LTE Essential Patent IPR Shareholders 3Q 2009 Update

As of Aug. 31 2009, there are total of 18 IPR shareholders for LTE essential patent candidates in lists of ETSI IPR Online, which are issued, published, and pending patents at the USPTO: Alcatel-Lucent, Broadcom, Ericsson, ETRI, Huawei, iCODING, InterDigital, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, Panasonic, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony, and Texas Instruments.

Among the 18 IPR shareholders for LTE essential patent candidates, Qualcomm was the top (32%) followed by InterDigital (16%), Nokia (14%), and LG (11%) in IPR share as of Aug. 31 2009 in the US.


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LTE IPR, Innovation, and Strategy

Followings are the collection of TechIPm's recent analysis and insight.
I wish they are useful information to you.

LTE Essential Patents Landscape 2Q 2009 http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/3gpplteessential-patents2009q2brief

LTE IPR Analysis 3Q 2009
http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/lteiprofdmmimo20093q

LTE and 4G Executive Briefing 3Q 2009
http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/lte-and-4g-executive-briefing-3q-2009

LTE Mobile Phone Competitor Analysis 3Q 2009
http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/lte-mobile-phone-competitor-analysis-3q-2009

Thank you.
Alex

Alex G. Lee, Ph.D.
Registered Patent Agent
Principal
TechIPm, LLC
www.techipm.com

LTE Strategic Options: Samsung+Ericsson Alliance

Based on TechIPm's recent analysis for LTE essential patent candidates among LTE mobile phone competitors (http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2009/09/lte-mobile-phone-competitor-analysis.html) and among LTE infrastructure equipment competitors (http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2009/09/ericssons-lte-patent-landscape.html), a possible scenario for strategic business alliance between Samsung (mobile phone manufacturer) and Ericsson (infrastructure equipment manufacturer) is analyzed.

Samsung+Ericsson's combined LTE patent portfolio for the LTE commercial product (baseband modem and protocol stack) appeared to be very competitive and complementary each other in making up the Samsung's HW oriented and Ericsson's SW oriented LTE innovations.


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Ericsson's LTE Patent Landscape

LTE patent portfolios are researched for global market leaders in mobile infrastructure manufactures: Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, and NSN. US designating essential patent candidates at the ETSI IPR Online website are analyzed. Among the four major competitors for the US LTE infrastructure market, only the Ercisson has a meaningful number of essential patent candidates for the analysis (e.g. most of Huawei's 147 LTE essential patent candidates are in China’s national stage).

Ericsson declared 24 essential patents (total of 30 candidates in TS36 specifications) out of 49 total patents (e.g. including PCT applications) for the US market as of Aug. 31 2009.

The most declared specification for the Ericsson's LTE essential patent candidates was TS36.323 (PDCP protocol specification) followed by TS36.322 (RLC protocol specification), and TS36.331 (RRC protocol specification).


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LTE Mobile Phone Competitor Analysis

LTE patent portfolios are researched for global leader in mobile phone manufactures: LG, Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung. US designating essential patent candidates at the ETSI IPR Online website are analyzed.

LG declared total of 100 essential patent candidates (Issued: 4, Published: 34, Pending: 62) as of Aug. 31 2009. Motorola declared total of 48 essential patent candidates (Issued: 48) as of Aug. 31 2009. Nokia declared total of 134 essential patent candidates (Issued: 65, Published: 59, Pending: 10) as of Aug. 31 2009. Samsung declared total of 49 essential patent candidates (Issued: 2, Published: 32, Pending: 15) as of Aug. 31 2009.

The most declared specification for the LG's LTE essential patent candidates was TS36.321 (MAC protocol specification). The most declared specification for the Motorola's, the Nokia's, and the Samsung's LTE essential patent candidates was TS36.211 (physical channels and modulation).

In the analysis for the LTE commercial product (baseband modem and protocol stack) related patents, Nokia was the leader followed by LG both in modem and protocol product related innovations.


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Motorola's LTE Essential Patent Landscape

In addition to the total of 103 Motorola's essential patent candidates published in the United States before Aug. 1 2009, which are indentified by a keyword search, LTE patents declared essential to 3GPP LTE appear at the ETSI IPR Online website are analyzed.

Total of 48 patent declarations issued by USPTO are identified for the Motorola's LTE essential patent candidates as of Aug. 31 2009.

Top 3 most declared specifications for the Motorola's LTE essential patent candidates are TS36.211 (physical channels and modulation), TS36.213 (physical layer procedures), and TS36.300 (overall description; Stage 6).


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NEC's LTE Business Strategy: Synergy with RFID

Recently NEC announced the launching of NEC CASIO Mobile Communication which is a strategic alliance in mobile equipment business among NEC, Casio, and Hitachi.

As NEC is one of major LTE equipment providers for NTT DoCoMo’s LTE business which is going to launch its commercial LTE service in the mid of 2010 and Casio and Hitachi is one of major LTE equipment providers for KDDI’s LTE business which plans to launch its commercial LTE service at the end of 2011, the combined company has a high chance of leading the LTE equipments market.

In recent LTE IPR research by TechIPm, NEC was a ‘Dark Horse’ in LTE IPR for the LTE baseband modem products (http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2009/09/lte-patent-landscape-for-ofdmmimo.html). In addition to the LTE innovation, NEC+Hitachi were one of innovation leaders in RFID based on TechIPm’s research for RFID patent landscape (http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2009/04/rfid-innovation-frontline-2009-1q_30.html).

This rare case of being an innovation leader both in LTE and RFID will definitely benefit to NEC’s future business in an LTE based emerging market - RFID assisted intelligent mobile health care services.


©2009 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved
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IMT-Advanced Standardization

The 4G mobile communication standardization (IMT-Advanced) will be started in full-scale from this October as the beginning of proposal for standard candidate technology to ITU-R (International Telecommunication Union – Radio Communication). The IMT-Advanced standards establishment is scheduled to be early 2011 through the expert evaluation process.

3GPP’s LTE-Advnaced and IEEE’s Mobile WiMax Evolution are the two major candidates for IMT-Advanced standards. The two candidates are expected to be selected by ITU-R. 3GPP’s LTE-Advnaced is backed by most EU based companies and IEEE’s Mobile WiMax Evolution is backed by most Asian and US based companies. Some of Asian and US based companies such as Samsung support the LTE-Advnaced and the Mobile WiMax Evolution at the same time.

As the standardization for the IMT-Advanced is heating up, strategic alliances among players sharing interests are now speeding up. In the 22nd Korea-China-Japan B3G standardization cooperation meeting held in Seoul recently, the three countries are agreed to the strategic alliance for the proposal for IMT-Advanced standards candidate technology.

©2009 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved

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LTE Patent Portfolio as Strategic Alliance Tool: InterDigital+TI

Based on TechIPm's recent IPR analysis for LTE OFDM/MIMO standards (http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/lteiprofdmmimo20093q ), a possible scenario for strategic business alliance between InterDigital (IP licensing company) and Texas Instruments (semiconductor chip manufacturer) is analyzed by comparing to Qualcomm's (IP licensing company + semiconductor chip manufacturer) LTE patent portfolio for LTE OFDM/MIMO standards in number of patents, technology coverage, and quality by Essentiality Index (see the figures above).

InterDigital+TI's combined LTE patent portfolio for OFDM/MIMO standards shows that the InterDigital+TI strategic alliance could be a strong competitor to Qualcomm in LTE baseband chip and IPR licensing market.


©2009 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved
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LTE Patent Portfolio as Strategic Business Tool

4G mobile communication, especially LTE, is one of recent hot topics among emerging technologies and high-tech business. It is easy to find increasing number of news about LTE innovation and business in the news media:

1. Verizon Wireless Completes Successful LTE 4G Data Calls In Boston And Seattle
http://news.vzw.com/news/2009/08/pr2009-08-14f.html

2. Motorola's LTE Trial In Japan
http://www.informationweek.com/news/services/data/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219400845

3. LG, Nortel demonstrates LTE-CDMA handover
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/lg-nortel-demonstrates-lte-cdma-handover/2009-08-25?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss&cmp-id=OTC-RSS-FW0

4. Samsung's LTE Innovation Leadership
http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2009/09/samsungs-lte-innovation-leadership.html

One interesting point in recent LTE related news is that LTE patent portfolio is used as a strategic business tool, especially for marketing and PR purpose:

In recent press interview for “LG's Successful LTE-CDMA Handover"‎, Dr. Scott Ahn, President & CEO of LG Mobile Communications, expressed that LG will lead the 4G innovations based on about 300 LTE-related patents and experiences in leading the LTE standardization.
(http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2009/08/lgs-lte-innovation-leadership.html)

Yin Weimin, President of LTE at Huawei, advertised in recent press interview that Huawei has been granted 147 Long Term Evolution (LTE) patents by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), representing 12 percent of the total existing 1,272 LTE patents assigned by ETSI as of August 2009. He said that “The achievement reflects our pioneering vision and firm commitment to support operators worldwide as they evolve towards delivering advanced services to end-users through LTE networks”.
(http://www.ednasia.com/article-24626-huaweipullsaheadinltepatentranking-Asia.html)

Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO at Research In Motion (RIM) called Nortel's LTE patents a 'Canada's National Treasure'. (http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=180246)


©2009 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved
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Samsung's LTE Innovation Leadership

Recently Samsung Electronics announced that it has developed the first commercial LTE modem for mobile phones. The Kalmia, brand name for Samsung's LTE baseband modem, supports download speed up to 100Mbps and upload speed of 50Mbps within the 20MHz frequency bandwidth.

JongKyun Shin, executive VP and head of mobile communications division at Samsung said that “Currently, Samsung is partnering with LTE developers preparing for a LTE service launch in 2010 and will unveil a variety of LTE devices of different types and with diverse features and options. Samsung is also strengthening its position as a leader in 4G mobile telecommunication system standards. ”

Samsung is one of the top in its number of contributions at 3GPP. Four standardization experts from Samsung are also served as the 3GPP working group executive board. Samsung is also actively participating in various programs for NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks).

In recent LTE IPR research by TechIPm, Samsung ranked the 2nd in the published patent applications at USPTO for the LTE baseband products in the lists of patents declared essential to LTE appear at the ETSI IPR Online. (Ref. http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2009/08/lte-patent-portfolios-for-baseband.html)

Analysis for the LTE OFDM/MIMO innovations by TechIPm also showed that Samsung's LTE patent portfolio is in high quality compare to other LTE IPR holders. (Ref. http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2009/08/samsungs-lte-ipr-analysis-essential.html)


©2009 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved
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LTE Patent Landscape for OFDM/MIMO Standards

Total of 211 patents, issued and published in the United States before Sept. 1, 2009, are analyzed for LTE OFDM/MIMO innovations. The lists of patents declared essential to LTE appear at the ETSI IPR Online are used in the analysis except for Motorola’s essential patent candidates. A keyword search is used for the identification of Motorola’s essential patent candidates.

To evaluate the quality of the LTE patents for OFDM/MIMO standards, patent disclosures for each essential patent candidate are compared to the technical specifications for LTE OFDM/MIMO standards (TS36.211 V8.70).

Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Nortel, Texas Instruments, InterDigital, Ericsson, ETRI, Nokia Siemens Networks, ETRI, Huawei, Sony, and NEC were the major LTE OFDM/MIMO IPR holders.

As for the most described field of technical specification, Down Link OFDM/MIMO (Section 6.3) was the top in the OFDM/MIMO essential patent candidates followed by PUCCH (Section 5.4) and PUSCH (Section 5.3).

As a measure for the essentiality of the candidates, Essentiality Index (EI) is evaluated:

EI : Criteria
E0 : Patent disclosure is nothing to do with LTE technical specifications
E1 : Patent disclosure is weakly related to LTE technical specifications
E2 : Patent disclosure is partially related to LTE technical specifications, but required further analysis
E3 : Patent disclosure is partially related to LTE technical specifications
E4 : Patent disclosure is related to LTE technical specifications overall
E5 : Patent disclosure is strongly related to LTE technical specifications

51 % of the LTE OFDM/MIMO essential patent candidates are classified as E2, E1, and E0.

49% of the LTE OFDM/MIMO essential patent candidates are classified as high value of EI for the essentiality.


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Near Field UHF RFID Innovations

As the increasing number of item level applications, there are a lot of interests in the "Near Field UHF RFID" technologies recently: Near-field UHF RFID technology can be used not only as the conventional far-field identification system but also can be used as the near-field identification system. The transmitting capability in the near-field is similar to the HF RFID system but the near-field UHF RFID system is faster and works better in metal and liquid environment.

Key word search for the near-field UHF RFID IPR shows that ZIH is the leader in the near-field UHF RFID system innovations as of Aug. 31 2009:

©2009 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved

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Texas Instruments' LTE IPR Analysis: Essential Patent Candidates for OFDM/MIMO Standards

To evaluate the quality of TI's LTE IPR for OFDM/MIMO standards, patent disclosures for each essential patent candidate are compared to the technical specifications for LTE OFDM/MIMO standards (TS36.211 V8.70). Total of 18 patents issued and published in the United States before Aug. 1 2009 in the lists of patents declared essential to LTE appear at the ETSI IPR Online are used in the analysis.

As for the most described field of technical specification, Down Link OFDM/MIMO (Section 6.3) was the top in TI's OFDM/MIMO essential patent candidates.

As a measure for the essentiality of the candidates, Essentiality Index (EI) is evaluated:

EI : Criteria
E0 : Patent disclosure is nothing to do with LTE technical specifications
E1 : Patent disclosure is weakly related to LTE technical specifications
E2 : Patent disclosure is partially related to LTE technical specifications, but required further analysis
E3 : Patent disclosure is partially related to LTE technical specifications
E4 : Patent disclosure is related to LTE technical specifications overall
E5 : Patent disclosure is strongly related to LTE technical specifications

Only 33 % of the TI's OFDM/MIMO essential patent candidates are classified as E2 and E1.

67 % (nine E3 and three E4) of the TI's OFDM/MIMO essential patent candidates are classified as high value of EI for the essentiality.


©2009 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved
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