Profile: InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC.O)

InterDigital, Inc., incorporated in 1972, designs and develops digital wireless technologies for use in digital cellular and wireless Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802 related products. The Company participates in and contributes its technology solutions to worldwide organizations responsible for the development and approval of Standards, to which digital cellular and IEEE 802 compliant products are built, and its contributions are regularly incorporated into such Standards. The Company offers for license or sale its SlimChip family of mobile broadband modem solutions (which includes modem Internet protocol (IP) know-how, baseband integrated circuits (ICs) and Reference Platforms) to mobile device manufacturers, semiconductor companies and other equipment producers that manufacture, use and sell digital cellular products. InterDigital has built its suite of technology and offerings through independent development, joint development with other companies and selected acquisitions.

It has created a portfolio of time division multiple access (TDMA)-based patented inventions. These inventions include or relate to fundamental elements of TDMA-based systems in use around the world. Some of its TDMA inventions are the fundamental architecture of commercial Time Division/Frequency Division Multiple Access (TD/FDMA) systems; methods of synchronizing TD/FDMA systems; a approach to managing system capacity through the reassignment of online subscriber units to different time slots and/or frequencies in response to system conditions; the design of a multi-component base station, utilizing distributed intelligence, which allows for more robust performance, and initializing procedures that enable roaming.

The Company has developed and patented code division multiple access (CDMA) technology solutions. Some of its CDMA inventions include or relate to global pilot, a common pilot channel to synchronize sub-channels in a multiple access environment; bandwidth allocation; power control; joint detection and interference cancellation techniques for reducing interference; soft handover enhancement techniques between designated cells; various sub-channel access and coding techniques; packet data; fast handoff; geo-location for calculating the position of terminal users; multi-user detection (MUD); high-speed packet data channel coding, and high-speed packet data delivery in a mobile environment.

The Company has expanded its engineering and corporate development activities to focus on solutions that apply to other wireless market segments. These segments primarily fall within the scope of the IEEE 802 family of standards. The Company is building a portfolio of technology related to the wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) and digital cellular area that includes improvements to the IEEE 802.11 PHY and MAC to increase peak data rates (IEEE 802.11n), handover among radio access technologies (IEEE 802.21), mesh networks (IEEE 802.11s), radio resource measurements (IEEE 802.11k), wireless network management (IEEE 802.11v), wireless network security and broadband wireless (IEEE 802.16, including Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, Inc. (WiMAX) wireless technology).

It offers non-exclusive, royalty-bearing patent licenses to companies that manufacture, use or sell, or intend to manufacture, use or sell, equipment that implements the inventions covered by its portfolio of patents. The Company has entered into numerous non-exclusive, non-transferable (with limited exceptions) license agreements with companies worldwide. When it enters into a new patent license agreement, the licensee typically agrees to pay consideration for sales made prior to the effective date of the license agreement and also agrees to pay royalties or license fees on covered products that it will sell or anticipates selling during the term of the agreement.

As of December 31, 2008, the Company’s patent portfolio consisted of 1,058 United States patents (136 of which issued in 2008), and 3,792 non-United States patents (571 of which issued in 2008). The Company also has numerous patent applications pending worldwide. As of December 31, 2008, the Company had 1,212 pending applications in the United States and 7,782 pending non-United States patent applications. The patents and applications consisting of its portfolio relate specifically to digital wireless radiotelephony technology (including, without limitation, TDMA and/or CDMA) and expire at differing times ranging from 2008 through 2028.