Background Summary
Experienced Engineering Manager and real-time embedded systems Software and Hardware Engineer with diverse technical skills and a strong customer- and quality-oriented style of leadership. Accomplishments include product development and validation of both PC-based and consumer electronics digital video and audio products for profitable mass production by major OEM customers, and the staffing and training of a software engineering department that led to a corporate IPO and later to an acquisition by a world-class IC manufacturer. B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering.
Employment Experience
Independent Consultant, PA and NJ, 2004 - present
Provide technical engineering, reverse engineering, hardware and software design, and expert witness services.
ThinkFire Services USA, LLC, Clinton NJ, 2004
Senior Engineer
Evaluated and rated patents in client portfolios, performed technical research and reverse engineering of electronic and computer products to find and document intellectual property infringements with claim charts to secure licensing agreements for clients and to defend them from ligation and counter-assertions.
STMicroelectronics Inc., Malvern PA and Lancaster PA, 2001 - 2003
Project Manager, Emerging Markets
Senior Engineering Section Manager
Integration and Test, DVD Division of the Consumer and Microcontroller Group
Responsibilities include a variety of activities related to the development
of a "standard product" consumer electronics set-top DVD/VCD/CDDA/MP3
player, including specification, design, software engineering, embedded software
debugging, testing, and the integration of new features completed by development
staff into production versions of software. Interact with customers, other departments,
and engineers working at facilities in other parts of the world for the purpose
of improving development schedules and product quality, providing training,
and resolution of software issues relating to customer acceptance and mass production.
STMicroelectronics acquired the Ravisent Technologies CE division in March
2001.
Ravisent Technologies Inc. (formerly Quadrant International),
Malvern PA, 1997 - 2001
Manager of Design Integration Engineering, Consumer Electronics (CE)
Division
Performed a variety of predominantly managerial activities related to the development of the company's first consumer electronics DVD player product with essentially no involvement from upper management. Responsibilities included identification and specification of tasks that maximized achievement of customer requirements with a minimum of engineering effort, task assignments, design decisions, prioritization, interaction with customers and with engineering and management of the Karlsruhe (Germany) design center, and managing delivery and support of customers. Performed most of the recruiting, interviewing, and hiring activities to create a critical engineering department by adding six (mostly senior) software engineers and several co-ops, and fulfilled all management responsibilities (training, performance and compensation reviews, technical leadership, process development, and expense approval) for the development staff.
Quadrant International (changed to Ravisent Technologies Inc. for
IPO), Malvern PA, 1996 - 1997
Engineering Test Manager
Senior Test Engineer
Designed the foundation of the company's test plan and quality processes for the qualification of the device drivers and user application for two designs of a PCI-based DVD playback card. Performed engineering analysis of problems with the software and worked directly with development engineering and customers to characterize and correct the defects. Verified compliance to all hardware requirements of PCI 2.1 specification and to all software requirements of DVD licensing entities. Specified and wrote all of the production diagnostic software used to validate the product at the manufacturing facility and on the production floor at Dell Computer, our largest customer. Supported engineers and customers, and participated in some product (software) design decisions. Hired and managed one engineering technician.
Tseng Labs Inc., Newtown PA, 1994 - 1996
Engineer
Performed a variety of engineering activities associated with the qualification of video graphics (VGA) chips up to and including the ET6000. Used test equipment and logic analyzers to perform the hardware design qualifications (both at the board and chip level) on a variety of ISA, PCI, and VL motherboards, and wrote C and 8088 assembly language programs at the hardware register level to facilitate the silicon validation. Verified compliance to all requirements of PCI bus specification and hardware compatibility with prototype and production processors and motherboards. Analyzed silicon problems found by software engineers writing the device drivers and designed programs to cause these anomalies quickly for ASIC simulation and silicon microprobing. Debugged customer-reported problems. Characterized test chips and worked with the ASIC design group (including the corporate founder) to perform experiments and analyze hardware design defects and improve silicon test vectors.
Accu-sort Systems Inc., Telford PA, 1990 - 1993
Software Engineer
Wrote and debugged 8085 assembly language programs and some C programs to customize industrial barcode scanning systems to meet customer requirements for RS-232 and RS-485 serial port communications and control. Developed and improved barcode decoding algorithms in moving-beam scanners.
Skills and Expertise
Software engineering management
Embedded systems and real-time software and firmware design
Hardware design, software design, and software architecture
Hardware (board-level design, debug, and validation), software (C, assembly),
and test engineering
Direct interaction with customers and customer representatives
Identification of product requirements
Knowledge of quality systems and concepts and their applications
Digital video, digital audio, and signal compression and storage
Development of test methodologies, test plans, and technical documentation
Test equipment, test equipment interfaces (GPIB, Ethernet), industry certifications
(Dolby, FCC, DVD Forum, Microsoft)
Technical staffing - recruiting, interviewing, and technical training of employees
Technical writing
Training - architecture of training plans and materials, public speaking, and
technical guidance for engineers and customers
Intellectual property, patent evaluation and defense, reverse engineering of
products, and claim charting of infringements
Education transcripts available on request
Pre-employment
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
M.S. Electrical Engineering, 1989
B.S. Electrical Engineering, 1987 (GPA: 3.33)
Post-employment
Essentials of Management, Penn State University, Great Valley PA, 2000
Other Activities and Interests
Photography, astronomy, cooking, cellular microbiology, gardening, computers, digital audio, and music collecting and occasional travel with my favorite band Blondie, who were popular in the late 70's and whose Official Website I created and maintain.
References
Professional references of any relationship and some samples of my work will be provided on request.
Software applications
Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0; Visual SourceSafe and Rational ClearCase source control
systems
Microsoft Office 2000, operating systems from DOS 3.3 to Windows 2000
Microsoft Visual Intercept Enterprise and Rational ClearDDTS defect tracking
systems
Adobe Photoshop and a few other graphics programs
Various C/C++ compilers, assemblers, and software debugging tools for several
platforms
Relocation and travel
I am not willing to relocate. Employers should be a reasonable driving distance
from my home, or permit working from home with some travel.
Terms and Conditions
Copyright 2007 Barry L. Kramer
All rights reserved. This resume may be copied or distributed to or by individuals
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