InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

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InterDigital 2023 Year-End Newsletter

DECEMBER 19, 2023 / POSTED BY: INTERDIGITAL COMMS

As we close out another exciting year, we are especially proud to celebrate the continued achievement in innovation, technology leadership, and collaborations across the InterDigital team and with our industry partners. This newsletter reflects InterDigital’s achievements throughout 2023 including recognitions and industry announcements, thought leadership and state-of-the-art demos, leadership elections, industry awards, and much more.

InterDigital in the Spotlight

• This year, InterDigital was recognized by LexisNexis IP Solutions as among the Top Ten 5G Patent owners, and among the top five when analyzed on patent quality and quantity.

• InterDigital was once again named one of the World’s Top 100 Innovators in a report from Lexis Nexis. The report includes companies that own some of the world’s leading patent portfolios that possess what Lexis Nexis terms the “highest innovation momentum,” based on the company’s proprietary analytics. InterDigital was also named among the Top 100 Leaders in Sustainable Innovation by Lexis Nexis.

• InterDigital welcomed industry collaborators, local government, and academic partners for an official ribbon cutting to open the new Cesson-Sévigné office building, InterDigital’s newest and largest office. In attendance were InterDigital’s engineers and executive committee alongside local industry and government leaders, like Cesson-Sévigné Mayor Jean-Pierre Savignac.

Industry Leadership

• This year, InterDigital welcomed a new Chief People Office, Skip Maloney, who brings more than 25 years of industry experience in innovation-led companies to head InterDigital’s HR department. In addition, InterDigital’s leadership was further enhanced by naming Mang Zhu as Head of IP and Jason Wu as General Manager of InterDigital’s new China office.

• InterDigital named prolific innovators Paul Marinier and Karam Naser as Inventors of the Year, recognized for their outstanding research contributions to wireless evolution and state-of-the-art video compression standards. With more than 500 inventions between them, Paul and Karam have deeply influenced our industry through their leadership, expertise, and creative ingenuity that has unlocked new potential for 5G and beyond and immersive video experiences.

• InterDigital’s Vice President and Head of Wireless Standards Diana Pani was elected to chair 3GPP RAN2. Diana Pani is the first woman in 3GPP history to hold this role, and as chair she will foster industry consensus in the development of specifications for 5G Advanced, and next generation standards. Diana was also featured on a 4iP Council podcast exploring her unique engineering and 3GPP standards leadership journey, and wise advice for aspiring innovators. Diana was later shortlisted for the World Communication Awards Women in Telecoms Award.

• InterDigital’s Alain Mourad, Head of Wireless Lab Europe, was elected to the serve a three-year term on the ETSI Board, and was also elected Chair of the ETSI Industry Specification Group on Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC), an early technology building block for 6G. Aside from these responsibilities, Alain was also selected to serve on the UK Expert Working Group on Wireless Technologies.

• Doug Castor, InterDigital’s Head of Wireless Research, was re-elected Vice Chair of the ATIS Next G Alliance National 6G Roadmap Working Group, which is responsible for shaping the 6G vision and developing the technology evolution path aligned with North American priorities.

• Vice President of Standards Ralf Schaefer was elected to the DVB Steering Board. The DVB project is an industry-leading consortium that develops open technical specifications for digital media delivery. The Steering Board is responsible for setting the policy direction and handling the coordination, priority-setting, and management for the DVB Project.

• Principal Engineer Joseph Levy was elected to the IEEE Board of Governors. The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) is a leading consensus building organization that fosters, develops, and advances global technologies through the IEEE and the Board of Governors directs the IEEE SA in establishing policy, providing financial oversight, and managing all IEEE standards-related activities.

• Principal Engineer Alec Brusilovsky was elected Vice Chair of the ETSI Industry Specification Group on Securing Artificial Intelligence (ETSI ISG SAI). The ETSI ISG SAI explores three key areas, including the use of AI to enhance conventional security, how to mitigate against AI-generated attacks, and ways to secure AI from attack.

• InterDigital’s Atle Monrad was re-elected to serve as Vice Chair of 3GPP’s Core Network and Terminals (CT) plenary. The CT plenary oversees the work of all core network and terminals working groups that are critical for network evolution.

• Principal Engineer Chonggang Wang was bestowed the Delaware Valley Engineer of the Year award by the IEEE Philadelphia Section.

• Samir Armaly joined the InterDigital Board of Directors. Mr. Armaly is an experienced tech executive with a deep understanding of the video services sector and global IP licensing.

• InterDigital’s Energy Aware Media team was awarded Best Full-Length Paper at the 2023 Mile High Video Conference for their paper “Energy-Aware Images: Quality of Experience vs Energy Reduction.” Written by engineers in the Video Lab, including Olivier Le Meur, Claire-Helene Demarty, Erik Reinhard, Franck Aumont, and Laurent Blondé, the paper proposes a new framework for analyzing and processing video frames that allow modern screens to use less energy when displaying these frames.

• InterDigital’s Video for Machines team, including engineers Junghyun Ahn, Jiahao Pang, Muhammad Lodhi, and Dong Tian, were awarded Best Paper at the 2023 IEEE International Symposim on Circuits and Systems show in the Visual Signal Processing and Communications track for their paper “DDA-Net: Deep Distribution-Aware Network for Point Cloud Compression.”

Partnerships and Announcements

• InterDigital signed an HEVC and VVC patent license with LG Electronics, covering a range of LG products such as TVs and PCs and also signed digital television and video patent licenses with Panasonic.

• In addition, InterDigital signed a license agreement with Lenovo covering InterDigital’s cellular wireless and HEVC video patents, and these agreements follow litigation in the UK and Germany.

• InterDigital agreed to renew a license agreement with Samsung and enter into binding arbitration to determine the final terms.

• InterDigital signed a new license agreement with Alpine Alps, covering Alps Alpine’s range of devices under InterDigital’s standard essential patents related to HEVC.

• InterDigital joined Avanci’s 5G connected vehicle patent pool as a founding member.

• InterDigital and the University Carlos III of Madrid expanded their bilateral research partnership, with InterDigital sponsoring experimental research and innovation at UC3M that explores integrated sensing and communications in next-generation cellular systems, 5G Advanced, and 6G. This research will help unlock multi-dimensional sensing information about connected devices, unconnected objects, and their movements and surroundings to support new use cases and services.

• InterDigital and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K) announced a bilateral research partnership, with InterDigital sponsoring research and innovation at IIT-K that advances MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) systems to achieve the improved spectrum efficiency and network coverage required for 5G Advanced and 6G network deployments. The research will support critical advancements enabling networks to scale and meet growing bandwidth and coverage demands of advanced applications like metaverse experiences, holographic communications, and digital twins.

• InterDigital and the 6G Innovation Centre (6GIC) at the University of Surrey also announced a bilateral research partnership to develop 6G enabling technologies that may impact future wireless standards. InterDigital is sponsoring research at 6GIC in technologies like integrated sensing and communication and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), both expected to be important features of 6G.

Thought Leadership and Demonstrations

• InterDigital President CEO Liren Chen delivered a high-profile keynote at the 12th China Intellectual Property Annual Conference and was interviewed on stage at IPBC Global. He also published a letter in the Financial Times explaining why the EU should reconsider its SEP regulation to preserve the important balance of innovation. Liren was later interviewed on Live with Karen Walker, fielding questions about 5G, video, AI/ML, and corporate leadership.

• InterDigital’s CTO Rajesh Pankaj was featured as a special guest on the Telecoms.com podcast discussing topics ranging from what’s ahead for 6G, the importance of patent licensing, and the need for the next G, and his interview with Authority Magazine offered insight into his journey to becoming InterDigital’s CTO, the power of global standards and potential for 6G, and more.

• Chief Licensing Officer Eeva Hakoranta was named one of IAM’s Top 40 “Market Makers,” and she later spoke on a panel at IPBC Global.

• InterDigital Chief Legal Officer Josh Schmidt spoke at the 10th Annual IP Dealmakers Forum, detailing the state of the IP market and the highs and lows of 2023.

• At Mobile World Congress Barcelona, InterDigital showcased AI/ML-enhanced wireless XR use cases and HDR and immersive video solutions enabling next-generation connected ecosystems, Head of Wireless Labs Milind Kulkarni spoke on a panel exploring “5G, AI, and XR for New Immersive Experiences.” InterDigital CEO Liren Chen connected with Mobile World Live to discuss the trends of AI/ML, 5G and 6G, and immersive experiences across the show.

• Later in the year at MWC Las Vegas, InterDigital’s Milind Kulkarni presented at a MWC 6G conference session on “Envisioning a 6G Future,” detailing the foundation of 5G Advanced and the new capabilities that can be expected from the evolution to 6G.

• InterDigital returned as co-sponsor of the 6GSymposium Spring in London and 6GSymposium Fall in Washington D.C., driving discussions and collaborative efforts to articulate a strong vision for 6G. Head of Wireless Labs Milind Kulkarni delivered a keynote at the Spring event, while CTO Rajesh Pankaj outlined a 6G vision at the 6GSymposium Fall. InterDigital leaders and engineers participated in and moderated an array of thoughtful panel discussions with representatives across government, academia, and industry.

• InterDigital demonstrated at AWE USA 2023 alongside Philips to showcase how volumetric video-based codecs and creation pipelines enable increasingly immersive and XR-driven volumetric video experiences. The partners demonstrated the application of their codec and content creation pipelines for use cases like telelearning.

• At IBC, InterDigital showcased cutting-edge video innovation, including an array of research contributions to video codecs, advanced HDR solutions, and pioneering innovations in energy aware media technologies at the Media Coding Industry Forum (MC-IF) and Ultra HD Forum partner booths, and the IABM Lounge.

ESG and Social Engagement

• In addition to being named one of the Top 100 Leaders in Sustainable Innovation by LexisNexis, InterDigital’s 2023 Corporate Sustainability Report outlines our commitment to Environment, Human Capital, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles and progress in these areas.

• For the second year, InterDigital and Temple University awarded the 2023 William J. Merritt Student Fellowship Award, this year to recipients Mikiko Galpin and Kemberly Viveros. Granted in honor of InterDigital’s former president and CEO and Temple Law Alumnus Bill Merritt, the fellowship provides financial and mentorship support for Temple Law students exploring topics at the critical intersection of technology and law.

• At InterDigital, we lead and contribute to initiatives that help address the growing energy demands of video, while continuing to encourage innovation in cutting-edge compression solutions. These blogs introduce InterDigital’s unique impact in video sustainability through novel innovations and standards leadership roles, and detail our efforts to encourage greater energy awareness.

• For World Standards Day, InterDigital President and CEO Liren Chen penned a blog about “Unlocking the Sustainable Power of Standards,” and later detailed how standards promote sustainable innovation.

• InterDigital’s Bike the Bay MS Fundraising team, raised more than $50,000 on a 75-mile bike ride to raise money and awareness for multiple sclerosis.

Reports and Blogs

• Spotlight on HEVC: The Codec of Choice for the Video Streaming Industry: This report commissioned by InterDigital and written by Futuresource Consulting, looks at HEVC’s development, how it enables higher quality video for subscribers, examines HEVC’s increased usage among the streaming giants, and looks at what’s next for codecs in the rapidly evolving delivery of video content.

• The State of 5G-Advanced: Empowering New Verticals and Industries: A new report commissioned by InterDigital and written by ABI Research, outlines the development of 5G-Advanced and its new features that will see enhancements to existing 5G technology over the next three years (2023-2026). 5G Advanced will be 5G’s transformational phase and improve existing specifications while also introducing new features that aim to optimize network operations and pave the way for innovative enterprise use cases and business models that have not been feasible with earlier generations.

• Defining the XR Experience: Enabling the Immersivity Ecosystem: This white paper commissioned by InterDigital and written by ABI Research details the standards, solutions, and emerging challenges shaping new extended reality (XR) opportunities. While consumer adoption of XR headsets and services has been relatively slow, the report points to improvements in device hardware, content capture, encoding, and XR-specific content distribution capabilities as critical components to fuel future growth of the XR market.

• Strengthening UE-EU Cooperation on Technical Standards in an Era of Strategic Cooperation: InterDigital supported a paper written by the German Marshall Fund of the United States that explores how key global standards like cellular wireless can be preserved in an era of heightened geopolitical tension.

• Experience the Future of 6G: A New Direction for Telecom: This joint study from InterDigital and Omdia highlights the need for a new quality of “personal” experience (QoPE) framework and metrics to measure the success of 6G-enabled services that will unlock new possibilities for users and operators alike.

• The Evolution of Compression in a Video-First Economy: This white paper commissioned by InterDigital and written by Futuresource Consulting, examines the foundational nature, state of evolution, and critical features of codecs and video standards. The paper outlines the development path of video compression codecs that have been proven critical in reducing bandwidth and improving efficiency in the delivery of the data dense video services and entertainment we all enjoy.

• AI is the Key for 5G Success: A new paper released by InterDigital and written by ABI Research examines the network domains and standards efforts where AI and ML are being integrated to automate critical 5G operations.

• At MWC Vegas, InterDigital Outlines an Innovative and Evolutionary Journey to 6G: In a conference session titled “Envisioning a 6G Future”, Milind Kulkarni detailed the importance of standards in evolving our communications capabilities and introduced InterDigital’s 6G vision and the new uses cases and applications that will be enabled by even faster speeds, lower latency, and enhanced capacity under the next G.

• Integrating Sensing and Communications: A Key Building Block for 6G: Alain Mourad, the recently elected Chair of the ETSI ISG on ISAC, introduces this newly identified, revolutionary feature of 6G that will unlock new capabilities by innovations to devices and the networks on which they operate.

• Interns at InterDigital: Throughout 2023, InterDigital Video Lab welcomed dozens of brilliant interns and researchers to explore and contribute to the industry-shaping research and innovation led at InterDigital. This blog series introduces InterDigital’s world-class engineers and their exciting research in Vision for Machines, 2D Video Standards and Solutions, and Immersive and Metavideo Standards.

• In high-profile speech InterDigital CEO emphasizes the close links between innovation and IP licensing: InterDigital CEO and President Liren Chen delivered a keynote speech at the China IP Annual Conference in which he highlighted the strength of InterDigital’s innovation in areas like 5G, the company’s leadership in the standards community, and why it’s important to take account of patent quality when analyzing a company’s IP portfolio.

• InterDigital at MWC 2023: In Barcelona, InterDigital was pleased to welcome a variety of visitors to experience our innovative research and industry collaborations that leverage AI/ML to enhance wireless network behaviors beyond 5G, provide rendering and delivery solutions for high quality HDR content, and shape standards for immersive and sensory-enhanced video experiences.

• Exploring the Role of Static Diffuse White Feature for Effective Graphics Management: InterDigital and Philips collaborate on Advanced HDR solutions to address the transition from SDR to HDR content and InterDigital’s Valérie Allié and David Touzé detail how our suite of solutions addresses the challenge of delivering live HDR and SDR content so that all audiences receive the highest quality video, regardless of their device type.

• How patent holdout is moving up the agenda: An event held at the University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business reflects how discussion around the topic of patent holdout is moving up in importance in academic discussions.

• AI at the Edge: Fast Times Ahead for 5G and the Internet of Things: InterDigital's Milind Kulkarni contributed to a recent ZDNET article highlighting 5G's potential and the dramatic impact AI can have on the reliability and efficiency of wireless networks.

• Strategising 6G: 6G represents more than "faster 5G" because it brings sensory capabilities expected to include complex analytical insights, distributed control over more connected objects, and an expanded range of digital-human interactions. InterDigital's Jeffrey Metzger outlines in FEED Magazine the strategies for 6G and what a high-quality 6G experience might look like.

• World IP Day: Celebrating InterDigital’s Female Inventors: While the theme for World IP Day 2023 is “Women and IP: Accelerating innovation and creativity,” the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) notes that: “Too few women are participating in the intellectual property system [which] means too few women are benefitting from IP.” This year, we spotlight a few leading female inventors from InterDigital’s Wireless Lab and Video Lab, and recognize the importance of supporting more women in IP.

• What is 6G?: InterDigital's Milind Kulkarni joins wireless experts in describing to Telecoms.com what 6G will be capable of, and what lessons can be drawn from the 5G rollout.

• How InterDigital’s Video Solutions are Encouraging Greater Energy- Awareness: At InterDigital, we lead and contribute to several initiatives that help address the growing energy demands of video, while continuing to encourage innovation in cutting-edge solutions. InterDigital’s impact is shaped by leadership in energy-aware technologies, video codecs, and standards.

• The Importance of Making 6G experiences Human Centric: InterDigital’s Senior Staff Engineer Chathura Sarathchandra spotlights for TVB Europe the critical importance of seamless user experiences when promoting the benefit of sensory 6G, and the need for new language to define the quality of the physical experience for users.

• 5G at the Edge: Edge computing is a critical technology that will both supplement 5G capabilities and complement 5G networks. As more applications and use cases are enabled by the edge, InterDigital’s Robert Gazda detailed the key benefits and new opportunities made possible by our innovative contributions in this space.

• How InterDigital Leads in Video Sustainability: InterDigital’s portfolio of technologies include solutions that help the video entertainment industry achieve more sustainable outcomes without impacting visual quality. InterDigital’s energy-aware advocacy has been acknowledged across industry circles and in global standards bodies such as ITU-R, MPEG, DVB, ATSC, and SMPTE, and InterDigital engineers are often consulted for their expertise and understanding of sustainability considerations.

• What content owners should consider when delivering SDR and HDR content: InterDigital's Vice President of Technology Alan Stein shares his perspective on the elements that content owners and aggregators should consider when implementing solutions that help manage the complexity of delivering both SDR and HDR content.

• Minimizing the Environmental Impact of Broadcast and Streaming Technology: InterDigital’s Erik Reinhard’s article with TVTech introduces the innovations helping to make sustainability in broadcast and streaming media more achievable.

• International Arbitration: The Best Practice for Resolving Global Licensing Issues: InterDigital began the year with major licensing announcements, including plans to enter arbitration with Samsung to determine the final terms of a new license, and InterDigital's Chief Licensing Officer Eeva Hakoranta reflects on why arbitration is in many cases the best way to resolve patent license disputes.

• AI in Wireless eBook: InterDigital’s ebook looks at the impact AI/ML is having on wireless technology and how it will affect the networks of the future.

• What is 5G?: This Telecoms.com article dives into the specific features and applications that define this latest wireless generation, with expert insight from InterDigital's Ghyslain Pelletier alongside other industry leaders on what is 5G.

• Capturing the Edge Computing Opportunity in 5G and Beyond: InterDigital's Robert Gazda shares with VanillaPlus a few use cases where the fusion of edge computing and 5G will transform how people engage with technology and how businesses operate.

• What is the reality of 6G and how will it impact people?: InterDigital's Donald Butts shares with Mobile Europe what we know about 6G and the ways it might cater to infinitely more connected sensory devices, wireless sensing, and localization technologies.

• How Standards Promote Sustainable Innovation: InterDigital and our peers are increasingly focused on the need to make networks and products more energy-efficient and are exploring ways to incorporate energy reduction features into industry-wide standards. On World Standards Day, we reflected on how standardized technologies can help shape a more sustainable future.

https://www.interdigital.com/post/interdigital-2023-year-end-newsletter