Smartphone & 4G Mobile Trends & Issues

Smartphone & 4G Mobile Trends & Issues: Patent, Technology, Market, and S. Korea 1Q. 2010

I. Smart Phone

1.1 4G & Smart Phone Innovation Frontiers in 2010 LG Electronics demonstrated the one of the world’s first LTE download speed of 100Mbps at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2010. By connecting to the LG’s LTE USB Modem, LG presented the real-time demonstrations of full HD video files, video conferences and web-surfing at speeds up to 100Mbps for downloads and 50Mbps for uploads. LG’s innovative breakthrough in LTE technology makes a very optimistic expectation for the future 4G mobile market, especially for smart phones, possible. In recent article ‘4G in the U.S.A.’ ( http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/standards/4g-in-the-usa ), IEEE expects the wide spreading of Mobile WiMax is in the United States. It also predicts the rising of LTE as a strong contender to the Mobile WiMAX, expressed as ‘WiMAX could soon be overshadowed by a rival technology’.

1.2 4G Smart Phone Chip Innovation Frontiers LG IEEE Spectrum's special report recently selected the Intrinsity’s processor chip for smart phones, dubbed Hummingbird, as the year 2010’s winner for technology innovations ( http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/winner-intrinsitys-more-cerebral-cortex/2 ). Intrinsity’s Hummingbird is a fast CPU, jointly developed with Samsung, based on ARM’s Cortex A8 architecture and Samsung’s 45nm LP (Low Power) process to provide a clock speed of 1GHz at a minimum supply voltage of 1V. As the deployment of the 4G mobile services and a huge user demand for smart phones, it is expected that the mobile CPU which can provide a PC like performance will be the most competitive innovation frontiers in 2010. In addition to the 4G mobile CPU’s speed, security will be the wildcard for the successful mass deployment of 4G smart phones.

1.2 4G Smart Phone Chip Innovation Frontiers -2 Discretix's CryptoCell system is one of the state of art technology to provide the embedded security features for smart phones. CryptoCell includes a hardware core layer that can be implemented on the underlying modem chipset and middleware elements that create secure access to the hardware. It also includes the application-layer toolkits and APIs to support applications such as secure digital rights management, mobile TV security, IPSec etc. Discretix's CryptoCell system is going to implemented in LG’s future LTE phones.

1.3 4G Smart Phone Innovation Cluster in S. Korea Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE: http://www.mke.go.kr/ ) announced the planning of mobile phone cluster formation for global leadership in 4G mobile phone innovations. According to MKE, about 200 M $ will be invested to the public-private collaboration project for the construction of 4G mobile phone innovation ecosystem. All the stakeholders for mobile phones will be located in the cluster for a complete collaborative environment from R&D to production and field tests to keep the S. Korea’s leadership in rapidly changing global mobile phone market. Global mobile phone manufactures such as Samsung and LG and major S. Korea’s Telco such as KT and SKT expressed their participation in the mobile phone innovation cluster.

1.4 4G Mobile IPTV Services in S. Korea According to the Wikipedia, mobile IPTV is a technology that enables users to transmit and receive multimedia traffic including television signal, video, audio, text and graphic services through IP-based the wired and wireless networks. Through Mobile IPTV, users can enjoy TV services anywhere and even while on the move. Korea Communications Commission (KCC) recently announced that mobile IPTV services based on mobile WiMAX will be provided at the G20 Seoul Summit in November. The world’s first mobile IPTV services had already been demonstrated in the last year’s ASEAN-Korea Summit hold in Jeju Island. KT, S. Korea’s major MNO, is now planning the commercial mobile IPTV services using the 4G iPhone as a part of its fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) services.

1.5 Mobile Cloud Computing Test-Bed in S. Korea Korea Communications Commission (KCC) and ministry of knowledge economy (MKE) jointly announced the initiation of mobile computing test-bed. The mobile computing test-bed is a part of the government project planning, ‘ Cloud Computing Global Leadership,’ to invest about 0.5 B$ until 2014. The mobile cloud computing test-bead is one of 8 cloud computing test-bed project and will be operated by public-private partnerships. The five-year government cloud computing project also includes the establishment of cloud computing data center for government agencies. In parallel with the cloud computing promotion initiation, TTA, which is the main standardization body in S. Korea, is going to push the cloud computing standardization through global standardization bodies.

1.6 Qualcomm’s Mobile R&D Center in S. Korea In recent media interview, Qualcomm’s CEO, Dr. Paul E. Jacobs expressed the planning of the second R&D center in S. Korea. Jacobs expected the dramatic increase in mobile computing market based on 4G networks and smart phones in near future. He also expected that the strategic collaborations with S. Korean Mobile industry could make Qualcomm as the global leader in emerging mobile computing market. Qualcomm is going to invest to S. Korean technology ventures and to expend business partnership with S. Korea’s mobile phone manufactures.

II. LTE

2.1 LTE Essential Patent Candidates Landscape LTE Patent Landscape 2010 1Q analyzes the lists of patents declared essential to 3GPP LTE (4G Mobile Communications) appear at the ETSI IPR Online website (some of Motorola's essential patent candidates are indentified by a keyword search). The declared essential patent candidates include published patent applications and issued patents in the United States (USPTO) before March 1, 2010 (patent applications in pending are not included). Total of 786 declared essential patent candidates are used in the analysis. Analysis for the top LTE IPR shareholders shows that Qualcomm (250, 32%) is the leader followed by InterDigital (147, 19%), Nokia (94, 12%), LG (73, 9%), and Samsung (67, 9%) as of Feb. 28, 2010. Ref. Figure 2.1

Fig. 2.1 IPR share for LTE essential patent candidates

2.2 LTE Essential Patent Candidates for LTE Modem LTE digital baseband for 3GPP standard specifications consists of two core parts: OFDM/MIMO Modem (TS36.211+TS36.213) and Channel Coder (TS36.212). Analysis for the top IPR shareholders for LTE baseband modem products shows that Qualcomm (144, 33%) is the leader followed by Samsung (63, 15%), Nokia (46, 11%), LG (34, 8%), and Nortel (33, 8%) as of Feb. 28, 2010. Ref. Figure 2.2

Fig. 2.2 IPR share for LTE baseband modem essential patent candidates

2.3 LTE Modem Innovation Leader: Samsung & LG In Mobile World Congress 2010, Samsung Electronics demonstrated live video streaming via the company’s own LTE network equipment on the Samsung netbook N150. Samsung also introduced the dongle type device GT-B3710 equipped with LTE baseband modem. In recent TechIPm's analysis for LTE essential patent candidates (published patent applications and issued patents in the United States (USPTO) before March 1, 2010), Samsung ranked the second in IPR share for LTE baseband modem products. Essentiality analysis of the Samsung's LTE IPR also showed high quality of Samsung's LTE patent portfolios.

2.3 LTE Modem Innovation Leader: Samsung & LG -2 LG Electronics recently announced that its LD100 data modem has become LTE modem device to receive Telecom Engineering Center (TELEC) certification in Japan. LG already had an approval from the FCC in the US before the TELEC certification. In recent TechIPm's analysis for LTE essential patent candidates, LG ranked 4th in IPR share for LTE baseband modem products. Essentiality analysis of the LG's LTE IPR also showed the highest quality of LG's LTE patent portfolio among IPR shareholders. Ref. Figure 2.3

Fig. 2.3 Samsung & LG‘s LTE modem innovation

2.4 LTE Products Competitor Analysis LTE patent portfolios are researched for US market leader among LTE 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. As of April 10 2010, there were total of 1227 (786 patents from the ETSI IPR Online website and 441 patents form the keyword search) issued patents and published patent applications.

2.4 LTE Patents for Products Competitor Analysis -2 The key IPR holders and their IPR share for LTE patents are as follows: 1. LTE US Patent Landscape: Qualcomm (318, 26%), InterDigital (194, 16%), LG (121, 10%), Nokia (107, 9%), Samsung (77, 6%), and Ericsson (64, 5%) 2. LTE US Patents for LTE Mobile Phone Products: LG (121), Nokia (107), Samsung (77), and Motorola (31) 3. LTE US Patents for LTE Infrastructure Products: Ericsson (64), Nortel (35), NEC (9), Alcatel-Lucent (7), NSN (7), and Huawei (4) 4. LTE US Patents for LTE Chipset Products: Qualcomm (318), TI (30), Infineon (5), and Freescale Semiconductor (4) 5. LTE US Patents for LTE Information & Computing Products: RIM (15), Sharp (10), Sony (6), Panasonic (1), and Toshiba (1) Ref. Figure 2.4

Fig. 2.4 Patent landscape for LTE products in US market

III. LTE-Advanced

3.1 LTE -Advanced Patent Analysis LTE 3GPP’s LTE-Advanced is one of candidates for ITU-R's (International Telecommunication Union – Radio Communication) 4G mobile communication (IMT-Advanced) standards. The IMT-Advanced standards establishment is scheduled to be early 2011 through the expert evaluation process. To find the key IPR holders for the LTE-Advanced, a keyword search of the global patent data bases (USPTO, EPO, and WIPO (PCT)) has been performed. As of March 29 2010, the key IPR holders and their IPR share for the LTE-Advanced (total of 260 patent applications) are as follows: 1. Patent Landscape by Assignee's Country USA (133, 55%), S. Korea (37, 15%), Finland (20, 8%), Sweden (16, 7%), Canada (7, 3%), and China (7, 3%)

3.1 LTE -Advanced Patent Analysis -2 2. Patent Landscape by Assignee Qualcomm (101, 48%), LG (33, 16%), Ericsson (17, 8%), NSN (13, 6%), AT&T Mobility (12, 6%), and Nokia (9, 4%) 3. Patent Landscape by Technology Relay technology for improving cell coverage and/or user throughput (96), SU-MIMO for improving spectrum usage efficiency (18), and Carrier Aggregation for flexible radio resource allocation (14) Ref. Figure 3.1-1, 3.1-2, 3.1-3, and 3.1-4

Fig. 3.1-1 LTE-Advanced global patent landscape by patent office

Fig. 3.1-2 LTE-Advanced global patent landscape by assignee’s country

Fig. 3.1-3 LTE-Advanced global patent landscape by assignee

Fig. 3.1-4 LTE-Advanced global patent landscape by technology

3.2 Mobile Heterogeneous Network Patent Landscape Mobile Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) is a key technology for 4G mobile implementation. The mobile HetNet is under standardization by 3GPP as a part of LTE-advanced standards. 3GPP’s LTE-Advanced is one of candidates for ITU-R's (International Telecommunication Union – Radio Communication) 4G mobile communication (IMT-Advanced) standards. The IMT-Advanced standards establishment is scheduled to be early 2011 through the expert evaluation process. To find the key IPR holders for the mobile HetNet, a keyword search of the global patent data bases (USPTO, EPO, JPO, and WIPO (PCT)) has been performed. As of March 31 2010, the key IPR holders and their IPR share for the mobile HetNet (total of 192 published and issued patent applications) are as follows: Samsung (16, 15%), LG (13, 12%), Matsushita Electric (9, 8%), NSN (8, 7%), NTT DoCoMo (7, 6%), Huawei (6, 6%), Qualcomm (6, 6%), Toshiba (6, 6%), Broadcom (5, 5%), Alcatel-Lucent (4, 4%), ETRI (4, 4%), Nokia (4, 4%), Ericsson (3, 3%), and Motorola (3, 3%). (Ref. Figure 3.2)

Fig. 3.2 Mobile h eterogeneous network patent landscape

3.3 Cognitive Radio Patent Landscape Cognitive Radio is an emerging technology for intelligent wireless communications. Cognitive Radio is able to dynamically adapt to radio environment to maximize the flexible utilization of the limited spectrum resources. To find the key IPR holders for the Cognitive Radio, a keyword search of the global patent data bases (USPTO, EPO, JPO, and WIPO (PCT)) has been performed. As of March 31 2010, the key IPR holders and their IPR share for the Cognitive Radio (total of 360 published and issued patent applications) are as follows: Motorola (49, 14%), Samsung (49, 14%), Qualcomm (28, 8%), Nokia (27, 8%), Philips (19, 5%), ETRI (15, 4%), Toshiba (14, 4%), MS (13, 4%), HONG KONG UST (12, 3%), and STMicroelectronics (11, 3%). Ref. Figure 3.3

Fig. 3.3 Cognitive radio patent landscape

IV. Mobile WiMAX

4.1 New Mobile WiMAX Services in S. Korea According to the KCC (Korea Communications Commission), there will be a new mobile WiMAX (Korean brand name WIBRO) service provider in addition to the current operators, KT and SK Telecom. The new mobile WiMAX operator will be about 1B US$ initial capital MNO consortium consisting of MVNO shareholders. KCC is planning a new frequency allocation (2.3 GHz or 2.5 GHz with 10 MHz bandwidth) in early 2010 for the start of nation-wide full commercial services in 2011. The new All-IP based mobile WiMAX network is expected to provide the voice (mVoIP) as well as the broadband data services in a truly fixed-mobile and voice-data convergence environment for each MVNO’s customized services such as m-learning, m-logistics, and m-healthcare etc.

V. Intellectual Property

5.1 Nortel's LTE Patents Valuation Nortel's patent portfolio for LTE baseband products (OFDM/MIMO Modem and Channel Coder) in the lists of patents declared essential to LTE appear at the ETSI IPR Online shows that there are 17 issued patents and 14 published patent applications in the United States as of January 31, 2010. Among LTE patent licensing contenders for the US LTE baseband product market, Nortel's IPR share was about 10 %. To evaluate the essentiality of Nortel's LTE patents for OFDM/MIMO standards, patent disclosures for each essential patent candidate are compared to the technical specifications for LTE OFDM/MIMO standards. Only 11 out of 31 patents are evaluated as strong candidates for LTE essential patent. Assuming a licensing share of 10% for $2 billion global end-user LTE device silicon market according to market research firm In-Stat and 10 years of licensing time, the value of the Nortel's LTE patent portfolio is roughly estimated to be about $0.4 billion for 2% royalty rate.

5.2 NPEs (Patent Trolls) in Mobile Telecommunications NPE (non-practicing entity) is a patent owner who does not manufacture or use the patented invention, but rather than abandoning the right to exclude, an NPE seeks to enforce its right through the negotiation of licenses and litigation. IPRs and litigations involved by NPEs in mobile telecommunications are analized for US issued patents using Innography. As of Oct. 30 2009, NPEs hold 907 patent families (4% of total patents) and are involved in 129 lawsuits (13% of total patent litigations). Ref. Figure 5.2

Fig. 5.2 NPEs in mobile telecommunications

5.3 Invention Capital in S. Korea Korea Institute of Advancement of Technology (KIAT) recently announced the RFP for the strategic promotion of the first invention capital in S. Korea. The invention capital was first proposed by Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) last year following the model of IV (Intellectual Ventures). Base on $5 M seed funding from Korean government, the invention capital is going to raise the fund at the level of $0.5 B in 5 years. Currently, KITA is playing a role as the IP management organization for the invention capital, and is operating Twitter site ‘ip_capital' (twitter.com/ip_capital) for the promotion of the invention capital.

VI. New Opportunities in Korea’s Testing Market

6.1 Testing Market for Emerging Technologies in IT & Telecom Dominant Design is the key technological designs that become a standard in the market place. S. Korea is the best place for testing commercial potentials of newly developed innovative technologies in IT and Telecom. Once a new technology is successful in S. Korea’s testing market, it could become a global dominant design such as in the case of Qualcomm’s CDMA technology.

6.2 Commercialization as Dominant Design Strategy Commercialization as Dominant Design Strategy is a strategic way to make your innovative technology as a dominant design by forming a business ecosystem. TechIPm, LLC provides the strategy and business development consulting services by launching your technology prototype in S. Korea’s testing market based on more than 10 years business experiences in S. Korea.

6.3 National Strategy for 4G & Beyond 4G Mobile Innovation Korea Communications Commission" (KCC: http://eng.kcc.go.kr/user/ehpMain.do ) announced a press release that the first priority for S. Korea's national strategy in the global wireless telecommunication innovation competitions is to develop integrated standardization of 4G mobile technology such as Mobile WiMAX-Evolution, LTE-Advanced, and IMT-Advanced. KCC also set up a strategic support plan for Beyond IMT-Advanced essential technology development and IPR for the standard technology. KCC's 4G & Beyond 4G Mobile Innovation plan is a part of S. Korea's strategic policy for next generation wireless telecommunication innovation, in which 1.5 billion US dollars will be invested until 2013. As a part of the KCC's strategic efforts, an online site ( http://www.spectrum.or.kr/ ) for supporting the implementation of flexible spectrum policy will be launched.

6.4 National Strategy for Green IT Innovation S. Korea's "Green Growth Committee"( http://www.greengrowth.go.kr/ ) said that the first priority for S. Korea's national strategy in the global green IT innovation competitions is to develop green IT technologies targeting the international standards from the start. According to the green growth committee's strategic planning, the S. Korean government will invest 2 billion US dollars annually until 2012 for green technology research and development (R&D). As a part of the green growth committee's strategic efforts, a task force for the public-private collaborations will be launched for the development of international green IT standards and their IPR (essential patents).

6.5 M2M: S. Korean Telco’s New Strategic Options S. Korea’s major telecom service providers – SKT and KT – selected M2M as a new strategic business option for the next generation profit center: SK Telecom formed a new business division, ‘IPE (Industry Productivity Enhancement)’ center, for the development of new M2M innovative technologies and providing M2M based B2B services. SKT aims $20 B market creation based on M2M services for conventional industry’s productivity enhancement. S. Korea’s largest Telco, KT, also plan to provide M2M based B2B services using 3G mobile and Mobile WiMAX networks. The KT's M2M services are also targeting several newly developing green businesses such as smart grids and environment monitoring services. In parallel with the private sector’s efforts, Korean government (KCC) are going to launch several trial projects by providing M2M test-bed platform for public-private collaborations. KCC also plan to assign a unique IP address for each individual M2M devices to form a ‘network of things’.

6.6 Songdo u-City: Global IT Innovation Hub Songdo u-City is a new city in Incheon, S. Korea for creating innovative living environment for international business (NY Times: Korea's High-Tech Utopia, Where Everything Is Observed: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/05/technology/techspecial/05oconnell.html?_r=2&ei=5070&en=f49e6ccfdeea3832&ex=1137128400&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1136955721-1KkHc2eYEqMOALzXR5JEfw ) Recently the Songdo u-City got a media attention due to its hosting of new global IT innovation centers: Cisco is going to invest $2 billion dollars over the next five years starting from 2010 for the development of ‘Smart Connected Communities solutions’ for the u-City. GE plans to establish a global IT-health R & D center in Songdo u-City. GE will invest $42 million for the next five years for the development of state-of-the-art healthcare IT solutions.

6.7 Future Network 2020 Forum Korea’s main institutes for ICT (Information & Communication Technology) R&D and policy - Electronics & Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), and National Information Society Agency (NIA) recently opened the 'future network 2020 forum (FN 2020)’ for the promotion of S. Korea’s global leadership in future ICT innovations. The FN 2020 forum will provide visionary strategy and supporting government policy for the development of innovative network infrastructure and related service models for the future information society: 4G and beyond 4G mobile network technologies, standardization in fixed-mobile convergence networks, policy and technologies for secure network environment, open network architecture for network neutrality implementation, and testing platform for the new service models development in emerging ICT markets.

6.8 3D Industry Supporting Center in S. Korea Korea Electronics Association (KEA) recently announced the establishment of the supporting center for 3D industry in S. Korea. As the James Cameron's Avatar Movie triggered the worldwide interested in 3D multimedia entertainment, global consumer electronics giants, Samsung, Sony, and LG, expressed their introduction of 3D TV and intension of aggressive investment in R&D for 3D related technologies. KEA’s 3D Industry Supporting Center aimed at the promotion of 3D industry in S. Korea in parallel with the global trends in 3D consumer electronics market. The 3D center is expected to play a key role in the development of innovative 3D technologies, global standardization of 3D technologies, and operation of a collaborative body for intellectual property related issues.

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

Smartphone & 4G Mobile Trends & Issues

by Alex Lee on Apr 18, 2010

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