MPEG LA, the patent licensing agency, last month made two separate calls for patents — one for essential ATSC patents and the other for essential DVB-H patents.
The licensing agency’s calls launche a process of evaluating patents to determine whether or not they are essential to the respective standards. MPEG LA will then create a portfolio of essential patents that users may license to gain “fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory access” to the technologies, according to the agency.
Licensing the portfolios is intended to provide an efficient alternative to negotiating individual licensing terms with each holder of an essential DVB-H or ATSC patent.
Essential patents pertaining to ATSC will consist of issued or otherwise enforceable patents having one or more claims that are infringed by use or implementation of the following:
- Doc. A/53C: ATSC Standard: Digital Television Standard (A/53), revision C Including Amendment No. 1
- Doc. A/65B: ATSC Standard: Program System Information Protocol for Terrestrial Broadcast and Cable (Revision B)
- Doc. A/69: ATSC Recommended Practice: Program and System Information Protocol Implementation Guidelines for Broadcasters
- Doc. A/74: ATSC Recommended Practice: Receiver Performance Guidelines
- Doc. A/54A: Recommended Practice: Guide to the Use of the ATSC Digital Television Standard.
The deadline for initial submission of patents for the ATSC call is Feb. 15.
Essential patents for the DVB-H standard include those infringed by use or implementation of:
- ETSI EN 302 304 V.1.1.1 (11-2004): “Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Transmission System for Handheld Terminals (DVB-H),” and the following additional documents to the extent incorporated in by reference, and required for a DVB-H compliant device or signal
- ETSI EN 300 744: "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Framing structure, channel coding and modulation for digital terrestrial television." (DVB-T)
- ETSI EN 300 468: "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Specification for Service Information (SI) in DVB systems." (DVB-SI)
- ETSI EN 301 192: "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); DVB specification for data broadcasting" (DVB-DATA)
- ETSI TS 101 191: "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); DVB mega-frame for Single Frequency Network (SFN) synchronization"
- ISO/IEC 7498-1: "Information Technology - Open Systems Interconnection - Basic Reference Model: The Basic Model" as they may be amended (collectively hereinafter referred to as the “DVB-H Specification”).
The deadline for initial submission of patents for the DVB-H call is March 1.
DVB-H refers to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute’s Digital Video Broadcasting standards for efficient transmission of multimedia services via digital terrestrial broadcasting to handheld devices, such as cell phones and handheld computers. While originating in Europe, DVB-H has been undergoing testing in Pittsburgh, PA, in a trial run by Crown Castle and Nokia.
For more information, visit www.mpegla.com.
