Patents related to mobile devices and wireless networks have received significant industry attention as they enable mobile device manufacturers, network system vendors, and cellular providers to protect the intellectual property rights of their most valuable inventions and technological advances. Such patents are in demand for sale and licensing, and many are being litigated by operating companies and NPEs. These challenges include IPR proceedings.
The establishment of solid evidence of use (EoU) for these patents has become a paramount challenge for the IP industry. However, with the right approach, it is possible to produce EoU for mobile/wireless patents through deep technical expertise in wireless products and standards and through extensive hands-on experience in functional testing.
In his paper, Applying Testing Tools to Establish Evidence of Use for Wireless Patents, engineering and patent mining expert Scott Demarest provides an overview of wireless functional testing expertise and capabilities that help our clients and partners understand the various testing approaches we have at our disposal and how to make informed decisions for their IP programs. These include:
Functional testing toolset: In advanced cellular standards, such as LTE and HSPA, features are constantly evolving and are often optional within the standards as opposed to essential. In addition, some features may be implementation-specific in that a standard may define an end-result or requirement but not specify how the end-result or requirement is achieved. Our labs include capabilities that allow us to verify the use of standard features regardless of the type of feature, whether essential, optional, or implementation-specific.
Live network testing: A first approach in live network testing involves the use of off-the-shelf terminals which are connected, via an over the air (OTA) interface, to vendor equipment such as base transceiver stations (BTSs) that are commercially deployed in existing networks and configured by the mobile service providers operating the networks. This type of testing has its challenges and limitations. A second approach for conducting live network testing involves the use of an instrumented UE. An instrumented UE is a mobile UE with special software that enables the monitoring of baseband processor protocol behavior. The instrumented UE connects to a BTS in the field, and protocol information can be extracted from the UE.
Captive testing: Captive testing is mainly applied for testing UEs and makes use of network emulators which emulate the capabilities of a network and enable the configuration of a device with any set of features which are either mandatory or optional to standards. Captive testing offers a controllable environment with the flexibility to create many test cases which may be difficult or impossible to address in live networks.
Equipment and test case configuration considerations: Wireless test equipment can be expensive and difficult to configure and operate. Fortunately, the wireless testing industry has evolved along with the standards and cellular networks deployments, and we now have a large variety of test equipment from which to select depending on testing needs. Ocean Tomo, a part of J.S. Held, has extensive hands-on experience with test equipment for live testing, standards conformance testing, and emulators for testing various generations of cellular networks including LTE and WCDMA/HSPA and for testing WiFi and short-range networks. This experience allows us to efficiently select the best configuration that meets our clients’ needs.
Example of a testing program: In a typical situation a client may have several patents that require functional testing, and they enlist us to analyze the claims and propose a testing approach. In other situations, the client may present us with a technical challenge after having performed an in-depth analysis of the claims. In both cases we would conduct a review process and have technical discussions with the client to determine whether testing is required and, if so, the following test program is followed:
- Use case definition.
- Test configuration and test plan development.
- Test execution.
- Test analysis and reporting.
Use case definition: This is often the most critical step which determines the success and cost of the project. It starts with a detailed review of the claims to identify the critical claim element(s), which requires testing to produce the required EoU followed by development of a detailed procedure for testing. Some aspects of the procedure being developed may be validated at this point with the instrumentation intended for the test execution, as part of a test feasibility study. The procedure is documented and reviewed with the client. The effort required for test execution is identified along with any expected risks. Alternative test procedures are established in the event the initial attempt is unsuccessful.
Test configuration and test plan development: This process involves the selection of equipment, costing of custom testing modifications, and development of a detailed test plan. When the test equipment needs to be sent to a test site for live testing, the test plan includes logistics for travel and shipment of the test equipment. This stage may involve identification of the best site for testing, particularly when vendor specific BTS testing is required.
Test execution: Test execution involves measurements of signals which carry protocol messages for communication between terminals and base stations (or the emulators). The capture of signals is rather straightforward: in a live testing environment a signal is detected and recorded by the test equipment for a specified time (usually several seconds to minutes), and the measurements are stored for future analysis.
Test results analysis and reporting: Analysis of the recorded signals is performed off-line using the captured data. Our experts have written scripts which enable them to quickly and reliably sift through the terabytes of collected data (results) and identify the relevant data for analysis. The detailed results are analyzed and included in a comprehensive report. The report contains a description of the methodology used to collect and analyze the test results, a description of the test conditions so that the tests can be replicated in the future if necessary, and the test results.
To discuss this topic further or to request the full paper, please contact Scott Demarest.