Thanks for posting this earlier, P.
EARLY LEARNING
As third generation services move from idea to reality, different companies are adopting different approaches to the new market. One in particular is making use of skills and IPR developed during a long history of innovation in both TDMA and CDMA.
By Ian Channing
US-based technology provider, InterDigital can claim, with some justification, to have been preparing for 3G, albeit unconsciously, longer than anyone else. Its pioneering work in TDMA has direct relevance to third generation, while its development work on proprietary CDMA technology for broadband wireless local loop is directly applicable to WCDMA.
InterDigital was founded in 1972 by a Wall Street investor who was irritated about not being able to wheel and deal when he was on the beach. His goal was to develop a shirt pocket digital mobile phone an idea that came almost ten years before the first cellular networks and 20 years before digital cellular.
From the beginning InterDigital focused its efforts on TDMA, in which it now holds some 500 patents around the world. These technological skills were initially directed towards the wireless local loop market; the company's
UltraPhone WLL system has been deployed in more than 20 countries worldwide. InterDigital also played a major role in the development of the US TDMA IS-54/136 standard.
Recognizing early on that the demand in the WLL market would inevitably move towards higher bandwidth services, in 1994 InterDigital began developing a proprietary broadband WLL technology based on CDMA, partnering with a number of global players including Siemens, Samsung and Alcatel in the development of what was called BCDMA. However, despite developing and even field testing a BCDMA WLL solution, InterDigital decided that the potential market was not big enough to justify commercial production.
The development process was, however, completed and, in cooperation with Texas Instruments, a million gate ASIC BCDMA chip was produced. The chip met all specified criteria and can be supplied to any vendor looking to develop a broadband WLL product.
Currently, however, the company is focusing much of its efforts on a WCDMA development project which it is carrying out for Nokia. The project involves the development of TDD intellectual property blocks and, ultimately, the delivery of a virtual ASIC from which Nokia can manufacture its own chips for use in 3G handsets and base stations. Interestingly, and contrary to normal practice, InterDigital will retain the IPR on the Nokia development and will be free both to licence this to other vendors and to produce products of its own.
Lengthy process
InterDigital's technology transfer methodology is also untypical. Traditionally, when companies outsource a development project, the technology developer is given a specification and sent away to complete the project. The deliverable is usually a prototype chip which the client then has to test exhaustively to ensure that it meets the original specification. If it does not, then a lengthy and expensive iterative process ensues until the design is fully debugged.
The InterDigital methodology uses testing and simulation based on sophisticated tools to verify the design at every stage of development. John Kaewell, InterDigital's senior vice president in charge of advanced product development, explains the concept of executable specification which underlies the company's technology transfer methodology: "Executable specification is a tool that allows us to look at complete system-level design and do it in a format which can be verified before we actually go into a foundry and produce the first prototypes."
This methodology is ideal for first tier equipment manufacturers who want to outsource specialised development work as well as for second and third tier vendors who need a system on a chip to enable them to rapidly enter the 3G market.
In the past, InterDigital's financial performance has been somewhat of a roller-coaster ride. Now, however, the company is forecasting a third successive year in the black. The main factor in this turnaround, and one of the major elements in InterDigital's long term business plan, is its success in licensing its intellectual property.
From the outset InterDigital focused on developing TDMA technology. It also spent money on filing patents on its inventions both in the US and around the world, and now has over 60 US patents (and hundreds of foreign counterparts) relating to the TDMA air interface. Many of the patents have been deemed essential which means that InterDigital can license its IPR to any manufacturer wishing to make TDMA products.
The company's patent licensing program has been a considerable success, earning it around $250 million over the past seven years. There are currently 21 licensees for InterDigital technology including AT&T, Siemens, Samsung, Bosch, Hughes, Nokia and a number of Japanese companies such as Toshiba, Panasonic, NEC and Sharp.
InterDigital's involvement in CDMA and WCDMA goes back to the 1980s when it was involved in the work of Dr. Donald Schilling, a pioneer in the development of these technologies. Dr. Schilling worked at SCS Mobilcom and in 1992 InterDigital acquired this company and its intellectual property. Through this acquisition, and through its development work on BCDMA, InterDigital has created a portfolio of patents which are essential to 3G WCDMA technology. Currently the licensees for InterDigital's BCDMA and CDMA IPR are Siemens, Nokia, Samsung, Alcatel and Qualcomm, but the company expects many more to follow.
"We have essential patents in all areas of third generation on both the CDMA and TDMA sides so we are very well positioned for third generation. Many of InterDigital's patents will be either essential or commercially important as specific 3G standards are adopted and imple-mented. Almost 100 of InterDigital's CDMA patents are either issued or applications have been filed in key markets around the world," says Bill Merritt, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at InterDigital.
Following its close involvement in developing TDMA in the late 1980s, InterDigital drew back from standardi-sation work, concentrating its efforts on developing its technology and licensing its patent portfolio. In 1997, realizing that its IPR was of direct relevance to 3G technology, the company again became active in the standardization arena. InterDigital is now an active participant in the work of ITU-R, 3GPP, ETSI, the US groups ANSI, T1P1 and IEEE, as well as Japan's ARIB. The company has made many significant contributions to the standardization of 3G based on its TDMA and CDMA work.
This commitment to standards work is important to InterDigital as the company can put forward contributions based on its IPR which, if adopted, will enable it to generate revenue from licensing in the future. InterDigital's senior vice president, standards, Brian Kiernan explains the rationale behind its standards work: "We are actively working with other players in coming
up with the standards and providing answers to different technical questions. The fact that we may generate IPR in the process is really secondary because, from the other player's viewpoint, they just want to get to an answer and we help them to generate that answer."
The company is also active in a number of standards committees involved in fixed wireless access. Kiernan says that it is important to keep abreast of developments in other areas where business opportunities may arise, particularly areas where the company already has expertise and technology.
Building on its successful development of a BCDMA system on a chip InterDigital is now committing considerable resources to the development of a 3G system on a chip. A 3G chip will need to be enormously complex, containing the equivalent of two million gates and with digital signal processing operating at speeds in excess of 300 MIPS.
Ultimately the 3G will need to be tri-mode, supporting the GSM, TDD and FDD modes of operation. InterDigital plans to take the 3G system on a chip design all the way to silicon but will not actually manufacture devices. Instead, the company plans to partner with a semiconductor manufacturer and is currently in discussions with a number of major players.
Important
One of the major strategic decisions facing InterDigital is whether to target its 3G chip development to meet the launch of 3G services in Japan in 2001 or whether to aim for European launch in 2002/2003. The decision is important
but not critical says Rip Tilden, executive vice president, communications and strategic planning. "We are not positioning this as make or break if we are in or not in the first wave of products in Japan. The length of time over which this market is going to roll out and the number of products that are going to use this product means that we could just as comfortably make another strategic choice and skip the first 3G wave in Japan where you are talking of three-city coverage and low data rate products. Instead we could wait for the European launch and make our first product a true 3G chip offering 384kbit/s at a minimum. We could then take that product back into Japan. You could go either way and neither approach would be a failure."
InterDigital is a company in transition, moving from its historical roots towards being a technology provider for 3G, developing intellectual property which can be licensed to other 3G players or which can be used to develop system on a chip solutions in partnership with a silicon house. Rip Tilden defines the company's future ethos: "Our role is to provide creative core inventions for wireless digital communications and that is where we see our opportunity for growth."
interdigital.com |
