Anders Håkan Lans was born on November 2, 1947, in Enskede, Sweden. He is a Swedish inventor who worked for the Swedish National Defence Research Institute (FOA) and later for Stockholm University. His main contribution is the development of Self-Organized Time Division Multiple Access (STDMA) datalink technology, which is used in the Automatic Identification System (AIS) for vehicle navigation.

Lans has received many important awards in Sweden for his inventions. He is also known for participating in several legal disputes related to his computer patents, but these cases were not successful.

STDMA

Håkan Lans created a tracking system that uses a Self-Organized Time Division Multiple Access (STDMA) datalink. This technology is currently used in the Automatic Identification System (AIS). AIS is a short-range coastal tracking system required on international ships with a gross tonnage (GT) of 300 or more, and on all passenger ships, no matter their size.

STDMA is also one of the three physical layer models proposed for Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), a surveillance method used in air traffic control. Lans’s protocol is used for ADS-B in Sweden.

For his invention of STDMA, Lans was nominated for the 2007 European Inventor Award but did not win. The STDMA patent was awarded to Lans in 1996. However, a U.S. patent reexamination certificate issued in 2010 canceled all claims of the patent.

Computer graphics

In the late 1960s, Lans created a graphics tablet with a handheld puck. He sold the technology to Houston Instruments, which introduced the device as the HIpad in 1971. Some people say Lans invented the computer mouse, even though others had developed similar devices earlier. In 1996, Lans received the highest award from the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology for his tablet puck.

Lans has a patent for a memory controller used in a framebuffer, titled "Data processing system and apparatus for color graphics display." Framebuffers with memory controllers were already widely used when Lans filed his patent in 1979. In 1997, Lans sued eleven companies for allegedly violating his patent. The cases were combined, but the court never decided the main issue. Instead, the defendants, led by Digital Equipment Corporation, claimed the patent had been transferred to Uniboard AB, a company fully owned by Lans. Lans lost the case and was required to pay the defendants' legal costs. This decision was confirmed on appeal. A later attempt by Uniboard AB to sue others failed because the patent had expired ten months before the lawsuit.

These legal problems led to a disagreement between Lans and his lawyers, whom he accused of misconduct. The lawyers argued they were not informed about the transfer to Uniboard AB. This dispute was resolved in April 2012.

In 1984, Lans patented a color calligraphic photo plotter, though it was never produced in large numbers. Even though color displays, color framebuffers, and color calligraphic displays were already common before 1984, Lans claims his patent filings show he invented color computer graphics.

Recognition

Lans received the Inventor of the Year award in Sweden in 1990, the gold medal from the Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in 1993, the International Seatrade Award in 1993, the Polhem Prize in 1995, KTH's grand prize in 1996, the Flight Aerospace Industry Award in 1997, the gold Thulin Medal from the Swedish Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1999, was named International Swede of the Year in 2000, was appointed an honorary doctor of technology at Uppsala University in 2001, received H.M. the King's Medal, 8th class with a high blue ribbon in 2002, and was awarded the André Prize from the Swedish Patent and Registration Office in 2003.