Well, they DO have one patent pending perhaps.
This is one of the better write ups on the first few QCOM patents I have seen. Of course there are a few more patents since then. Gee, most of these seem to cover the air link ;-)
Smips follow.
Patently Obvious March 9, 2001
m-cam.com
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Qualcomm's Early U.S. Patents related to CDMA
4,901,307 Spread spectrum multiple access communication system using satellite or terrestrial repeaters
filed 10/17/86
issued 2/13/90
5,103,459 System and method for generating signal waveforms in a CDMA cellular telephone system
filed 6/25/90
issued 4/7/92
5,101,501 Method and system for providing a soft handoff in communications in a CDMA cellular telephone system
filed 11/7/89
issued 3/31/92
5,109,390 Diversity receiver in a CDMA cellular telephone system
filed 11/7/89
issued 4/28/92
5,056,109 Method and apparatus for controlling transmission power in a CDMA cellular mobile telephone system
filed 11/7/89
issued 10/8/91
Beginning with its seminal patent in 1986, Qualcomm, Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) has been building a formidable patent portfolio in wireless technology. As presented in its recent Analyst Meeting, the company has more than 1,532 issued or pending CDMA-related patents in the United States, with an ongoing commitment to protecting its intellectual property rights across the world. The field of mobile wireless communications is quite broad, with many players offering a wide variety of services, products, and technology. The industry technology innovators, such as Qualcomm and InterDigital (Nasdaq: IDCC) have relied heavily on intellectual property rights for creating new products, gaining market share, and obtaining licensing revenues. Qualcomm has established itself as a leader in the development of one form of wireless communication, namely Code Division Multiple Access or CDMA. Qualcomm has enjoyed extensive market power as a result of technology development and patent filing that pre-dated the efforts of important wireless standards-setting activity.
To succeed in the telecom industry, companies must be aware of the efforts of the various industry standards-setting organizations. Common standards and protocols in wireless communication, especially in mobile wireless communication, are essential for such things as managing user subscription growth, maintaining backward compatibility, and defining service quality standards. In 1993, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) adopted CDMA as a North American standard for wireless communication. Integration of Qualcomm's patented technology into this industry standard has contributed much to the company's leadership in wireless CDMA technology.
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Wideband CDMA can be classified as network asynchronous (WCDMA) or network synchronous (cdma2000). Both technologies are designed to comply with the IMT-2000 performance criteria, yet each operates with slightly different parameters. The main differences are in the chip rate, the downlink channel structure, and of course, network synchronization. Both employ the new nominal bandwidth of 5 Mhz that is necessary to obtain the IMT-2000 data transmission rate of 2 Mbps (under certain conditions). In comparison, Qualcomm's earlier narrowband CDMA technology operated at a nominal bandwidth of 1.25 Mhz. WCDMA and cdma2000 rely on the use of code division multiple access (CDMA) methods to allocate and use portions of the radio spectrum. Other fundamental spectrum allocation methods include TDMA and the basic FDMA or Frequency Division Multiple Access. Qualcomm, along with numerous other telecom companies, have submitted CDMA-related patents to ITU for consideration in the development of the new wideband CDMA 3G standards. In its recent Analyst Meeting, Qualcomm asserted that its patent portfolio consists of "essential patents for all proposed 3G CDMA standards." However, many other companies also claim to have patents that are "essential" to the implementation of WCDMA. What is the truth behind these claims? Does Qualcomm possess the intellectual property strength in wideband CDMA that they assert?
On October 17, 1986, Qualcomm filed for its seminal U.S. patent and three years and four months later, on February 13, 1990, the company was issued U.S. Patent No. 4,901,307 entitled, "Spread spectrum multiple access communication system using satellite or terrestrial repeaters". This patent describes the fundamental principles for creating a wireless CDMA communication system and claims much of the necessary technology required to make it work. Since 1990, over 350 other patents (81 Qualcomm patents) have referenced the '307 patent. This patent enjoys one of the earliest filing dates among modern wireless communication patents. This patent has been analyzed extensively by Qualcomm's competition and more recently by the Japanese patent office. The JPO affirmed the patent's claims. MoCAM has identified several un-cited prior art patents that contain some similarity to '307, such as U.S. Patent No. 4,301,530 issued on November 17, 1981 to the U.S. Army. However, none of the patents identified by MoCAM are sufficiently similar to '307 to weaken the patent's essential claims in any significant manner. The '307 patent will not expire for another 5 years and 11 months. Some of the elements used in WCDMA and cdma2000 that are claimed by '307 include:
From Claim 1 the ability to detect and control power consumption by the user:
activity detection means for measuring signal activity levels for said information signals relative to a no activity level over a predetermined sampling time and for providing an activity signal corresponding to measured activity; and power control means coupled to said means for communicating for adjusting a transmission power duty cycle for said code-division-spread-spectrum communication signals in response to changes in said activity signal.
From Claim 2 the essential orthogonal spreading functions for CDMA are claimed:
chip generation means for generating a plurality of quasi-orthogonal spreading functions; code selection means for assigning one of said spreading functions to a user;
From Claim 2 the essential CDMA transmitters, receivers and repeaters are claimed:
a plurality of mobile user terminals capable of transmitting and receiving said code-division-spread-spectrum communication signals, each of said user terminals comprising:
transmission means for generating a code-division-spread-spectrum communication signal in response to an input information signal according to an assigned spreading function; receiver means for generating an output information signal by processing a received code-division-spread-spectrum communication signal according to said assigned spreading function; and at least one omni-directional antenna coupled to said transmission means and said receiver means; and at least one repeater means for receiving code-division-spread-spectrum communication signals from said plurality of user terminals and for translating said code-division-spread-spectrum communication signals to form suitable for transfer to an intended recipient user.
Numerous innovations and improvements have sprung from the '307 patent. Over 50 different patent assignees and 350 different patents have cited '307, with Motorola, Omnipoint, InterDigital, Ericsson, Nokia and Qualcomm holding the largest number of subsequent art patents citing '307. The volume of citations from subsequent art is both an indicator of the importance or strength of the patent and its opportunities for licensing revenue. Naturally, older patents tend to have more citations, but in this case, over half of the patents citing '307 were issued in the last 3 to 4 years- a very good sign. However, even though the '307 patent was an important foundation patent for CDMA communication systems, additional innovations were required to make CDMA a reality. MoCAM analyzed several of the earliest and most important Qualcomm CDMA patents to determine their strength and applicability to the wideband CDMA technologies. The four additional patents analyzed are U.S. Patent Nos. 5,103,459; 5,101,501; 5,109,390; and 5,056,109 all assigned to Qualcomm and issued between 1991 and 1992. Each of these patents was examined for prior, concurrent, and subsequent art concerns using MoCAM DOORS™ commercially available patent analysis software. No significant prior or concurrent art problems were identified for these patents. In fact, Qualcomm's 5,103,459 patent, entitled "System and method for generating signal waveforms in a CDMA cellular telephone system" has endured a recent USPTO reexamination (Reexamination Certificate issued on July 6, 1999). The certificate affirmed most of the original patent claim language and the USPTO granted 19 new claims. In terms of subsequent art, the analysis revealed that the four additional patents exhibit a similar level of citation volume and frequency to the '307 patent. These results are presented in Table 1.
U.S. Patent 5,103,459- System and method for generating signal waveforms in a CDMA cellular telephone system
The patent has claimed, among other things, a system for modulation using "wideband orthogonal and pseudorandom (PN) noise processing" elements.
From Claim 4 the use of orthogonal Walsh functions is claimed:
A spread spectrum modulator…[where], said modulator including wideband orthogonal and pseudorandom noise (PN) processing, comprising: orthogonal function generator means for generating a preselected Walsh function at a base station; first combiner means for receiving and combining said user information signal…
The patent goes on to claim the CDMA transmission system that uses the orthogonal functions. Both WCDMA and cdma2000 use orthogonal sequences during the uplink and downlink transmissions.
U.S. Patent 5,101,501- Method and system for providing a soft handoff in communications in a CDMA cellular telephone system
One of the most important elements in any cellular radio communications system is the "handoff" or "handover" of a mobile user when that user moves from one cell to the next. WCDMA and cdma2000 utilize the two common types of handover, namely "soft handover" and "interfrequency handover". The '501 patent claims much of the necessary technology in the soft handover process.
From Claim 1 the soft handoff is claimed:
In a cellular telephone system in which a mobile system user and another system user communicate user information signals there between via at least one of a plurality of geographically separated cell-sites each defining a respective geographic service area, a system for directing communications between said mobile system user and said another system user via said at least one of said plurality of cell-sites as said mobile system user changes cell-site service areas, comprising:
means for, while said mobile system user is in a service area of one cell-site and communicating user information signals with said another system user via said one cell-site, determining a transition of said mobile system user from said one cell-site service area to a service area of another cell-site, and for providing a handoff request identifying said another cell-site; means responsive to said handoff request for coupling a communication of said user information signals between said mobile system user and said another system user via said another cell-site while said mobile system user and said another system user continue in communication of said user information signals via said one cell-site such that said mobile system user and said another system user concurrently communicate said user information signals through said one cell-site and said another cell-site; and means responsive to said coupling of communication of said user information signals between said mobile system user and said another system user via said another cell-site for terminating said communication of said user information signals between said mobile system user and said another system user via said one cell-site with said communication of said user information signals continuing between said mobile system user and said another system user via said another cell-site.
U.S. Patent 5,109,390- Diversity receiver in a CDMA cellular telephone system
Filed on the same day as '501, Qualcomm '390 patent claims a receiver subsystem with a searcher receiver used to help manage the coded CDMA transmissions previously discussed in the '307, '459 and '501 patents. The issues surrounding diversity receivers are complex and beyond the scope of this report. Nonetheless, the '390 patent provides important claims that enhance the operation of CDMA, WCDMA and cdma2000 systems.
From Claim 1 the basics of a spread spectrum diversity receiver are claimed:
A spread spectrum diversity receiver, comprising:
searcher means for, receiving multiple pilot signals each traveling upon a different propagation path and having a resultant time difference with respect to one another, determining signal strength of each received pilot signal and corresponding time relationship with respect to one another, and providing a searcher control signal indicative of received pilot signals of greatest signal strength and corresponding time relationship; and data receiver means for receiving spread spectrum modulated information signals each corresponding to a different one of said pilot signals, said data receiver means responsive to said searcher control signal for demodulating one of said spread spectrum modulated information signals corresponding to one of said pilot signals of greatest signal strength and for providing an output signal bearing information.
U.S. Patent 5,056,109- Method and apparatus for controlling transmission power in a CDMA cellular mobile telephone system
The '109 patent outlines a novel method for controlling the power requirements within the CDMA system. In particular, this patent claims a method for minimizing the level of power required by the mobile user (i.e. cell phone). The technology embodied in this patent provides an important, basic enhancement to WCDMA and cdma2000 systems.
From the Summary of the Invention section of the Patent, the method is described:
In a terrestrial CDMA cellular mobile telephone system it is extremely desirable to maximize the capacity in terms of the number of simultaneous telephone calls that may be handled in a given system bandwidth. System capacity can be maximized if the transmitter power of each mobile unit is controlled such that the transmitted signal arrives at the cell-site receiver at the minimal signal to noise interference ratio which allows acceptable data recovery. If a signal transmitted by a mobile unit arrives at the cell-site receiver at a power level that is too low, the bit-error-rate may be too high to permit high quality communications. On the other hand if the mobile unit transmitted signal is at a power level that is too high when received at the cell site receiver, communication with this particular mobile unit will be acceptable. However, this high power signal acts as interference to other mobile unit transmitted signals that are sharing the same channel, i.e. bandwidth. This interference may adversely affect communications with other mobile units unless the total number of communicating mobile units is reduced.
Over 1,500 different patents cited the five Qualcomm patents analyzed in this report. However, Qualcomm has done the most innovating off of these patents, especially the seminal '307 patent and the essential waveform '459 patent. In some cases, Qualcomm's subsequent patents are continuations-in-part or divisional patents to these early CDMA patents. More often, however, Qualcomm's subsequent patents build off of the earlier patents in a way that has helped the company secure the entire CDMA system.
Qualcomm has employed a classic patent strategy, namely to use early patent filings to anchor subsequent innovation and product development. And, while this innovation and development was directed to narrowband CDMA technology, at least five Qualcomm patents were identified and analyzed to show how they may specifically relate to products being developed for the new IMT-2000 WCDMA and/or cdma2000 systems. And more importantly, the patents analyzed involve far-reaching, fundamental elements of narrow and wideband CDMA technology.
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