REVENUE

As discussed in Note 2, on January 1, 2018, the Company adopted Topic 606 using the modified retrospective method. Results for reporting periods beginning January 1, 2018 are presented under Topic 606, while prior period amounts are not restated and continue to be reported in accordance with the historic accounting under Topic 605.

Revenue Recognition

The Company derives its revenue primarily from royalty and license fees for rights to use the Company’s intellectual property and technologies (“IP”). Revenue is recognized upon transfer of control of promised products, services or IP rights to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to receive in exchange for those products, services or licensing of the IP rights.

Certain licensees have entered into fixed fee or minimum guarantee arrangements, whereby licensees pay a fixed fee for the right to incorporate the Company's technology in the licensee's products over the license term. In arrangements with a minimum guarantee, the fixed fee component corresponds to a minimum number of units or dollars that the customer must produce or pay, with additional per-unit fees for any units or dollars exceeding the minimum. In most cases, the customer pays the fixed license fee in specified installments over the license term. For these agreements, the Company recognizes the full fixed fee as revenue at the beginning of the license term, when the licensee has the right to use the IP and begins to benefit from the license.

If the contract term of a fixed fee or minimum guarantee arrangement is longer than one year, the Company also considers the scheduled payment arrangements to determine whether a significant financing component exists. In general, if the payment arrangements extend beyond the initial twelve months of the contract, the Company treats a portion of the payments as a significant financing component. When the payments are expected to be received within one year or less, the Company does not adjust the promised amount of consideration for the effects of a financing component. The discount rate used for each arrangement reflects the rate that would be used in a separate financing transaction between the Company and the licensee at contract inception, and takes into account the credit characteristics of the licensee and market interest rates as of the date of the agreement. As such, the amount of fixed fee revenue recognized at the beginning of the license term will be reduced by the calculated financing component. As payments are received from the licensee, the Company recognizes a portion of the financing component as interest income, reported as other income and expense in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

For certain licensees, royalty revenues are generated based on a licensee's production or shipment of licensed products incorporating the Company’s IP, technologies or software. Licensees with a per-unit arrangement pay a per-unit royalty for each product manufactured or sold, as set forth in its license agreement. Licensees generally report manufacturing or sales information in the quarter subsequent to when the shipment activity takes place. The Company estimates the royalties earned each quarter based on its forecast of manufacturing and sales activity incurred by its licensees in that quarter. Any differences between actual royalties owed by a licensee and the Company’s quarterly estimate are recognized in the following quarter, when the licensee’s royalty report is received. Estimating licensees’ quarterly royalties prior to receiving the royalty reports requires the Company to make significant assumptions and judgments that could have a material impact on the amount of revenue it reports on a quarterly basis.

The Company actively monitors and enforces its IP, including seeking appropriate compensation from customers that have under-reported royalties owed under a license agreement and from third parties that utilize the Company’s intellectual property without a license. As a result of these activities, the Company may, from time to time, recognize revenue from payments resulting from periodic compliance audits of licensees for underreporting royalties incurred in prior periods, as part of a settlement of a patent infringement dispute, or legal judgments from a license dispute. These recoveries and settlements may cause revenue to be higher than expected during a particular reporting period and such recoveries may not occur in subsequent periods. The Company recognizes revenue from recoveries when a binding agreement has been executed and the Company concludes collection under that agreement is likely.

In some instances, the Company may enter into license agreements that contain multiple performance obligations that include engineering services in addition to a technology or software license. For such arrangements where all components are capable of being distinct and accounted for as separate performance obligations, the Company allocates revenue to each performance obligation based on its relative standalone selling price. The Company generally determines standalone selling prices based on the prices ordinarily charged to customers, or in some cases by applying a reasonable cost-plus margin. The consideration for engineering services is recognized as the underlying performance obligations are satisfied. Generally, the Company satisfies performance obligations over time and therefore recognizes revenue over time by measuring the progress toward completion of the performance obligation at each reporting period.

Revenue is recognized gross of withholding taxes that are remitted directly by the Company's licensees directly to a local tax authority.

For additional detail on the Company's revenue disaggregated by geographic location, refer to Note 14 - "Segment and Geographic Information."

Contract Balances

Unbilled Contracts Receivable

Timing of revenue recognition may differ significantly from the timing of invoicing to customers. Accounts receivable, net, include amounts billed and currently due from customers. Unbilled contracts receivable represent unbilled amounts expected to be received from customers in future periods, where the revenue recognized to date (or cumulative adjustments to retained earnings in the initial period of adopting Topic 606) exceeds the amount billed, and right to payment is subject to the underlying contractual terms. Unbilled contracts receivable amounts may not exceed their net realizable value and are classified as long-term assets if the payments are expected to be received more than one year from the reporting date.

Deferred Revenue

Deferred revenue includes payments made by licensees for which the corresponding performance obligations have not yet been fully satisfied by the Company and typically arises where performance obligations are satisfied over time.

The following table presents additional revenue and contract disclosures (in thousands):



	Three months ended June 30,				Six months ended June 30,
	2018		2017		2018		2017
Revenue recognized in the period from:
Amounts included in deferred revenue at the beginning of the period	$	1,642	$	1,369	$	1,995	$	1,605
Performance obligations satisfied in previous periods (true ups)	54		—		54		—

Remaining revenue under contracts with performance obligations represents the aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to the performance obligations that are unsatisfied (or partially unsatisfied) under the Company’s engineering services contracts. The Company's remaining revenue under contracts with performance obligations was as follows (in thousands):



	As of
	June 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
Revenue from contracts with performance obligations expected to be satisfied in:
One year or less	$	6,373	$	2,440
More than one year but less than two years	437		149
More than two years	118		240
Total	$	6,928	$	2,829

Practical Expedients

The Company expenses sales commissions when incurred because the amortization period generally would have been one year or less. In addition, sales commissions have historically not been a significant expense and are not contemplated to be significant in the future. Sales commissions are recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statement of operations.