MPEG LA eyes up LTE patents

Patent pool expert MPEG LA says it is making significant progress working with a group of interested companies to create a joint patent pool license for the Long Term Evolution (LTE) Standard for mobile telecommunications. It is calling for interested parties, both with patents and patent applications, to be part of the pool.
MPEG LA’s efforts, started last year, have been directed toward educating the market about the benefits of a pool license to address the patent thicket around this next generation wireless technology and assist the market with its adoption. A fight or uncertainty over the patent situation would dramatically slow the adoption of the the technology, as happened with high definition video and the AVC patents.
“The market is ready, and we are proud that industry leading companies have invited us to facilitate creation of an LTE pool license,” said MPEG LA President and CEO Larry Horn.

“Given the history of telecommunications patent pools, MPEG LA has taken the time to consult directly with mobile network operators, network equipment manufacturers and mobile handset companies regarding the benefits of a patent pool for LTE, and they have encouraged MPEG LA to move forward with this effort. Next generation wireless technology, with its multifunctional capabilities, begs for a patent pool licensing alternative to make its full potential available to consumers worldwide, and MPEG LA’s success in creating large pool licenses uniquely positions us to achieve it.”

MPEG LA would like as many essential patent holders as possible to be included in this process. Therefore, MPEG LA invites any party that believes it has patents that are essential to the LTE Standard to submit them by June 19, 2009 for evaluation of their essentiality by MPEG LA’s patent evaluators in order to participate in the creation of a joint LTE patent license.
Although only issued patents will be included in the license, in order to participate in the license development process, patent applications with claims that their owners believe are essential to the LTE Standard and likely to issue in a patent also may be submitted.
A key point is that, although the process will begin with LTE, it may be expanded at a later stage to provide coverage for backward compatibility with other mobile
telecommunications technologies.
http://www.mpegla.com/pid/lte.

New way to track GPS phones without contract

RF Solutions in Lewes, UK, has developed a system to allow users to track the location of the GPS/GSM handset supplied from a home or office PC without a contract with pay-as-you-go mobile and Google Internet maps
The Shadow Tracker system is installed on a base PC and polls the handset by text message. It receives the returned SMS from the handset containing GPS co-ordinates, and plots these on the desktop using free-to-access Internet-based maps. Users can also take advantage of features such as breadcrumb/time-lapse tracking and an adjustable geo-fence. The geo-fence automatically generates a warning if the handset is carried beyond user-determined limits.
The handset can store up to four preset telephone numbers, and can be used to make voice calls as well as providing GPS location data via SMS when polled. It also has a touch-activated SOS feature, which sends an emergency signal and GPS position to each of the preset numbers in sequence.
Two SIM cards are provided, for the tracker and the base station, and the system can be expanded to monitor multiple tracker units. The RF Solutions Shadow Tracker system is suitable for vehicle or personal tracking, and allows small businesses or domestic users to implement cost-effective safety and security systems. These may include alarms for lone workers, fleet tracking, valuables tracking, personal tracking, or emergency alarm systems.
RF Solutions supplies a wide range of Radio Telemetry modules with a range from a few metres to 20km. The standard range of products have been designed to provide the user with an "off the shelf" "plug-in" Radio system. Systems range from pocket keyfob to an industrial IP65 rated enclosure, with receivers ranging from a miniaturised hybrid components to compete enclosed systems with mains power supply. The GSM telemetry system can be situated in anywhere in Europe, and operated by an SMS message from a mobile phone.

ST-Ericsson takes on Wolfson in DACs

The newly formed joint venture ST-Ericsson has launched its first product, a igh-quality audio digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) that aims to take on devices from Wolfson Microelectronics in the mobile music market.
The STw5211 combines ST-Ericsson’s Playback Time Extender (PTE) processing technology with 102dB signal-to-noise ratio through the whole audio path, allowing OEMs to build music phones with high audio quality and double today’s typical 10-hour playback time and comes in a 2.6mm x 2.6mm wafer-level chip scale package (WLCSP). By incorporating the power management circuitry, the device can be directly connected to the battery with no need for external voltage regulators. Additionally, the headset amplifier is of “true ground” type and does not need coupling capacitors.
“STw5211 was developed to address increasing demand for mobile music handsets with both higher audio quality and longer playback time,” said Monica de Virgiliis, Vice President at the Wireless Multimedia Group at ST-Ericsson. “Typically, power consumption increases as features are enhanced and quality improved; however, STw5211 with PTE technology allows music to be played autonomously while the rest of the platform is switched into a power-saving state. This results in a substantial increase in battery life without any compromise in audio quality for the consumer.”
Volume production of the STw5211, built in 130nm, is planned for August 2009, with samples available in April.
Key features:

· 102dB SNR audio quality

· Integrated PTE technology for extended playback

· 66dB THD

· 8 to 192kHz sample rate conversion

· 32kHz RTC clock-only operation

· System clock generator

· Ultra-small 2.6 x 2.6mm footprint, requiring few external components

Nokia launches N97 'Iphone killer'

The Nokia N97 has been touted as the company's response to the Apple iPhone, with tilting touch display, QWERTY keyboard and personalized home screen. But it marks the maturation of the portable computer format with a 3.5" touch display and full QWERTY keyboard.

"From the desktop to the laptop and now to your pocket, the Nokia N97 is the most powerful, multi-sensory mobile computer in existence," said Jonas Geust, Vice President, heading Nokia Nseries. "Together with the Ovi services announced today, the Nokia N97 mobile computer adjusts to the world around us, helping stay connected to the people and things that matter most. With the Nokia N97, Nseries leads the charge in helping to transform the Internet into your Internet".
Nokia likes to think it is introducing the idea of 'social location' by using the assisted GPS and an electronic compass. While this is intended to make it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their 'status' and share their 'social location' as well as related pictures or videos, it is more important for a wide ragne of location aware applications.
The N97 supports up to 48 GB of storage, including 32 GB of on-board memory, expandable with a 16 GB microSD card and a 5-Megapixel camera with high-quality Carl Zeiss optics, 16:9 and DVD quality video capture, and support for services like Share on Ovi for immediate sharing over HSDPA and WLAN.
It is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 at an estimated retail price of EUR 550 before taxes or subsidies.
Review from Nokia World this week: