TechIPm's Research Sample

1. LTE Essential Patent Analysis: Essentiality, Strategy, and Portfolio Development 1Q. 2010

2. Contents I. Essentiality 1.1 LTE PHY Essential Patents 1.2 LTE PHY Essential Patent Candidate Analysis: Down Link Reference Signals Essential Patent 1.3 LTE PHY Essential Patent Candidate Analysis: Link for Other Cases II. Strategy 2.1 Essential Patent Claim Drafting Strategy III. Portfolio Development 3.1 Patent Portfolio Development Strategy 3.2 Case study for Qualcomm’s Strategy

3. I. Essentiality

4. 1.1 LTE PHY Essential Patents Total of 1227 LTE patents, issued and published applications in the US as of April 1 2010, are analyzed to find essential patents for LTE physical layer standards. LTE physical layer standards are described in 3GPP specifications TS36.211, TS36.212, and TS36.213. LTE physical layer standards are essential for an implementation of a digital baseband modem. 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 modem 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 technical specifications. Total of 71 patents are identified as the strong candidates for LTE PHY essential patents.

5. 1.1 LTE PHY Essential Patents -2 The key IPR holders and their IPR share for LTE PHY essential patents are as follows: Qualcomm (19, 27%), Samsung (13, 18%), LG (12, 17%), InterDigital (5, 7%), Nokia (5, 7%), Motorola (4, 6%), and TI (4, 6%) Ref. Figure 1.1

6. Fig. 1.1 IPR share for LTE PHY essential patent candidates

7. 1.2 LTE PHY Essential Patent Candidate Analysis: Down Link Reference Signals Essential Patent 3GPP Patent application publication US20060285484,entitled Pilot Design and Channel Estimation, is a candidate for LTE DL RSs essential patent. BACKGROUND In an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) based communication system, pilot symbols are transmitted in addition to data symbols to provide a reference for the receiver to estimate the channel medium and accordingly demodulate the received signal. OFDM systems periodically insert reference (or pilot) symbols that are known a priori, into the transmission signal. The receiver can thus estimate the channel response based on the received pilot symbols and the known transmitted pilot symbols. A pilot signal also referred to as reference signal is composed of the pilot symbols.

8. 1.2 LTE PHY Essential Patent Candidate Analysis: Down Link Reference Signals Essential Patent -2 PRIOR ART Channel estimation is based on time and frequency interpolation among pilot sub-carriers in order to obtain the channel estimates at the position corresponding to data sub-carriers. In order to be able to perform frequency interpolation, the pilot sub-carrier spacing in the frequency domain should be smaller than the 50% correlation coherence bandwidth of the channel for all channels of interest. Similarly, in order to be able to perform time interpolation, the pilot sub-carrier spacing in the time domain should be smaller than the 50% coherence time of the channel at the operating carrier frequency for all UE speeds of interest. There is a need for an improved pilot structure design in the prior arts in order to achieve accurate channel estimates for high user equipment (UE) speeds in mobile operations while also achieve the ability to use substantial pilot energy from succeeding TTI (Transmission Time Interval) with minimum latency.

9. 1.2 LTE PHY Essential Patent Candidate Analysis: Down Link Reference Signals Essential Patent -3 INVENTION Embodiments of the invention provide method and apparatus for generating a structure in a OFDM communication system having a transmitter with a least one transmitting antenna to achieve accurate channel estimates for high UE speeds and high channel frequency selectivity in mobile operations. CLAIM 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmission time interval comprises of seven orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols and wherein the pilot signal from at least one transmitting antenna is located in the first and fifth OFDM symbols of a transmission time interval: DL RSs specification for single antenna port in 3GPP TS36.211, V890, Section 6.10.12 & Figs 6.101.2-1

10. 1.2 LTE PHY Essential Patent Candidate Analysis: Down Link Reference Signals Essential Patent -4 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transmitter has at least two antennas, said method further comprising: locating a pilot signal from a second antenna into two orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols of said frame such that the pilot power of the pilot signal from the second antenna is in the first and fifth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols of the transmission time interval: DL RSs specification for two antenna ports in 3GPP TS36.211, V890, Section 6.10.12 & Figs 6.101.2-1

11. 1.2 LTE PHY Essential Patent Candidate Analysis: Down Link Reference Signals Essential Patent -5 The method of claim 3, wherein the transmitter has at least four antennas, said method further comprising: locating a pilot signal from a third antenna into two orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols of said frame such that the pilot power of the pilot signal from the third antenna is in the second and sixth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols of the transmission time interval; and locating a pilot signal from a fourth antenna into two orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols of said frame such that the pilot power of the pilot signal from the fourth antenna is in the second and sixth orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols of the transmission time interval: DL RSs specification for four antenna ports in 3GPP TS36.211, V890, Section 6.10.12 & Figs 6.101.2-1 Ref. Figure 1.2

12. Fig. 1.2 US20060285484

13. 1.3 LTE PHY Essential Patent Candidate Analysis: Link for Other Cases LTE Down Link Synchronization Signals Essential Patent: http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2010/02/lte-innovation-mining-down-link_24.html LTE Down Link MIMO Essential Patent: http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2010/02/lte-innovation-mining-down-link-mimo_25.html http://techipm-innovationfrontline.blogspot.com/2010/02/lte-innovation-mining-down-link-mimo_1717.html

14. II. Strategy

15. 2.1 Essential Patent Claim Drafting Strategy Analysis of claims for the essential candidates suggests several strategy factors in drafting essential patent applications: Strategy 1. Write the claim using several statutory claim types. <Case study> Qualcomm’s patent application publication US20080280638, entitled Uplink Power Control for LTE, is a candidate for LTE power control essential patent. 3GPP LTE standard TS36.213 specifies the power control in chapter 5.

16. 2.1 Essential Patent Claim Drafting Strategy -2 1. A method that facilitates generating power control commands in a wireless communication environment, comprising: 18. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising: 33. A wireless communications apparatus that enables yielding power control commands for utilization by access terminals in a wireless communication environment, comprising: means for 47. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-executable instructions for: 58. In a wireless communications system, an apparatus comprising: a processor configured to:

17. 2.1 Essential Patent Claim Drafting Strategy -3 Strategy 2. Claim the invention in all of its commercially significant setting. <Case study> Texas Instrument’s patent application publication US20060285484, entitled Pilot Design and Channel Estimation, is a candidate for LTE DLRSs (down link reference signals) essential patent. 3GPP LTE standard TS36.211 specifies the power control in section 6.10. The patent claims the invention using transmitter as well as receiver settings such as 9. An apparatus for an OFDM based communication system, said apparatus coupled to a plurality of transmitting antennas and said apparatus comprising: 12. A receiver in an OFDM based communication system adapted to perform channel estimation using a received reference signal transmitted from at least one antenna,

18. 2.1 Essential Patent Claim Drafting Strategy -4 Strategy 3. Use claim terms which can match with a specific term in the standard. <Case study> Samsung’s patent application publication US20090086849, entitled Method and apparatus of improved circular buffer rate matching for turbo-coded MIMO-OFDM wireless systems, is a candidate for LTE channel coding essential patent. 3GPP LTE standard TS36.212 specifies the channel coding in chapter 5. The patent claims the invention using terms exactly match with the standard specification such as

19. 2.1 Essential Patent Claim Drafting Strategy -4 1. A method for transmitting data, the method comprising the steps of: encoding at least one block of information bits to be transmitted to generate a plurality of coded bits; segmenting the plurality of coded bits into a plurality of sub-blocks of coded bits; interleaving each of the sub-blocks of coded bits by using a certain interleaver; collecting the interleaved coded bits from the plurality of sub-blocks and writing the collected bits into a circular buffer; determining a plurality of redundancy versions in the circular buffer, with each redundancy version corresponding to a starting bit index in the circular buffer; selecting a subset of bits in the circular buffer by selecting a redundancy version from among the plurality of redundancy version; modulating the subset of bits by using a certain modulation scheme; and transmitting the modulated bits via at least one antenna, with, in at least one pair of redundancy versions, the number of bits between the starting point of a first redundancy version and the starting point of a second redundancy version being not divisible by the modulation order of the certain modulation scheme.

20. Fig. 2.1 US20060285484

21. III. Portfolio Development

22. 3.1 Patent Portfolio Development Strategy A typical way to develop the essential patent is to participate in the standardization process and try to get IPRs for the standards in parallel (strategic alignment between standardization and IPR). Without the strategic alignment between standardization and IPR process, however, there is an alternative way to develop the essential patent portfolios through patent engineering process. The LTE patent engineering process utilizes the existing patent portfolios. The patent engineering process for LTE essential patent development is as follows.

23. 3.1 Patent Portfolio Development Strategy -2 Step 1: Audit the existing patents to compare with the LTE TS36 series specification. Step 2: Investigate the embodiments of the patent which are relevant to the specifications. Step 3: Design the claim terms to be essential to the implementation of the specification. Step 4: File the essential patent candidate through continuation or reissue process.

24. 3.2 Case study for Qualcomm’s Strategy Qualcomm’s patent application publication US20050276344, entitled Coding scheme for a wireless communication system, is a candidate for LTE channel coding essential patent. 3GPP LTE standard TS36.212 specifies the channel coding in chapter 5. The specified channel coding scheme for transport blocks is turbo coding with a contention-free quadratic permutation polynomial (QPP) turbo code internal interleaver. After the turbo encoding process, a codeword is formed by turbo-encoded bit stream, and a Rate Matching (RM) is performed on the turbo-encoded bit stream to generate a transmission bit stream for each transmission: information bits are encoded by a turbo encoder 252 with a rate 1/3 turbo code, which generates a stream of systematic bits, a stream of parity bits from the first constituent convolutional, and a stream of parity bits from the second constituent convolutional code.

25. 3.2 Case study for Qualcomm’s Strategy -2 Each of these three streams will be interleaved by a sub-block interleaver. The interleaved parity bits are then interlaced. During the rate matching procedure, for each transmission, the transmitter reads bits from the buffer, starting from an offset position and increasing or decreasing the bit index. If the bit index reaches a certain maximum number, the bit index is reset to the first bit in the buffer (circular buffer based rate matching scheme). Incremental Redundancy (IR) based HARQ operation is adopted by optimally determining the starting point of the redundancy versions for transmission in circular rate-matching operation. Qualcomm’s patent application publication US20050276344 is a continuation application of issued patent US6961388. Qualcomm designed some claim terms to be essential to the implementation of the specification TS36.211 utilizing unclaimed patent disclosures:

26. Fig. 3.1 US20050276344

27. 3.2 Case study for Qualcomm’s Strategy -3 US6961388 36. A wireless communication system operative to transmit data on a plurality of transmission channels, wherein each transmission channel is used to transmit a respective sequence of modulation symbols, the system comprising: an encoder configured to encode a plurality of information bits in accordance with a particular encoding scheme to provide a plurality of coded bits, and to puncture the plurality of coded bits in accordance with a particular puncturing scheme to provide a number of unpunctured coded bits for the plurality of transmission channels, wherein each transmission channel is capable of transmitting a particular number of information bits per modulation symbol via a particular modulation scheme selected for the transmission channel, wherein each transmission channel is further associated with a particular coding rate based at least on the number of information bits per modulation symbol supported by the transmission channel and its modulation scheme, wherein at least two transmission channels are associated with different coding rates, and wherein the encoder is further configured to adjust the puncturing to achieve the different coding rates for the at least two transmission channels.

28. 3.2 Case study for Qualcomm’s Strategy -4 37. The system of claim 36, further comprising: a channel interleaver coupled to the encoder and configured to interleave the plurality of coded bits, and wherein the encoder is configured to puncture the interleaved bits. 38. The system of claim 37, further comprising: a symbol mapping element coupled to the channel interleaver and configured to form non-binary symbols for the plurality of transmission channels, and to map each non-binary symbol to a respective modulation symbol, wherein each non-binary symbol includes a group of unpunctured coded bits. 39. The system of claim 38, further comprising: a signal processor coupled to the symbol mapping element and configured to pre-condition the modulation symbols for the plurality of transmission channels to implement a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission.

29. 3.2 Case study for Qualcomm’s Strategy -5 US20050276344 30. A wireless communication device comprising: an encoder configured to encode a plurality of information bits in accordance with a particular encoding scheme to provide a plurality of encoded symbols for a plurality of transmission channels and to puncture the plurality of coded bits in accordance with a particular puncturing scheme to achieve a desired coding rate for tee plurality of transmission channels; and a data source coupled with the encoder, the data source configured to provide the plurality of information bits. 31. The wireless communication device of claim 30, further comprising a channel interleaver coupled to the encoder and configured to interleave the plurality of encoded bits.

30. 3.2 Case study for Qualcomm’s Strategy -6 32. The wireless communication device of claim 31, further comprising a symbol mapping element coupled to the channel interleaver and configured to form non-binary symbols for the plurality of transmission channels, and to map each non-binary symbol to a respective modulation symbol, wherein each non-binary symbol includes a group of unpunctured coded bits. 33. The wireless communication device of claim 32, further comprising a signal processor coupled to the symbol mapping element and configured to pre-condition the modulation symbols for the plurality of transmission channels to implement a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission. 34. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein the encoder is further configured to puncture the plurality of coded bits to achieve a different coding for at least two transmission channels of the plurality of transmission channels.

31. 3.2 Case study for Qualcomm’s Strategy -7 35. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein the encoder is further configured to assign a group of coded bits to each segment, and wherein the puncturing is performed on the group of coded bits assigned to each segment. 36. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein the encoder is further configured to utilize a Turbo code. 37. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein the encoder is further configured to provide a plurality of tail and parity bits for the plurality of information bits, and wherein the puncturing is performed on the plurality of tail and parity bits.

32. 3.2 Case study for Qualcomm’s Strategy -8 38. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein the Turbo code includes two constituent codes operative to provide two streams of tail and parity bits. 39. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein the encoder is further configured to provide bits a coding rate of between, and inclusive of, n/(n+1) and n/(n+2), where n is the number of information bits per modulation symbol supported.

35. LTE Innovation Frontline Custom Research Module -2 2. LTE Essential Patent Portfolio Analysis: essential patent candidate’s portfolio (US issued & published patent only) by mapping to products and technologies. Deliverables: written report in PowerPoint file and Excel file for the data used in the analysis (optional) Sample: LTE Patent Portfolios for Products: http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/lte-and-4g-executive-briefing-3q-2009 Distribution of TS36 specifications for each IPR holders: http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/lte-mobile-phonecompetitor-analysis-3q-2009 Delivery date: within two weeks after initial payment (20% of total price). Price: Written report: $2,000 Data: $1,000

36. LTE Innovation Frontline Custom Research Module -3 3. LTE Essential Patent Essentiality Analysis: essential patent candidate’s essentiality (US issued & published patent only) by comparing disclosures for each essential patent candidate to the technical specifications. Deliverables: written report in PowerPoint file and Excel file for the data used in the analysis (optional) for each specific specification (e.g. TS36.211); Individual patent analysis (optional) Sample: http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/lteiprofdmmimo20093q Individual patent analysis: http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/lte-patent-for-standard-2010-1-q Delivery date: within four weeks after initial payment (20% of total price). Price per specification: Written report: $4,000 Data: $1,000 Price per patent: Written report: $1,000