irunway - patent & landscape analysis of 4g-lte

Patent & Landscape Analysis of 4G-LTE technology

© iRunway 2012 Confidential of 25

Contents

1 Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. 3

2 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4

2.1 Overview ...................................................................................................................................................... 4

2.2 4G-LTE Standards and Requirements .......................................................................................................... 4

2.3 3G Vs. 4G: A comparison ............................................................................................................................. 6

3 Analysis of 4G-LTE Patents ...................................................................................................... 7

3.1 Patent Distribution ...................................................................................................................................... 7

3.2 Seminal Patents ........................................................................................................................................... 8

4 Key Players in 4G-LTE Patent Landscape ............................................................................... 13

4.1 Samsung .................................................................................................................................................... 13

4.2 Qualcomm ................................................................................................................................................. 14

4.3 Apple & Nortel ........................................................................................................................................... 15

4.4 Nokia .......................................................................................................................................................... 16

4.5 InterDigital ................................................................................................................................................. 17

4.6 Ericsson ...................................................................................................................................................... 18

5 Potential Licensing/ Litigations in 4G-LTE ............................................................................. 19

6 Appendix 1: Glossary of Terms .............................................................................................. 22



1 Executive Summary

The ongoing Smartphone patent wars are about to enter a volatile new chapter as 4G-LTE

technology assume a dominant position in the marketplace. Industry leaders like Apple may

see a market shift as Samsung holds a leading position and other smaller companies seek to

assert their 4G holdings in an explosive new wave of licensing and litigation.

The report examines the current 4G-LTE patent landscape and offers analysis of existing

and anticipated patent holdings. The report compares the capabilities of 3G and 4G

technologies and identifies the leading 4G patent holders such as Samsung, Qualcomm and

InterDigital, among others. It also outlines the evolution of key 4G technologies and

provides comparative analysis of seminal (strong) patents identified based on iRunway’s

proprietary algorithm for strength and rank calculation.

The report brings to light some notable circumstances likely to influence the 4G patent

landscape for the next several years. Samsung, long recognized as a devices company,

invested in network and infrastructure developments well ahead of the curve, and has

emerged as a leading 4G patent holder in several key categories. Interestingly, Apple, one

of Samsung’s key competitors, holds few 4G patents, and currently licenses 4G capabilities

for its new iPad. With Apple’s relatively lower patent protection in 4G, and Samsung’s

dominance, the marketplace may well shift. Will InterDigital’s strong patent holdings in the

device and network/infrastructure realms compel Apple to reduce its licensing dependence

by acquiring the InterDigital portfolio?

The report also anticipates a surge in litigations and licensing activities in this sphere with

smaller patent holders seizing opportunities to assert their patents against leading (Fortune-

ranked) technology companies. Currently, less than 50% of seminal 4G patents are held by

the top 10 industry players. But other seminal 4G-LTE patents are held by hundreds of

medium and smaller enterprises that are likely to assert their holdings once the industry

sees widespread adoption of 4G. This includes research institutes in Asia and other non-

practicing entities (NPEs).

Undoubtedly, the 4G-LTE landscape is new territory that is destined to explode with activity

as additional patents are granted in various categories, and both small and large industry

players seek to affirm the value of their patent portfolios.



2 Introduction

2.1 Overview

There has been a burgeoning demand for faster data transmission with unprecedented

penetration of Smartphone and tablets in both the developed and developing economies all

across the world. This need has exponentially increased with ever-increasing processor

speeds in mobile devices and expected evolution of cloud computing. In fact, Strategy

Analytics forecasts that demand for data traffic will grow by 10-12 times by 2015.

Therefore, there is a perpetual requirement for technologies that support faster

transmission. Even though global expansion of 3G networks continue to drive this decade,

upgrade from 3G to 4G is inevitable as need for more efficient data transmission becomes a

necessity.

2.2 4G-LTE Standards and Requirements

4G-LTE, also commonly known as LTE-Advanced or IMT-Advanced, is a mobile

communication standard that has been set by the Third Generation Partnership Project

(3GPP) as a major upgrade from the Long Term Evolution (LTE), or 3G, as it is more

commonly known. The enhancements from the 3G technology are mainly in the form of

increased peak data rates, more spectral efficiency, reduced latency and increased

throughput.

It is critical for an LTE-Advanced network to be backward compatible with LTE network in

the sense that it should be possible to deploy LTE-Advanced on existing LTE spectrums. This

backward compatibility ensures smooth and cost-effective transitions to LTE advanced

capabilities. It is also required that LTE-Advanced should have peak data rates as high as

500 Mbps in the uplink and 1 Gbps in the downlink and high average data rates.

Advantages of LTE-Advanced are:

1. Improved data transfer rate through multi-antenna solutions: Antennae are one

of the most important components in radio communications and 4G technology plans to

use antenna in a more efficient way for faster data rates, better long range connectivity

and high reliability. Currently, LTE supports up to 4 antenna ports. LTE-Advanced looks

to increase the support for the antenna. This also enhances beam-forming capabilities

which imply better Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR).



2. Higher spectral efficiency through wider transmission bandwidth: The high peak

data rates for LTE-Advanced can be fulfilled in a reasonable way if the transmission

bandwidth is enhanced. This will not only help in reaching the requirements of peak data

rate but also extend the average data rates.

3. Better power management: CoMP (Coordinated multi-point transmission), a new

technology based on MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output), helps improve the data

transmission rates, quality of service and throughput. In other words, it means that the

connection is more reliable as users access and share videos, photos, play network

games or use any of the bandwidth intensive services.

4. Increased communication reliability: The idea of using relay is to make the

infrastructure denser so as to reduce the transmitter to receiver distance, thereby

allowing higher data rates and better connectivity. Femtocells, small cellular base

stations, are one of the key components that can be installed either as standalone items

or in clusters in residential or business environments. They prove to be a very cost-

effective way to improve coverage.

5. Enhanced network coverage: Heterogeneous networks (HetNet) often indicate the

use of multiple types of access nodes in a wireless network. A wide area network can

use macrocells, picocells, and/or femtocells in order to offer wireless coverage in an

environment with a wide variety of wireless coverage zones, ranging from an open

outdoor environment to office buildings, homes, and underground areas.

6. Improved network deployment: All operational base stations will regularly self-

optimize parameters and algorithmic behaviour in response to observed network

performance and radio conditions.

7. Better network security: With seamless interoperability, and more open platforms

coming into the 4G scenario the threat to security is a matter of great concern. 4G

networks enable secure domain name registration, automatic VPN, allowing

communication with only other secure domain names/sites.



2.3 3G Vs. 4G: A comparison

3G 4G

Connectivity

Connectivity lowers

considerably in case of

weak signal reception.

Better connectivity as a result of a

wide use of femtocells to make

denser & cheaper infrastructure.

Voice & Data Support Simultaneous voice and

data support.

Simultaneous voice and data

support at higher data rates.

Speed

128 kbps for mobile

stations and 2 Mbps for

fixed applications.

100 Mbps for high mobility and 1

Gbps for low mobility

communication.

Standards WCDMA & CDMA-2000

standards.

Multiple radio standards unified into

single IP network.

Antenna Supports up to 4 antenna

Increased support for multi-

antenna technology. Results in

higher Signal-to-Noise Ratio.

Base stations

Larger base stations

which are lesser in

number.

Higher number of smaller base

stations. Results in better

connectivity.

Switching Techniques

Uses a combination of

circuit-switched and

packet switched

networks.

Uses only packet-switched

networks. This lowers the latency

considerably and increases the call

quality.

Table 1: 3G vs. 4G comparison Chart

Even though the 4G technology is not very close to reaching its optimum peak, the

implications of this technology may be far more than we understand right now. When

observed closely, we see a pattern. Just as arrival of cell phones made the fixed-line phones

almost obsolete and limited in their wide-spread use, arrival of 4G technology might limit

the use of wired broadband services. Moreover, with better internet access, digital divide

will certainly be narrowed.



3 Analysis of 4G-LTE Patents

3.1 Patent Distribution

Categories Involved

The following technology categories were identified based on the analysis of the 4G-LTE

patent landscape.

Level 1 Category Level 2 Category Applicability

Data Transfer Rate (5000)

Directional Signal Transmission

(2126) Device level

HARQ (1306) Device level

MIMO (1740) Both Device & Network

level

Spectral efficiency (7346)

OFDM (7045) Device level

Carrier Aggregation (315) Network level

Power Management (152) CoMP (152) Device level

Communication Reliability (126) Relay (126) Network level

Network Coverage (131) HetNet (131) Network level

Network Deployment (257) Self Organizing Network (257) Network level

Network Security (90) Network level

Table 2: Level 1 & Level 2 technology categories and their applications

Appendix 1 lists a glossary of the key terms related to 4G-LTE technology.

The following sub-domains were found to be easily detectable for patent infringement by

potential infringers: Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) and Coordinated Multi Point

Transmission (CoMP)



Figure 1 displays the technology evolution tree for the above categories, with each circle

representing the patent filed in a year in a particular category.

Figure 1: Technology Evolution Tree of 4G-LTE

(Source: iRunway analysis based on patent data from USPTO)

3.2 Seminal Patents

The entire 4G-LTE patents was analyzed and ranked using iRunway’s portfolio analysis

solution - COMPASSSM. A list of seminal 4G-LTE patents (strong patents) was generated

based on a combination of manual research and a proprietary algorithm for strength

calculation. The seminal patent set constituted the top 5% of the ranked 4G-LTE patents.

Unlike essential patents, which are declared by companies (primarily larger firms) on

standards such as ETSI, IEEE, etc, seminal patents are a set of strong and significant

patents (‘STAR’ patents) identified from the entire portfolio. These are selected based on 22



parameters such as infringement detectability, number of independent and dependent

claims, technology activity rate, backward and forward references, age of patent, etc. A

seminal patent list helps identify other strong patents in the 4G-LTE landscape and their

assignees – patents primarily belonging to SMEs and NPEs.

The following companies are the top patent holders in the 4G-LTE technology domain.

Samsung Qualcomm

InterDigital Nokia Corporation

Ericsson LG Corp

Motorola Solutions, Inc Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc

Panasonic Corporation Sony Corporation

NEC America Inc. Texas Instruments

Nortel Networks Corporation Intel Corporation

Harris Corporation

Of the companies listed above, Qualcomm, Ericsson and Samsung serve as key chipset

suppliers to leading handset manufacturers such as Apple, HTC and others.

Table 3 illustrates the patent distribution for top patent holders, their share of all 4G-LTE

patents and their share of seminal patents among all 4G-LTE seminal patents.

Company Name Count of All

4G-LTE patents

Share of All 4G-LTE patents

Count of Seminal 4G-LTE patents

Share of Seminal 4G-LTE patents

Samsung 1177 9.36% 79 12.15%

Qualcomm 710 5.65% 81 12.46%

Panasonic Corporation 389 3.1% 13 2%

InterDigital 336 2.67% 23 3.54%

Nokia Corporation 293 2.33% 27 4.15%

Ericsson 247 1.97% 29 4.46%

LG Corp. 224 1.78% 26 4%

Motorola Solutions, Inc. 192 1.53% 13 2%

Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. 32 0.25% 12 1.85%

Sony Corporation 189 1.5% 14 2.15%

NEC America Inc. 180 1.43% 3 0.46%

Texas Instruments 173 1.38% 6 0.92%

Harris Corporation 160 1.27% 6 0.92%

Nortel Networks Corporation 152 1.21% 11 1.69%

Intel Corporation 145 1.15% 36 5.54%

Table 3: Patent distribution of top companies

(Source: Based on iRunway strength analysis algorithm)



Table 4 illustrates the distribution of patents for the top companies across categories.

Table 4: Patent distribution of top companies across categories

Figure 2 shows the patent filing trend of few of the top companies from 1993 - 2011.

Figure 2: Graph depicting filing trend of few top companies

Power

Management

Communication

Reliability

Network

Security

Network

Coverage

Spectral

Efficiency

Network

Deployment

Data

Transfer Rate

Samsung 16 10 0 6 678 16 451 1177

Qualcomm 4 4 4 12 424 2 260 710

Panasonic Corporation 6 12 0 0 253 4 114 389

InterDigital 6 0 3 0 87 8 232 336

Nokia Corporation 3 1 11 1 121 9 147 293

Ericsson 7 2 6 2 108 17 105 247

LG Corp. 1 0 0 2 103 1 117 224

Motorola Solutions, Inc. 0 2 0 2 110 10 68 192

Motorola Mobility Inc. 0 0 0 0 20 1 11 32

Sony Corporation 0 1 0 1 154 1 32 189

NEC America Inc. 1 3 1 1 104 3 67 180

Texas Instruments 3 2 0 0 110 1 57 173

Harris Corporation 1 0 0 0 22 0 137 160

Nortel Networks Corporation 0 0 0 1 76 3 72 152

Intel Corporation 0 0 1 0 92 5 47 145

Grand Total 48 37 26 28 2462 81 1917 4599

Patent Distribution across Categories

Company Total



Figure 3 shows the patent grant trend of few of the top companies from 1993 - 2011.

Figure 3: Graph depicting granting trend of few top companies

Samsung, compared to its competitors, accelerated and increased its investments in

4G-LTE ahead of the curve (2001 – 2005).

While most of the companies have a similar trend in terms of filing patents, Samsung

got its patents approved and granted by USPTO earlier than other players (2003 –

2005). Qualcomm also saw a similar spike in number of patents granted during the

period 2007 – 1010.

Samsung continues to have a strong pipeline of pending applications with the patent

office. This is perhaps a result of their increased research investments in 4G-LTE in the

last 5 years.



Figure 4 displays the technology evolution tree of seminal patents.

Figure 4: Technology Evolution Tree of 4G-LTE Seminal Patents




4 Key Players in 4G-LTE Patent Landscape

4.1 Samsung

Samsung is at the forefront of 4G-LTE domain with significant number of patents,

including seminal patents. It leads the core 4G-LTE technology that relate to Data

Transfer Rate, Power Management and Spectral Efficiency.

Known as a key player in the devices space, the company has accelerated its research

in Network & Infrastructure related domains in the last few years.

- It has a sizeable Network-level patent portfolio and is perhaps looking to reduce its

dependence on 3rd party telecom providers (especially service providers).

Despite its strong patent protection, Samsung has addressed certain gaps in its

portfolio by licensing patents in key areas such as 4G handset and infrastructure

technology from Acacia Research in the early 20121.

Figure 5: Technology Evolution Tree of Samsung’s 4G-LTE Patents


1 http://gametimeip.com/2012/02/28/microsoftsamsung-license-acacia-patents-for-estimated-65-mm/

http://gametimeip.com/2012/02/28/microsoftsamsung-license-acacia-patents-for-estimated-65-mm/



4.2 Qualcomm

Qualcomm holds a significant portion of seminal patents and is currently at the forefront

of innovation in the Devices space.

- Nearly 80% of its patents are related to Devices with focused investments in

Spectral Efficiency and Data Transfer Rate categories.

- Qualcomm alone holds ~10% of patents related to Network Coverage.

- It also has key patents in the ‘HETNET’ and ‘Relay’ categories which are essential to

ensure better and smooth inter-network transition.

Qualcomm is one of the key chipset suppliers to leading handset manufacturers such as

Apple, HTC and others. Backed by strong patents, Qualcomm’s next generation – Gobi

chipsets2 - supporting 4G-LTE mobile broadband standard, is expected to out in the

market from Q4 2012.

Figure 6: Technology Evolution Tree of Qualcomm’s 4G-LTE Patents


2 http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/27/2827511/qualcomm-gobi-mdm9225-mdm9625-modem-chipsets-lte-

advanced

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/27/2827511/qualcomm-gobi-mdm9225-mdm9625-modem-chipsets-lte-advanced

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/27/2827511/qualcomm-gobi-mdm9225-mdm9625-modem-chipsets-lte-advanced



4.3 Apple & Nortel

Apple has minimal patents in the 4G-LTE domain. In 2011, Apple joined hands with

Ericsson, RIM, Microsoft and EMC to form a consortium and successfully bid for Nortel’s

6000 patents. This possibly includes complete ownership of Nortel’s 4G-LTE patents3.

Apple is currently using 4G-LTE technology from Qualcomm for its iPad 3 – a baseband

processor which provides the LTE wireless data networking capability4.

In March 2012, a day after the launch of iPad 3, Adaptix Inc. filed a patent infringement

lawsuit against Apple in the field of OFDMA technology (related to 4G). Acacia Research

acquired Adaptix, a non-practicing entity, in January 2012.

Nortel has around 150 4G-LTE patents, including seminal patents, under Data Transfer

Rate and Spectral Efficiency categories. Nortel also has a significant number of patents

that have been declared as ‘essential’ in standards such as ETSI, IEEE, ARIB and ITU-T.

Figure 7: Technology Evolution Tree of Nortel’s 4G-LTE Patents


3 http://www.appleday.org/apple-has-outright-ownership-of-nortels-lte-4g-patents/ 4 http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/17/ipad-teardown-reveals-375-10-total-cost/

http://www.appleday.org/apple-has-outright-ownership-of-nortels-lte-4g-patents/

http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/17/ipad-teardown-reveals-375-10-total-cost/



4.4 Nokia

Nokia has focused its 4G-LTE efforts on Data Transfer Rate and Spectral Efficiency with

around 270 patents. It also has strong patents in the Network Security domain with

almost 50% of all seminal patents. Nokia signed a 4G license agreement with Motorola

in October 2010 covering key cellular technologies including LTE, WiMAX and LTE-

Advanced5. Nokia also signed a licensing agreement with Qualcomm in November 2009

for Qualcomm’s LTE chipsets6.

In Sep 2011, MOSAID Technologies Inc. acquired Core Wireless Licensing, which had a

portfolio of ~2000 wireless patents and applications including 4G-LTE patents originally

filed by Nokia7. Also ~450 patents and applications filed by Nokia (including LTE

patents), were acquired by Sisvel International in January 2012. However, the acquired

patents still remain licensed to Nokia under an agreement with Sisvel International8.

Figure 8: Technology Evolution Tree of Nokia’s 4G-LTE Patents


5 http://mediacenter.motorola.com/Press-Releases/Motorola-and-Nokia-Announce-4G-Licensing-Agreement-

3469.aspx 6 http://www.rethink-wireless.com/2009/11/16/qualcomm-4g-licensing-deals-big.html 7 http://www.mosaid.com/corporate/news-events/releases-2011/110901.php 8 http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=216390

http://mediacenter.motorola.com/Press-Releases/Motorola-and-Nokia-Announce-4G-Licensing-Agreement-3469.aspx

http://mediacenter.motorola.com/Press-Releases/Motorola-and-Nokia-Announce-4G-Licensing-Agreement-3469.aspx

http://www.rethink-wireless.com/2009/11/16/qualcomm-4g-licensing-deals-big.html

http://www.mosaid.com/corporate/news-events/releases-2011/110901.php

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=216390



4.5 InterDigital

InterDigital has significant presence in the 4G-LTE space, both in terms of quantity

(number of patents - 336) and quality (number of seminal patents - 23) compared to

the rest of the companies.

- InterDigital has more number of 4G-LTE patents in the Devices space compared to

leading handset players such as LG, Nokia, Sony and Apple.

- It started investing in key 4G-LTE categories early in 2002 ahead of major players.

InterDigital is currently planning to auction its patent portfolio9.

- It has strong presence in both Devices and Network/ Infrastructure domains

- With wide-spread adoption of 4G in future, InterDigital’s patent portfolio could be a

strategic addition to any company that is looking to monetize and/ or defend its

competitive position in the market.

Figure 9: Technology Evolution Tree of InterDigital’s 4G-LTE Patents


9 http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/17/us-interdigital-idUSTRE77G40Y20110817

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/17/us-interdigital-idUSTRE77G40Y20110817



4.6 Ericsson

Ericsson has focused its patent investments in the Devices space – with around 210

patents including 29 seminal patents.

Ericsson and ZTE have cross-licensing agreements in 2G, 3G and 4G mobile

technologies. This comes after a series of lawsuits and counter-lawsuits they filed

against each other in multiple geographies10.

The company was part of the consortium that acquired Nortel's 6000-strong patent

portfolio for $4.5 billion. This acquisition puts Ericsson at a better position in the

telecommunications patent space, than before.

Ericsson reorganized its licensing department in 2012 for increased patent monetization

opportunities. This is seen as a strategic move by Ericsson to better leverage its IP

assets11. We can expect Ericsson to license its strong 4G-LTE portfolio aggressively.

Figure 10: Technology Evolution Tree of Ericsson’s 4G-LTE Patents


10 http://www.infringementupdates.com/2011/04/ericsson-files-patent-suits-against-chinas-zte.html 11 http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/it-business/3329895/ericsson-moves-to-exploit-patent-portfolio/

http://www.infringementupdates.com/2011/04/ericsson-files-patent-suits-against-chinas-zte.html

http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/it-business/3329895/ericsson-moves-to-exploit-patent-portfolio/



# of

Patents

# of Seminal

Patents

# of

Patents

# of Seminal

Patents

Samsung 1179 77 243 0

Qualcomm 729 80 180 1

InterDigital 345 22 85 0

Nokia Corporation 275 27 80 0

Ericsson 217 24 75 0

LG Corp. 226 25 60 1

Motorola Solutions, Inc. 188 11 34 0

Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. 30 12 5 0

Panasonic 379 13 80 0

Sony 181 12 20 0

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute 197 8 52 0

Industrial Technology Research Institute 70 4 11 0

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) 27 0 3 0

Hong Kong Applied Science & Technology Research Institute 20 3 9 0

Seoul National University Industry Foundation 15 0 6 0

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 8 0 2 0

California Institute of Technology 4 1 0 0

Adaptix Inc. 47 1 5 0

Digcom Inc. 93 18 6 2

Innovative Sonic 21 1 0 0

Others

(SMEs/NPEs)

Assignee

CategoryAssignees

Devices Network & Infrastructure

Major Players

5 Potential Licensing/ Litigations in 4G-LTE

Patent set comprising ‘Essential’ patents which were declared on various standards were

analyzed and compared with the list of seminal patents. The difference in the patent

constitution between the two patent sets was significant. Larger companies such as

Samsung, Qualcomm, Ericsson, etc were the ones which publicly declared their patents as

‘essential’. Unlike larger companies, SMEs and NPEs such as Adaptix Inc., Digcom Inc., Inha

Industry Partnership Institute, etc. continues to remain in stealth mode despite the

presence of strong patents in their portfolio.

A closer look at the assignees of patents in the 4G-LTE space (other than the top

companies) revealed some interesting trends on companies that can pursue efforts to

monetize their patents, either through licensing or litigation.

Table 5 provides information on 4G-LTE landscape of major players and others (primarily

SMEs and non-practicing entities) across Devices and Network & Infrastructure patents.

Table 5: Patent distribution of key players across Devices and Network & Infrastructure



Almost 20% of seminal 4G-LTE patents are held by SMEs and non-practicing entities

(NPEs). This suggests that a substantial amount of research in the field has also been

initiated by these companies, requiring deeper analyses into the nature of these patents.

With wide-spread adoption of 4G by consumers, the industry will witness significant increase

in licensing and litigation efforts by these players against leading (Fortune ranked)

technology companies.

Research Institutes in Asia (China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan) hold a

significant portfolio of patents in the space, including several seminal patents. These

institutes have set up active patent monetization programs, and we can expect to see

heavy licensing and litigation efforts by them to monetize their portfolio in the space.

The key research institutes to watch out for are:

- Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute: ETRI is a non-profit

government-funded Korean research organization with a sizeable 4G-LTE patent

portfolio. It licenses its patents to various companies. It has over 240 4G-LTE patents

(devices & networks/ infrastructure patents) and quite a few seminal patents.

- Industrial Technology Research Institute: ITRI is a non-profit research institute

located in Taiwan, under the supervision of the Republic of China. It has 81 4G-LTE

patents (devices & networks/ infrastructure patents) and quite a few seminal patents.

It entered into a licensing agreement with Samsung. They have filed for patent

litigations in the past, and we only see that activity going up.

- Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology: the Korean government in

1971 established KAIST as the nation's first research oriented science and

engineering institution. It owns 27 device level and 3 Network level 4G-LTE patents.

- Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute: The institute

was founded by the Government of Hong Kong SAR in 2000 to enhance Hong Kong’s

competitiveness in technology-based industries through applied research. It has 11

device level and 5 Network level 4G-LTE patents.

- Seoul National University Industry Foundation: SNU is a national university in

Seoul, South Korea. SNU holds 15 patents at the device level and another 6 at the

network level.



Educational Institutes in the USA have invested in the 4G-LTE domain and have

built significant portfolios. These institutes have a history of monetizing their patents,

and we expect to see them continuing their efforts on monetizing their patent portfolio

in the 4G-LTE space as well. Two of the top universities with activity are:

- Massachusetts institute of Technology: MIT owns a sizeable 4G-LTE portfolio. It

licenses its patents to various companies. It has approximately 10 4G-LTE patents

(both device and networks/ infrastructure patents).

- California Institute of Technology: It has 4 (device level) 4G-LTE patents and

quite a few seminal patents. It entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with

Mosaid in 2006. Its patents have been litigated in the past against companies like

Nokia, LG, Pantech, Toshiba, and STMicroelectronics in sensor technology. We expect

it to do the same in 4G-LTE, if licensing efforts fail.

Adaptix Inc., a non-practicing entity, is very active in licensing its patent portfolio.

Adaptix holds 47 patents in the Devices space of 4G-LTE. It has, in the past, filed

patent litigations against a host of companies such as Apple, Inc., Motorola Mobility,

AT&T, Nokia Siemens, etc. Adaptix has filed a patent lawsuit in March 2012 (a day after

the new iPad was launched) against Apple and AT&T related to 4G-LTE Technology.

Digcom Inc. a privately held company, owned by Camillo Feher, is another major

company we expect to be very active in patent litigation/licensing activity in the 4G/LTE

space. It has almost 100 4G-LTE patents (device and networks/ infrastructure patents)

and quite a few seminal patents. In the past, Digcom has been involved in patent

litigations with defendants such as Nokia, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, Infineon

Corporation, among others. We expect this to happen in the 4G/LTE space as well.

Innovative Sonic, a Taiwanese company has also invested heavily in research

operations relating to wireless communication technology. It has over 20 4G-LTE

patents (device patents) and quite a few seminal patents. In the past, Innovative Sonic

has been involved in litigations against Research in Motion. We expect them to continue

its efforts to monetize its patents in the 4G/LTE space.

There are almost 300 entities that hold over 1000 patents among them. We expect

this long tail to explore opportunities to sell, license, or litigate their patents. We expect

the major NPEs to make efforts in aggregating these patents to the extent possible.

This long tail is also where several litigations are expected to arise.



6 Appendix 1: Glossary of Terms

Data Transfer Rate: The amount of digital data that is moved from one place to

another in a given time. It is a measure of speed at which data is transferred across

networks.

Spectral Efficiency: Refers to the information rate that can be transmitted over a

given bandwidth in a specific communication system. It is a measure of how efficiently

a limited frequency spectrum is utilized by the networks.

Power Management: Transmission powers represent a key degree of freedom in the

design of wireless networks. In both cellular and ad-hoc networks, power control helps

with several functionalities such as efficient spectral reuse, lifetime of the nodes and

network, minimizing signal interference and maintaining connectivity.

Communication Reliability: It’s an indirect measure of the signal quality. Reliability

of a communication network is formulated on the basis of reliabilities of individual links

and stations. This is ensured by applying various error-correction techniques.

Network Coverage: A geographic extent to which a network station can communicate

efficiently. The ability of a mobile phone to connect to a base station depends on the

strength of the signal.

Network Deployment: Ease with which a network can be deployed. The aim is to

minimize the manual processes in planning, integration and configuration of new base

stations which will result in faster deployment, reduced cost and low error ratio.

Network Security: With faster connectivity and greater interoperability, security is a

matter of concern. 4G networks incorporate secure storage, mutual authentication,

encryption and air-link ciphering techniques to protect data transmissions.

Directional Signal Transmission (Beam-forming): Beam-forming is a signal

processing technique used in sensor arrays for directional signal transmission or

reception. This is achieved by combining elements in the array in a way where signals

at particular angles experience constructive interference and while others experience

destructive interference.

What it does? - It increases network coverage, capacity, data rates, quality of service

and also overcomes interference and fading effects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth_(signal_processing)



Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ): HARQ is a combination of high-

rate forward error-correcting coding, and ARQ error-control for detectable but

uncorrectable errors.

What it does? - It provides high speed data transmission on both the uplink and

downlink.

Multiple-input & multiple-output (MIMO): MIMO is the use of multiple antennas at

both the transmitter and receiver to improve communication performance. It is one of

several forms of smart antenna technology. Note that the terms input and output refer

to the radio channel carrying the signal, not to the devices having antennas.

What it does? - With use of multiple antennae it provides increased capacity and better

data integrity.

Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA): OFDMA is a multi-user

version of the popular orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing digital modulation

scheme. Multiple access is achieved by assigning subsets of subcarriers to individual

users as shown in the illustration below. This allows simultaneous low data rate

transmission from several users.

What it does? - It facilitates efficient use of mobile network by allowing overlap and by

being more resistant to multi-path interference. Lower transmission power required

from the users.

Carrier Aggregation: It permits a LTE base station to group several distinct channels

into one logical channel and supports wider transmission bandwidth than the 20 Mhz

bandwidth specified in 3GPP 8/9.

What it does? - It enables very high peak traffic and channel data rates

Coordinated Multipoint Transmission (CoMP): Refers to a wide range of techniques

that enable dynamic coordination or transmission and reception with several

geographically separated Node Bs. Aim is to enhance the overall system performance,

utilize the resources more effectively and improve the end user service quality.

What it does? - Sends data to several base stations at once and the data pass through

the least loaded base station. The signal received by handsets has increased overall

power and it reduces the number of dropped calls



Relay: Relays are key elements for determining the cell-edge performance that is a

severe cause of performance degradation. Femtocells are one of the key components

that can be installed either as standalone items or in clusters in residential or business

environments. They prove to be a very cost-effective way to improve coverage.

What it does? - It makes the infrastructure denser so as to reduce the transmitter to

receiver distance, thereby allowing higher data rates and better connectivity.

HetNet: Heterogeneous networks capable of handling several standards and is made

up of small macro cells. It indicates the use of multiple types of access nodes in a

wireless network. A wide area network can use macrocells, picocells, and/

or femtocells in order to offer wireless coverage in an environment with a wide variety

of wireless coverage zones, ranging from an open outdoor environment to office

buildings, homes, and underground areas.

What it does? - It enables heterogeneous networks capable of handling several

standards where the networks are made up of small macro cells.

Self Organizing Network: Operational base stations that will regularly self-optimize

parameters and algorithmic behavior in response to observed network performance and

radio conditions.

What it does? - Reduces manual processes involved in the planning, integration and

configuration of new base stations. This will result in faster deployment, reduced cost

and low error ratio.

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