1998 & 1999 Nostalgia: Qualcomm's 3G IP Stance and the 5 Principles
>> Qualcomm Withholds IPRs At ITU
Caron Carlson
Wireless Week
October 19, 1998
wirelessweek.com
WASHINGTON--As the International Telecommunication Union plenipotentiary meeting opened last week in Minneapolis, Qualcomm Inc. issued a pronouncement that could stymie the organization's efforts to develop a third-generation global wireless system.
While not on the official conference agenda, 3G standards were expected to bubble just beneath the surface in informal working groups throughout the four-week conference.
In a letter dated Oct. 12, Qualcomm said it holds essential intellectual property rights for several proposed 3G standards under evaluation at the ITU. The San Diego-based manufacturer said it will license its IPRs for its own technology, cdma2000, on a non-discriminatory basis. However, it will not make the same commitment for other code division multiple access-based proposals submitted by other countries.
Qualcomm told the European standard-setting body in August that it holds essential IPRs to Europe's W-CDMA proposal and would license them under ITU terms only for standards that meet a set of technical criteria for converging all CDMA-based proposals.
The ITU will not complete the process of evaluating and selecting 3G proposals unless all essential IPR holders either waive rights or commit to licensing on a non-discriminatory basis. Manufacturers have until Dec. 31 to submit notifications of essential IPRs.
"If the impasse continues and we decide not to license for W-CDMA, under the current rules of the ITU passed by unanimous consent, W-CDMA cannot become an ITU standard," said William Bolt, vice president of government relations for Qualcomm.
W-CDMA proponents disagree, however. Ericsson Inc. maintains that it can move forward with its planned evolution to W-CDMA without licensing from Qualcomm, said John Giere, vice president of public affairs for Ericsson. "At this point, we don't see any conflict. CDMA has been widely available for years ... Ericsson has been doing research on it for 10 to 15 years."
Ericsson also maintains that it has patents and/or pending patent applications that are essential to both W-CDMA and cdma2000, and it will not offer its licenses to those refusing reciprocal commitments. Because the ITU did not establish a process to test the validity of IPR claims, the dispute ultimately could end up in court. Both parties express confidence in their legal positions.
"Suffice to say we are the main essential patent holder of code division multiple access," Bolt said. "Every company making CDMA equipment has seen fit to obtain a license from us to manufacture that equipment, which I think suggests our patent position for code division multiple access is quite strong."
Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., wrote to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Oct. 9 urging her to support convergence of the CDMA-based proposals. "The United States must not tolerate Europe's use of the standards process to close the European wireless market to competition from U.S. companies and technologies," Bilbray said.
U.S. government officials so far have adhered to the historical position of supporting multiple standards and market-driven technologies. They will not go so far as to commit to remaining entirely on the sidelines of the debate, how-ever, if questions of unfair trade practices are at stake. Before leaving for the conference, FCC Chairman William Kennard reiterated his commitment to multiple standards but also emphasized the importance of a smooth evolution from 2G to 3G networks.
Vice President Al Gore, in an opening speech at the plenipotentiary, expressed the importance of allowing the competitive marketplace to decide standards, but he qualified that this only works "as long as each individual standard is designed to increase and not reduce the potential for interoperability." W-CDMA and cdma2000 are not interoperable standards.
CDMA-based 3G Proposals:
Country/Region Standard
United States cdma2000
United States W-CDMA/N. America
Europe UMTS (W-CDMA)
Japan W-CDMA
South Korea Global CDMA II
Qualcomm's Five Principles for Third Generation IMT-2000 Systems
Qualcomm Whitepaper
October, 2003
qualcomm.com
[This Link is Broken. Material expunged several years ago]
>> The wireless industry is actively addressing the evolution of technology to support third generation IMT-2000 systems, systems that will offer high burst rate packet communications in addition to high quality voice and medium rate data. Several radio technology proposals have been put forth and virtually all are based on direct sequence spread spectrum Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology. As the first in the world to develop this technology for commercial use, and, as a result, the inventor and patent holder of the core technologies enabling efficient commercial application, QUALCOMM welcomes and supports this recognition of the overwhelming advantages of CDMA over earlier technologies. The present generation of CDMA, denoted as cdmaOne®, has been standardized and is in widespread use for cellular, personal communications, and wireless local loop in many countries. CDMA is a proven technology, providing the highest voice quality, and rapidly evolving to support efficient medium rate data. Many companies including QUALCOMM are working on a multi-bandwidth evolution of cdmaOne, denoted as cdma2000® (previously called Wideband cdmaOne™). Others are working on a variation of CDMA denoted W-CDMA, using core technology from cdmaOne but with a number of different choices for parameters and technical details. QUALCOMM believes these proposals should be converged to a single, global third generation standard working equally well with both major mobile networks, GSM-MAP and TIA/EIA-41 (commonly called IS-41 or ANSI-41), for the benefit of service providers and customers worldwide.
Following are five key technical principles that QUALCOMM believes should be addressed by the wireless industry for successful global convergence of CDMA proposals to achieve the highest quality, greatest spectral efficiency and most cost effective service.
Principle #1 - A single chip rate of 3.6864 Megachips per second should be used for the 5 MHz bandwidth
A key requirement for third generation systems is the ability to support IMT-2000 services in spectrum allocations of 5 MHz x 2 (i.e., the network operator has multiples of 5 MHz allocated for the transmit channel and equal 5 MHz multiples allocated for the receive channel). This is true for the D, E, and F band Personal Communications Services (PCS) operators in the U.S. and may also be true in other countries where regulators may partition IMT-2000 spectrum into similar-sized spectrum segments or choose to phase in the allocation of new spectrum. The objective is to fit the wideband CDMA carrier within this allocation, while still allowing for the requisite guard band (a narrow bandwidth between adjacent channels which serves to reduce interference between those adjacent channels) between this carrier and any adjacent uncoordinated carrier.
Significant debate has ensued around the choice of the chip rate, which in simple terms, determines the degree of spreading for the CDMA signal. The chip rate, therefore, impacts the carrier spacing and the resultant system capacity. Standard band CDMA TIA/EIA-95 (previously called IS-95) utilizes 1.2288 Megachips per second (Mcps) as the chip rate, resulting in a bandwidth of slightly less than 1.25 MHz. For third generation systems, a chip rate of 3.6864 Mcps has been specified for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is the fact that it fits well into the 5 MHz band allocation, allowing a minimum of 250 kHz as a guard band to be provisioned on either side in order to prevent interference with any adjacent uncoordinated operators. This is not true of the 4.096 Mcps chip rate that has been specified for the competing W-CDMA proposal, which results in a guard band of 0 kHz, making it unacceptable from a spectral emissions perspective. The 3.6864 Mcps value is also 3 x 1.2288, a multiple of the current CDMA chip rate, allowing greater compatibility with the systems now being manufactured and deployed worldwide. The cdma2000 proposal allows two approaches on the forward link, a multi-carrier option and a direct-spread option. A chip rate of 3.6864 Mcps supports both these options and supports a flexible third generation overlay of today's cdmaOne (TIA/EIA-95) systems and, most importantly, equal or greater efficiency in new green field spectrum.
The grievances voiced by the North American GSM Alliance on the third generation convergence issue and their opposition to the 3.6864 Mcps chip rate stem from their desire to prevent ease of transition to third generation systems for the cdmaOne operators, and thereby avoid a competitive disadvantage for GSM operators arising from their choice of GSM technology. It is certainly true that use of CDMA in second generation, either initially or following a transition, provides a competitive advantage to use of CDMA in third generation. The power of CDMA should not be weakened in an attempt to somewhat weaken these advantages.
The analysis for the 3.6864 Mcps based wideband CDMA system permits the deployment of five wideband CDMA carriers in a 20 MHz x 2 band allocation, with a minimum guard band of 250 kHz on either side of the band. The choice of a 4.096 Mcps chip rate on the other hand allows for only four wideband CDMA carriers in the same 20 MHz allocation, with no guard band at all. In fact, there is significant concern that provisioning four carriers will overlap the edges of the 20 MHz band, potentially causing interference in the adjacent band.
In countries where cdmaOne (TIA/EIA-95) deployments exist, the operators could mix the wideband channel with the standard band 1.25 MHz channels, enabling them to provide a greater mix of differentiated voice and data services. In the 15 MHz x 2 band allocation (used in Region 2 and under consideration for new allocations in some countries), choosing 3.6864 Mcps allows the operator to fit three wideband CDMA carriers and additional standard band CDMA carriers. Choosing 4.096 Mcps yields the capability to support at most three wideband carriers.
A "compromise" chip rate, 3.84 Mcps, has also been proposed. This change from 3.6864 Mcps is driven by the advocates of competitive disadvantage, and this change would achieve their goal without providing any technical advantage. Thus, it is not a compromise. The 3.6864 Mcps chip rate has true claim for acceptance in the converged standard because it builds on the 100 million or more CDMA subscribers expected by the time IMT-2000 services are offered commercially, currently targeted for 2002.
The choice of chip rate has also been incorrectly linked by some opponents of convergence to the issue of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). This linkage is erroneous and misleading since the selection of the chip rate does not make QUALCOMM's IPR any more or less applicable. Dual chip-rate options have also been discussed to resolve the political issue of chip rate selection. A dual chip rate option unnecessarily complicates the implementation of the handset.
Conclusion: QUALCOMM urges the adoption of the 3.6864 Mcps as the single chip rate for the converged standard.
Principle # 2 - Existing cdmaOne service and signaling for ANSI-41 must be accommodated, allowing for phones both with and without SIM cards
In accordance with the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) "Family of Systems" concept, QUALCOMM believes that any true third generation standard must support both existing cdmaOne services (supported through ANSI-41) and GSM services (supported through the GSM MAP protocol) without 'interworking' (i.e., without dependence on switch-external 'hardware and software box' implementations that inadequately adapt services of cdmaOne systems to services of GSM and vice-versa). Dependence on interworking removes the responsibility of accommodating existing services of either system from the Mobile Switching Center (MSC) of the other. Current experience with such interworking implementations has generally not been positive.
For the support of cdmaOne services, this would include the IS-127 (EVRC) speech codec, IS-733 (13 kbps) speech codec, IS-707 data services, IS-637 short messaging, and IS-683 over-the-air service provisioning. Appropriate air interface signaling to support ANSI-41 features and services must be efficiently supported.
The ITU has defined a User Identity Module (UIM) function that is associated with subscriber information and authentication in the network. The need for UIM support is a functional requirement and is not tied to a specific physical implementation of the function. The UIM function should be allowed to be implemented with or without Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, also known as 'chip cards.' SIM cards have been predominantly used by GSM systems. Elsewhere, non-card based methods for subscriber management are widely in use, and new methods continue to be developed for future implementation. Neither of the two physical approaches, card-based or non-card based, should be mandated in the converged standard to the exclusion of the other. The operator should have the flexibility to choose and third generation systems should accommodate both.
Conclusion: QUALCOMM understands and fully accepts that GSM operators and manufacturers require compatibility with GSM services and GSM-MAP in the same way that cdmaOne operators and manufacturers require compatibility with cdmaOne services and ANSI-41. QUALCOMM believes that third generation standards should support both cdmaOne and GSM services and networks equally. QUALCOMM also supports the evolutionary development of new services and the convergence of cdmaOne and GSM services and networks, and recognizes that most high burst rate traffic will be destined for the Internet using internationally accepted Internet protocols.
Principle # 3 - Synchronous base station transmission of a shared, time-shifted code-division continuous pilot should be used on each forward beam
CDMA technology has successfully benefited by keeping base stations synchronized to a common time reference. The Global Positioning Satellite System (GPS) has been utilized for this purpose in cdmaOne deployments. Alternative methods for synchronization are also being investigated and some proposals have been made for use in cdma2000 systems.
The competing W-CDMA proposal stipulates asynchronous base station operation. The rationale for proposing asynchronous systems over synchronous systems has been stated to be 1) to avoid GPS based synchronization methods and 2) to overcome the alleged difficulty of providing an external synchronization source for micro base stations or pico base stations in buildings or underground subway stations. QUALCOMM has participated in discussions on the merits of synchronous versus asynchronous base station approaches. It is well known that, however implemented, synchronized operation yields better CDMA system performance with less mobile station complexity (for example, in handoff scenarios). Further, GPS is the simplest, most economical, accurate and omnipresent source of timing for synchronization and frequency maintenance. Synchronization schemes other than GPS have been proposed and can be deployed to remove any GPS related issues. However, some companies are still insisting on asynchronous operation to the exclusion of synchronous operation.
Conclusion: QUALCOMM believes that the third generation standard should be based upon synchronous operation. While there are several possible approaches for synchronous systems, the cdmaOne approach works very well and has been extensively deployed. Further adoption will maintain compatibility and minimize developmental risks, while achieving low cost.
In addition, QUALCOMM believes that Code-Division Multiplexed (CDM) pilots perform better and provide greater flexibility for cell/sector wide beams, for spot beams covering portions of cells/sectors, and for adaptive beams directed at a single mobile station, than the Time-Division-Multiplexed (TDM) pilots currently being proposed for W-CDMA. The W-CDMA proposal uses a dedicated TDM pilot per mobile station, resulting in lower system capacity and exhaustion of forward link codes utilized to support various services. The CDM approach, therefore, yields greater capacity and flexibility.
Conclusion: QUALCOMM believes that technology modifications that yield performance and cost benefits should be adopted wherever possible. Changing from CDM pilots to the W-CDMA approach of TDM pilots has thus far not demonstrated any performance or cost benefit, but to the contrary, adversely impacts capacity and flexibility. QUALCOMM advocates full public comparative testing to prove the purported advantages of this technology modification.
Principle # 4. - A variable rate speech codec should be used with efficient full, 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8-rate operation with a 20 ms frame
The variable rate vocoding scheme has been a key feature of CDMA, proven to improve system capacity and performance. This approach allows for seamless source control, which adapts the information rate of the source and efficiently uses different rates for different speech signal frames. The flexibility of the variable rate vocoder is demonstrated by the ability to support full rate, 1/2-rate, 1/4-rate and 1/8-rate operation, based on the short term phonetic character of the speech signal and on network conditions. Variable rate codecs allow signaling information to be efficiently multiplexed onto the traffic channel by reducing the codec's encoding rate to 1/2, thus incurring minimal voice quality degradation for that signaling frame. The variable rate codecs can be switched automatically to lower rate modes permitting an easy extension in range and capacity. This approach also utilizes seamless channel control of the encoding rate that allows the encoder to be scaled back to increase system capacity. Variable rate encoding has been shown to be excellent for voice storage and for packetized communication systems as well as for CDMA allowing for seamless wireless/wireline network integration.
W-CDMA is expected to use the Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) codec, which uses a degenerate and less effective method than true variable rate vocoding. The AMR transmission rates can be adapted to the channel and source conditions by using signaling, a far slower and cruder method of control. In contrast, the true variable rate codec can adapt its rate on a frame-by-frame basis without the need for signaling while incorporating the advantages of seamless channel control. This flexibility of variable rate vocoding permits the rate to be instantaneously lowered when the source contains greater redundancy, increasing capacity. Furthermore, the mobile station using variable rate vocoding can autonomously reduce its transmission rate to increase range when at the edge of coverage (such as when inside a building).
Conclusion: Variable rate vocoding schemes have been well tested in cdmaOne systems and can support the needs for the next generation systems. cdmaOne systems support multiple variable rate vocoders today, permitting flexible introduction of new improvements. QUALCOMM believes that variable rate vocoding should be a key feature/criterion for the selection of third generation technology. However, QUALCOMM supports the standardization of a variety of speech codecs that utilize this beneficial method.
The cdma2000 proposal is based on a 20 millisecond (ms) frame length parameter. QUALCOMM has significant field experience with CDMA systems and has compared the relative performance of utilizing 20 ms frames against 10 ms frames, as proposed in W-CDMA. Shorter frame lengths permit somewhat shorter end-to-end delays in the system. However, in such comparisons, users cannot perceive the reduced delays, which are still on the order of 50-70ms. On the other hand, frame lengths of 20 ms are clearly more efficient in terms of overhead, and support higher system capacity, compared to the use of the smaller frame lengths.
Principle # 5. The reverse link waveform should have low energy in the audio band due to amplitude modulation and should support enhanced-range low-rate phones.
QUALCOMM believes interference with hearing aids and other devices must be minimized. To minimize interference, the radio frequency (RF) waveform must have low- energy in the modulation components, which are in the audio band. In general, CDMA systems permit the design of air interfaces that minimize the interference into the audio band.
Conclusion: Although QUALCOMM believes that this issue has been addressed in the W-CDMA proposal, the Company stresses the importance of this consideration as future modifications are discussed.
Summary:
This white paper is intended to clarify QUALCOMM's position on the five technical principles that were communicated to some of the world's key standards bodies. As part of the process, QUALCOMM also looks forward and expects to converge the W-CDMA and cdma2000 proposals in other areas to achieve a high quality, cost effective third generation system to meet the needs of global wireless users in the 21st Century. QUALCOMM recognizes that many companies are actively working on these standards and that many valuable innovations are being introduced and should in many cases be included in the standard, after proper study and test. Intentional introduction of a competitive disadvantage must not be one of the criteria for acceptance.
QUALCOMM has an extensive CDMA patent portfolio with over 130 CDMA patents issued and approximately 400 patent applications pending in the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, China and elsewhere around the world. Prior to the adoption of the cdmaOne standard, QUALCOMM committed to license its essential patents for such standard on reasonable terms and conditions free from unfair discrimination. QUALCOMM has made good on its commitment as evidenced by the fact that QUALCOMM has licensed its essential patents for use in cdmaOne applications to more than 55 companies including nearly every major telecommunications manufacturer in North America, Europe and Asia.
QUALCOMM believes it has essential Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for W-CDMA, and it intends to license these patents on reasonable terms and conditions free from unfair discrimination for a single converged IMT-2000 standard, or, if not achieved, only for cdma2000. In addition, QUALCOMM has extended or is preparing to extend these bilateral agreements, and the Company intends to review its royalty rates within the context of the market size that will be achieved by a single converged standard.
QUALCOMM has no intention of generally licensing its essential patent portfolio for any IMT-2000 standard (such as W-CDMA) that is purposefully made incompatible with cdmaOne and ANSI-41 without providing a material benefit to the industry. <<
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Epilogue:
December 1998: The ITU Warning
Based on discussions held in November 1998 the ITU warned in no uncertain terms that any CDMA proposals under consideration would be excluded from further consideration for ITU IMT-2000 3G service, and only TDMA based proposals would be considered, if the Qualcomm IPR stalemate - the "virtual holy war" - was not resolved by the year end, by the key combatants, Ericsson and Qualcomm:
itu.int
January 1999: Operators Harmonization Group (OHG) Meets.
In 1998 the OHG (Operator Harmonization Group), an ad-hoc organization, was formed and played a major role in converging the proposed radio access CDMA systems to three modes. OHG first met in Beijing in January 1999 to discuss a harmonized Global 3G (G3G) specification framework for IMT-2000 CDMA proposals then held further meetings at Tokyo, London, and Toronto.
February 1999: The Umbrella Harmonized Solution Proposed
At the Washington DC TransAtlantic Business Dialogue's (TABD) formed in large part due to the efforts of then US Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, T-Mobile suggested the G3G compromise that would harmonize (not converge) 3 CDMA Access methods under an "umbrella."
CDG called this harmonization initiative, "convergence" and Perry LaForge later claimed here on SI that CDG "blew off" TABD. That was not to be the case.
cdg.org
As Dan Steinbock put it in Wireless Horizons:
The 3G technology umbrella would be based on 'CDMA' and cover major technologies; operators could make their own informed choices. The idea of a single standard was buried, and the concept of a single flexible standard was born.
March 1999: Ericsson Qualcomm Accord & Capitulation on 5 Principles
Clark Hare's March 25, 1999 comments on the subject:
Just for interest's sake lets look at the demands Qualcomm originally had and what they got:
1) Converged chip rate - Did not get it
2) Dual network compatibility (IS-41 and GSM MAP) - Got this
3) Synchronous basestations - Did not get this
4) Variable rate vocoder - I think they gave up on this a while ago.
5) Low energy on reverse link audio band - ??
They got very little of what they originally wanted. Essentially they sold their infrastructure division for $500M to $1B, some royalties and the hope that Ericsson will now start installing the CDMAOne or the CDMA-2000 version of the new 3g 'standard' in Europe. I would say that, given Ericsson's past history, that hope is not something that I would plan on.
Message 8520327
Perry LaForge's response to Clark:
Clarke...the harmonization of the modes is still in the works. Please do not draw premature conclusions at this point on any parameter. The key here is a single standard supporting IS41 and GSM which was being fought by ETSI and 3GPP (essentially blowing off TABD.) We will now use operators to help resolve some of the other items and have already made progress.
June 1999: OHG Harmonization Near at Hand
Participants strongly urged the Third Generation Partnership Projects (3GPPs) and Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) involved in IMT-2000 related activities, to ensure that the OHG recommendations are adopted and incorporated in their inputs to the 18th meeting of the Task Group 8/1 in Helsinki (25 October – 5 November, 1999).
itu.int
Proposed terminology:
G3G CDMA Direct Spread - for short, CDMA DS
G3G CDMA MultiCarrier - for short, CDMA MC
G3G CDMA TDD - for short, CDMA TDD
Each one of these to interface with both ANSI 41 and MAP.
3gpp.org
3gpp2.org
"Theoretically" as a result of this proposal "The Holy Wars" ended and the period of harmonization began.
November 1999: Harmonization Achieved
The Informally approved ITU IMT-2000 Radio Interface Standards (Original) are here.
itu.int
The group of radio experts on IMT-2000 (ITU-R Task Group 8/1) meeting in Helsinki from 25 October to 5 November 1999 approved a comprehensive set of terrestrial and satellite radio interface specifications for IMT-2000. These specifications incorporate the flexibility required by existing mobile operators to seamlessly evolve their pre-IMT-2000 networks towards third generation service capabilities as well as meeting the various specific needs of operators of new satellite and terrestrial systems.
The radio interfaces approved are commonly known by the following names:
* UTRA FDD (WCDMA) for IMT-DS
* cdma2000 for IMT-MC
* UTRA TDD, and TD-SCDMA for IMT-TC
* UWC-136 for IMT-SC (TDMA EDGE)
* DECT for IMT-FT
Subsequently 1xEV-DO was approved as an IMT-2000 standard under the IMT-MC umbrella.
Subsequently GSM EDGE was approved as an IMT-2000 standard under the IMT-SC umbrella.
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Related links and a Wireless Week summary are provided in the next post:
Message 18912513
- Eric - |
