Qualcomm's LTE Patent Governance

Qualcomm have enjoyed the governance in patents on the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology it pioneered. As every 3G network uses CDMA technology, Qualcomm was able to license its patents in exchange for a royalty payment that's 4-5% of selling prices on 3G enabled phones.


Recently TechIPm LLC researched LTE patent portfolios for US market leader among LTE UE (cellular phones, smart phones, PDAs, mobile PCs, etc.) and base station (eNB) product manufactures. Total of 1250 LTE patents, issued and published applications in the US as of May 31 2010, are analyzed to find essential patent candidates for LTE RAN (Radio Access Network) standards. To evaluate the essentiality of a LTE patent, patent disclosures in claim and detail description for each LTE patent are compared to the final versions of the 3GPP Release 8 technical specifications.


Total of 72 patents are identified as the potential candidates for LTE baseband modem essential IPR and total of 62 patents are identified as the potential candidates for LTE protocol SW essential IPR. As for the essential IPR share in baseband modem products, Qualcomm (27 %) is the leader followed by Samsung (18%), LG (18%), InterDigital (7%), Nokia (7%), Motorola (6%), and TI (6%) and as for the essential IPR share in protocol SW products, LG (43 %) is the leader followed by InterDigital (19%), Qualcomm (18%), and Nokia (16%) as of May 31 2010.

The top 5 IPR shareholders - InterDigital, LG, Nokia, Qualcomm, and Samsung (total IPR share of 87%) - are appeared as the key member candidates for a successful LTE patent pool formation and operation.


Top 5 LTE essential IP shareholders’ patent portfolios, classified by the key technology components for an implementation of the LTE baseband modem, are compared to excess the innovation competitiveness. Qualcomm’s patent portfolio was distributed among all the key technology components for an implementation of the LTE baseband modem.


Among the total of 134 identified patents as the potential candidates for LTE RAN essential IP only 7 candidates are the issued patents. As the prosecution for the published applications is an ongoing process, it is necessary to watch for a possible IP landscape change. A complete LTE RAN essential IP landscape is expected in two to three years as the current prosecution process for the published and unpublished pending patent applications are finished for a complete set of issued patent data pool.




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http://www.techipm.com/

InterDigital's LTE Patent Licensing Revenue

In recent InterDigital's announce for the second quarter financial result, William J. Merritt, InterDigital's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented that "We expect to continue our strong financial performance as we further expand our base of customers. In particular, we are focusing on expanding our customer base for LTE technology. We have made significant contributions to the worldwide standards bodies in several key areas of LTE technology, including power control, bandwidth on-demand, interference reduction and higher data throughput. These areas are central to the user experience and key to unlocking the potential of wireless communications," continued Mr. Merritt. "With our pioneering wireless technologies, InterDigital continues to be a leader in building innovative solutions, benefiting users, device manufacturers and operators worldwide."

To evaluate the future revinue expectation from LTE patent licensing, TechIPm, LLC researched InterDigital's LTE patent portfolio in LTE Patents for Commercial Products 2Q 2010: http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2010/07/lte-essential-patent-research-report.html

Total of 134 patents are identified as the potential candidates for LTE essential patent, and InterDigital was amonng the top 5 IPR shareholders - InterDigital, LG, Nokia, Qualcomm, and Samsung (total IPR share of 87%).

Based on the research result, InterDigital's expected income from the essential IP licensing for LTE modem is roughly estimated to be about $0.07 - $0.14 billion.


©2010 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved
http://www.techipm.com/

LTE Essential Patent Research Report

TechIPm's LTE Research Report

Title:
LTE Patents for Commercial Products 2Q 2010

Key Value Proposion:

• Details about the LTE patent search method

• Detais about the essentiality analysis steps

• Innovation competitor analysis for LTE commercial products (digital baseband modem, L2/L3 radio protocol)

• Qualcom & InterDigital's expected licencing income for LTE essential IP

• White Space Analysis for Patent Portfolio Development

Contents:

Executive Summary

I. Patent Data Pool
1.1 LTE Patents Data Pool
1.2 LTE Patent Search Details

II. Patent Evaluation
2.1 Essentiality Analysis
2.2 LTE RAN Technical Specifications Details
2.3 Essentiality Analysis Details

III. Patent for Modem Product
3.1 LTE Baseband Modem Products
3.2 LTE Essential IP for Baseband Modem Products
3.3 Technology Innovation Analysis for LTE Modem
3.4 LTE Modem Innovation Competitor Analysis

IV. Patent for Protocol Product
4.1 LTE Radio Protocol Products
4.2 LTE Essential IP for Protocol Products
4.3 Technology Innovation Analysis for LTE Protocol
4.4 LTE Protocol Innovation Competitor Analysis

V. Strategic Patent Analysis
5.1 LTE IPR Governance & Patent Pool
5.2 LTE IP Landscape Change & NPE Issues
5.3 LTE Essential IP Asset Valuation
5.4 White Space Analysis for Patent Portfolio Development

Appendix
A1. Essential Patent Claim Drafting Strategy
A2. Patent Portfolio Development Method


For details, please contect Alex Lee at alexglee@techipm.com

LTE Essential IP for Protocol SW Products

LTE patent portfolios are researched for US market leader among LTE UE (cellular phones, smart phones, PDAs, mobile PCs, etc.) and base station (eNB) product manufactures. To find the key IPR holders for the LTE patents, a keyword search of the USPTO patent data base has been performed. For completeness, patent data in the lists of patents declared essential to 3GPP LTE appear at the ETSI IPR Online website is also included.

Total of 1250 LTE patents, issued and published applications in the US as of May 31 2010, are analyzed to find essential patent candidates for LTE RAN (Radio Access Network) standards. 3GPP standard specifications for LTE radio protocol are consist of four core parts: MAC (TS36.321), RLC (TS36.322), PDCP (TS36.323), and RRC (TS36.331).

An essential patent is defined as patent that contain one or more claims that are infringed by the implementation of a specification for standardized technology. Thus, if a LTE product is implemented following the standard specifications, it should infringe some essential patents. To evaluate the essentiality of a LTE patent, patent disclosures in claim and detail description for each LTE patent are compared to the final versions of the 3GPP Release 8 technical specifications.

Total of 62 patents are identified as the potential candidates for LTE radio protocol essential IPR. Leading in IPR share indicates a governance in licensing and a high in profit expectation through licensing royalty. As for the essential IPR share in protocol SW products, LG (43 %) is the leader followed by InterDigital (19%), Qualcomm (18%), and Nokia (16%) as of May 31 2010.
To excess the technology innovation for LTE radio protocol, the identified essential patents are classified as the key technology components for an implementation of the LTE radio protocol: Random Access, HARQ, Channel Prioritization, Scheduling (Dynamic, SPS), Protocol Format (PDUs, SDUs), Radio Link Control (ARQ), PDCP Process (SRB, DRB, ROHC), Security (Ciphering, Integrity), System Information, Connection Control, and Mobility (Handover, Inter-RAT, Measurements).

Based on the number of essential patent candidates, the most intensive field of technology innovation is the Mobility (19%) followed by Scheduling (15%).

The innovation landscape analysis could reveal the white space in LTE radio protocol technology for further development of essential patent portfolio through the patent engineering methodology (http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/lte-patent-engineering-for-essential-portfolio-development-case-study-for-qualcomms-strategy).


©2010 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved

http://www.techipm.com/

Smartphone Patent War: Google & Android Coalition's Air Strike

According to recent article in etnews (http://www.etnews.co.kr/news/detail.html?id=201006160208&mc=m_012_00001), Google appears to be preparing a big air strike in smartphone patent lawsuit. In response to the Apple's patent battle against to the Google's Android OS based smatphone (e.g. Apple's ITC complaint against HTC), Google is calling for the 'Andriod Coalition' by asking smartphone patents to major Android smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung and LG.

It is well known that Apple's smatphone patent wall is very thick and strong with more than 200 patents including the famous multi-touch technology (for the smartphone patent landscape, please refer http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2010/04/smartphone-patents-for-ui-key.html).
Could the Andriod Coalition's patent bomb be strong enough to break the Apple's smatphone patent fortress?


©2010 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved
http://www.techipm.com/

LTE Essential IP for Baseband Modem Products

LTE patent portfolios are researched for US market leader among LTE UE (cellular phones, smart phones, PDAs, mobile PCs, etc.) and base station (eNB) product manufactures. To find the key IPR holders for the LTE patents, a keyword search of the USPTO patent data base has been performed. For completeness, patent data in the lists of patents declared essential to 3GPP LTE appear at the ETSI IPR Online website is also included.

Total of 1250 LTE patents, issued and published applications in the US as of May 31 2010, are analyzed to find essential patent candidates for LTE RAN (Radio Access Network) standards. 3GPP standard specifications for LTE baseband modem are consist of three core parts: OFDM/MIMO Processor (TS36.211), Channel Coder (TS36.212), and Control SW (TS36.213).

An essential patent is defined as patent that contain one or more claims that are infringed by the implementation of a specification for standardized technology. Thus, if a LTE product is implemented following the standard specifications, it should infringe some essential patents. To evaluate the essentiality of a LTE patent, patent disclosures in claim and detail description for each LTE patent are compared to the final versions of the 3GPP Release 8 technical specifications.

Total of 72 patents are identified as the potential candidates for LTE baseband modem essential IPR. Leading in IPR share indicates a governance in licensing and a high in profit expectation through licensing royalty. As for the essential IPR share in baseband modem products, Qualcomm (27 %) is the leader followed by Samsung (18%), LG (18%), InterDigital (7%), Nokia (7%), Motorola (6%), and TI (6%) as of May 31 2010.

To excess the technology innovation for LTE baseband modem, the identified essential patents are classified as the key technology components for an implementation of the LTE baseband modem: OFDM/OFDMA (Frame & Slot Structure, Modulation), SC-FDMA (PUSCH, PUCCH), Channel Estimation (UL RS, DL RS, CQI), Cell Search & Connection (PRACH, DL SS), MIMO (Transmit Diversity, Spatial Multiplexing), Resource Management (Resource Allocation, Scheduling), Coding (Convolution, Turbo), Power Control, and HARQ.

Based on the number of essential patent candidates, the most intensive field of technology innovation is the Resource Management (20%) followed by Cell Search & Connection (15%), and Channel Estimation (14%).

The innovation landscape analysis could reveal the white space in LTE modem technology for further development of essential patent portfolio through the patent engineering methodology (http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/lte-patent-engineering-for-essential-portfolio-development-case-study-for-qualcomms-strategy).


©2010 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved

http://www.techipm.com/

LTE IPR Governance for Commercial Products

LTE patent portfolios are researched for US market leader among LTE UE (cellular phones, smart phones, PDAs, mobile PCs, etc.) and base station (eNB) product manufactures. To find the key IPR holders for the LTE patents, a keyword search of the USPTO patent data base has been performed. For completeness, patent data in the lists of patents declared essential to 3GPP LTE appear at the ETSI IPR Online website is also included.

Total of 1250 LTE patents, issued and published applications in the US as of May 31 2010, are analyzed to find essential patent candidates for LTE RAN (Radio Access Network) standards.

3GPP standard specifications for LTE baseband modem are consist of three core parts: OFDM/MIMO Processor (TS36.211), Channel Coder (TS36.212), and Control SW (TS36.213). 3GPP standard specifications for LTE radio protocol SW are consist of four core parts: MAC (TS36.321), RLC (TS36.322), PDCP (TS36.323), and RRC (TS36.331).

An essential patent is defined as patent that contain one or more claims that are infringed by the implementation of a specification for standardized technology. Thus, if a LTE product is implemented following the standard specifications, it should infringe some essential patents.

To evaluate the essentiality of a LTE patent, patent disclosures in claim and detail description for each LTE patent are compared to the final versions of the 3GPP Release 8 technical specifications.

Total of 72 patents are identified as the potential candidates for LTE baseband modem essential IPR and total of 62 patents are identified as the potential candidates for LTE protocol SW essential IPR. Leading in IPR share indicates a governance in licensing and a high in profit expectation through licensing royalty.

As for the essential IPR share in baseband modem products, Qualcomm (27 %) is the leader followed by Samsung (18%), LG (18%), InterDigital (7%), Nokia (7%), Motorola (6%), and TI (6%) as of May 31 2010.

As for the essential IPR share in protocol SW products, LG (43 %) is the leader followed by InterDigital (19%), Qualcomm (18%), and Nokia (16%) as of May 31 2010.


©2010 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved

http://www.techipm.com/

RFID Patent Lawsuit Early Warning

According to the recent article by Bloomberg Businessweek, entitled "Billion-Dollar Lawyer Desmarais Quits Firm to Troll for Patents" (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-01/billion-dollar-lawyer-desmarais-quits-firm-to-troll-for-patents.html), Round Rock Research LLC became the second-largest NPE following the Intellectual Ventures by acquiring a portfolio of 4,500 patents from Micron Technology Inc., the biggest U.S. maker of semiconductor chips. Round Rock Research LLC is founded by John Desmarais, a famous patent attorney for his won in a $1.52 billion verdict for Alcatel-Lucent against Microsoft in 2007.

One interesting point to me is that the Micron Technology is one of key IPR holders in RFID essential technologies. According to the patent research for major RFID IPR shareholders (http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/rfid-innovation-frontline-2009-1-q), Micron Technology held a portfolio of 123 issued RFID patents in the US as of January 1, 2009.

As John Desmarais is starting a look for potential infringers of the patents owned by Round Rock Research, a big patent lawsuit could happen someday when the current fragmented RFID market is matured and money making products are appeared.


©2010 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved
http://www.techipm.com/

LTE Patent Pool Shareholder Candidates

Total of 1238 LTE patents, issued and published applications in the US as of May 1 2010, are analyzed to find essential patent candidates for LTE RAN (PHY & Radio Protocols) standards. LTE PHY (physical layer) standards are described in 3GPP specifications TS36.211, TS36.212, and TS36.213. LTE radio protocols standards are described in 3GPP specifications TS36.321, TS36.322, TS36.323, and TS36.331.

LTE RAN (Radio Access Network) standards are essential for an implementation of mobile user equipments (cellular phones, smart phones, PDAs, PCs, etc.) and base station (eNB) products. An essential patent is defined as patent that contain one or more claims that are infringed by the implementation of a specification for standardized technology. Thus, if a LTE product is implemented following the standard specifications, it should infringe some essential patents.

To evaluate the essentiality of a LTE patent, patent disclosures in claim and detail description for each LTE patent are compared to the final versions of the 3GPP Release 8 technical specifications. Total of 134 patents are identified as the potential candidates for LTE RAN essential patent.

The LTE IPR shareholders for essential patent are Ericsson, ETRI, Freescale, Huawei, InterDigital, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Nortel, Qualcomm, RIM, Samsung, and TI. Among 14 LTE essential patent candidates shareholders, LG is the leader (30%). The top 5 IPR shareholders - InterDigital, LG, Nokia, Qualcomm, and Samsung (total IPR share of 87%) - are appeared as the key member candidates for a successful LTE patent pool formation and operation.

©2010 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved
http://www.techipm.com/

Smartphone Patents for UI Key Technologies

To find the key IPR holders for the Smartphone UI (User Interface), a keyword search of the global patent data bases (USPTO, EPO, and WIPO (PCT)) has been performed.

As of April 23 2010, the key IPR holders and their IPR share for the Smartphone UI are as follows:

1. Patents for multi-touch technology (total of 120 patent applications and issued patents)

Apple (99, 82%), LG (3, 2%), Samsung (3, 2%), Hong Fu Jin Precision (2, 1%), and RIM (2, 1%)

2. Patents for optical joystick technology (total of 34 patent applications and issued patents) Philips (10, 29%), Samsung (8, 23%), Crucial Tec (5, 15%), and NXP B.V. (5, 15%)

3. Patents for projected capacitive touch screen technology (total of 213 patent applications and issued patents)

RIM (184, 86%), Sony Ericsson (6, 3%), 3M (6, 3%), and Nokia (3, 1%)


©2010 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved
http://www.techipm.com/