The document analyzes 3GPP LTE essential patents by assignee, specification, and status. It finds that as of April 2009, Qualcomm had the most declared essential patents overall, followed by Interdigital, with many patents declared for specifications TS36.211 and TS36.213. By status, Interdigital had the most published applications while Qualcomm had the most pending applications. For OFDM/MIMO technologies, covered by specifications TS36.211 and TS36.213, Qualcomm led with 125 patents followed by Nortel with 42 patents.

1. 3GPP LTE Essential Patents Landscape 2Q. 2009

2. 1. 3GPP LTE Essential Patent Candidates by Assignee This report analyzes the lists of patents declared essential to 3GPP LTE appear at the ETSI IPR Online website. The declared essential patents include patent applications in pending and published as well as issued patents in the United States (USPTO) before May 1, 2009. Total of 579 declared essential patents are included in the analysis. By the status of the applications, the patents are further classified into the total of 140 issued patents, the total of 244 published applications, and the total of 195 pending applications. Fig. 1 shows the distribution of the declared essential patents (in this report, we call these as the potential candidates for the essential patents) among assignees. Key interpretation: the active contenders for essential patents IPR competition are Qualcomm, Interdigital, Nokia, Nortel, Texas Instruments (TI), Samsung, LG, ETRI, Sony, and Icoding. As of April 30, 2009, the Qualcomm is the leader followed by Interdigital.

3. Fig. 1 3GPP LTE essential patent candidates by assignee

4. 2. 3GPP LTE Essential Patent Candidates by Specification Technical specifications for the 3GPP LTE are classified as TS 36 series. Fig. 2 shows the distribution of the potential candidates for the essential patents among specifications. Key interpretation: the top 3 most declared specifications as the 3GPP LTE potential candidates for the essential patents are TS36.211 (physical channels and modulation), TS36.213 (physical layer procedures), and TS36.300 (overall description; Stage 6).

5. Fig. 2 3GPP LTE essential patent candidates by specification 101 UE radio transmission and reception 133 Requirements for support of radio resource management 201 LTE physical layer; General description 201 LTE physical layer; General description 211 Physical channels and modulation 212 Multiplexing and channel coding 213 Physical layer procedures 214 Physical layer - Measurements 300 Overall description; Stage 6 304 UE procedures in idle mode 321 MAC protocol specification 322 RLC protocol specification 323 PDCP specification 331 RRC Protocol specification 401 Architecture description 410 S1 layer 1 general aspects and principles 412 S1 signalling transport 413 S1 Application Protocol (S1AP) 420 X2 general aspects and principles 422 X2 signalling transport 423 X2 Application Protocol (X2AP) 440 General aspects and principles for interfaces supporting MBMS

6. 3. 3GPP LTE Essential Patent Candidates by Assignee and Specification Fig. 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 show the GPP LTE Essential Patent Candidates by Assignee and Specification for Issued patents, published applications, and pended applications respectively. Key interpretation: as for the total of 140 issued patents, Qualcomm (total of 44) and Nokia (total of 42) are the leader followed by Nortel (total of 22) as for the specifications, TS36.211 (total of 42) is the top followed by TS36.213 (total of 22) as for the total of 244 published applications, Interdigital (total of 106) is the leader followed by Qualcomm (total of 59) as for the specifications, TS36.211 (total of 85) is the top followed by TS36.300 (total of 68)

7. 3. 3GPP LTE Essential Patent Candidates by Assignee and Specification -2 as for the total of 195 applications in pending , Qualcomm (total of 104) is the leader followed by LG (total of 31) and Interdigital (total of 30) as for the specifications, TS36.211 (total of 59) is the top followed by TS36.213 (total of 50)

8. Fig. 3-1 GPP LTE essential patent candidates by assignee and specification

9. Fig. 3-2 GPP LTE essential patent candidates by assignee and specification: issued patents

10. Fig. 3-3 GPP LTE essential patent candidates by assignee and specification: published applications

11. Fig. 3-4 GPP LTE essential patent candidates by assignee and specification: applications in pending

12. 4. 3GPP LTE OFDM/MIMO Essential Patent Candidates Specification TS 36.211 and TS 36.211 are related with the OFDM/MIMO which is the most important technology for the communications between the user mobile device and the base station. This technology filed is also the most competitive for getting the essential patents among contenders. Fig. 4 compares the number of essential patent candidates declared as 3GPP LTE OFDM/MIMO related technology. There are total of 280 patents for the specification TS 36.211 + TS 36.213. Key interpretation: Qualcomm (total of 125) is the leader followed by Nortel (total of 42)

13. Fig. 4 3GPP LTE OFDM/MIMO essential patent candidates

14. Thank you! If you have any questions please contact Dr. Alex G. Lee at alexglee@techipm.com