ADC Telecommunications Strikes a 4G IPR Position

ARTICLE

ADC Telecommunications Strikes a 4G IPR Position

By Robert Syputa, Senior Analyst
Contact the author at robert@maravedis-bwa.com

A common belief is that IPR essential to WiMAX and LTE stems from leading 3G companies, or those involved in the early development of Next Generation, NG systems and standards. Work done outside of wireless efforts is considered less important because it has not dealt with the unique objectives and designs. However, OFDM technology was first developed for use in DSL, fiber optic and cable, and DVB wireless. The basic rights of patents, and determination of essentiality, are founded on the invention of specific methods used in the standards, not by where those methods come from. Standards groups can foster common goals and an open, fair and reasonable regimen for IPR licensing, but this alone does not create basic rights under patent law. Standards groups, patent pools, and consensus of legal precedent do mitigate, but they do not displace these fundamental rights.

It is possible for patents to be so fundamental that they become broadly applicable to multiple standards, regardless of the participation of the holder in a specific standard process. For example, members of 3GPP or other standards groups have demonstrated the core patents held by Qualcomm to apply broadly to CDMA and WCDMA systems, regardless of their opposition.

ADC Telecommunications issued a press release on October 27, 2008, stating that¹:

“In the early 1990s, ADC launched an ambitious R&D effort to break into the broadband data transport market. With an investment of $250 million and 200 engineers, ADC invented and brought to market synchronized OFDMA, an industry-first synchronized multipoint-to-point system leveraging the advantages of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with sub-channelization in an upstream channel to achieve dramatic improvements in transmission efficiency.”

Starting in 1995, ADC had filed patents for OFDM based multicarrier hybrid fiber-coaxial distributed access systems, designed to overcome bandwidth limitations, improve efficiency and support large numbers of users. Although the transport media described in the early patents was hybrid fiber optic and coaxial cable, the multicarrier method ADC developed was designed to overcome issues with tone allocation, synchronization of signals for round-trip delays, multiple frame alignment, contention-based bandwidth requests, adaptive error correction, and other methods that are now requirements for both WiMAX and LTE.

The company says that they will seek fair and reasonable value for their patents, including WiMAX, LTE, and leveraging of their early work into continued development of next generation wireless and hybrid communications systems.

Few claims to substantial IPR positions go unchallenged, particularly when developed outside of the major standards development groups. From our study of the patents and context of ADC’s commercial system development, and field of existing patents and other IPR, we think that ADC has a significant claim to having developed an IPR position in next generation OFDMA wireless and converged communications. However, this also shows the broad diversity and longevity of development of OFDM IPR used in converging fields of communications. Broad trends evolution to common standards and product implementation, and growing need for communications to become a ‘vehicle’ for modern society and the commercial interests of IPR stake holders does strive for common ground that “lays down of arms” for potential conflicts. In addition, an influx of smart antenna, processor, memory, graphics and other technologies are needed to comprise the unified realm of yet evolving 4G. This implodes technologies from converging industry sectors.

ADC’s development of multiple-access OFDM technology that is applicable to the wireless field highlights important aspects of next generation communications developments:

Communications technologies are truly converging, including across signaling media.
The diversity of technology development is broader than many have considered.
The regimentation of IPR used in next generation systems must consider IPR developed in other fields of communications, including computing and networking, graphics, entertainment electronics, and other communications methods. The collaboration between fiber optic and cable systems suppliers and operators is required to deliver full benefits of next generation communications; this increasingly includes overlap in IPR.

Proponents of WiMAX, along with several firms who more strongly support LTE and other standards initiatives, concur that intellectual property rights for next generation, NG/4G IPR are more developed and held more diversely than for 2G/3G IPR. IPR diversity is due to a number of factors including the long gestation of technologies, widespread use in other communications transport including DSL, cable and fiber optic, DVB, UWB, and military-aerospace applications. Diversity encourages communications to become more universally adopted across an array of applications and price points.

Maravedis has published research that evaluates patents of leading companies in order to analyze the ongoing development of next generation wireless and unified communications systems and devices. The results of our research are included in “WiMAX/LTE IPR and Market Impact Report, 2008” available at www.maravedis-bwa.com.

The industry has recently witnessed the forging of common goals for communications development that embrace hybrid wireless, fiber optic, and wired/cable systems, in pursuit of the Holy Grail of unified communications. What’s more, business models are shifting to more fully embrace convergence within industries. We are dramatically closer to realizing the technical objectives needed to reach that lofty aspiration. Among the methods is the use of OFDM as a multiple communications media.

¹ ADC-Developed Technology Foundational to Emerging 4G Networks, October 27, 2008.

For more information you can contact the author. robert@maravedis-bwa.com