis as well as claim charts, including all supporting technical references and their application to the claim(s) under review.
Intellectual Property Development
Companies vary in the importance they place on intellectual property. With our co-founder holding over 50 issues patents, Task One holds intellectual property in high regards, and as such can aid like-minded clients in developing their intellectual property portfolio. In this process, we generally hold interviews with engineers, product managers and other stake holders on one-on-one or group settings, review their past work, and make an initial assessment for potential areas for intellectual property development. Subsequently we perform a brief prior art search for the most promising ideas, follow up with individuals to gather additional details where necessary, and make a final recommendation to the client for a list of possible inventions.