English version: Apple's sale of iPhone 4S to be threatened by Danish antenna patent
Professor Gert Frølund who foresaw "Antennagate," may again become a thorn in Apples side. He has long since taken out a patent on the antenna solution that is used in the new iPhone 4S - and sold the patent to Samsung.
Apple has a applied a technical trick that should guard the new iPhone 4S against the same signal problems that characterized the first iPhone 4-phones.
But the trick may instead become the cause of an entirely different and more serious kind of trouble.
Both in CEO Tim Cook's keynote at the launch of the new iPhone 4S last tuesday and in Apple's subsequent press materials, the phone's antenna system was presented as a technological landmark.
"Improving on the innovative stainless steel external, dual-antenna design of iPhone 4, iPhone 4S is the first phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to send and receive," says the press release.
It is a really smart technology, says the Danish antenna Professor Gert Frølund Pedersen.
He speculates that it probally solves any antenna problems the iPhone 4S would have had.
"The idea is good, but the question is whether they are allowed to use it," he told ComON.
Based on available information about the design of the iPhone 4S his assessement is that Apple is likely to come into conflict with several patents that he and other researchers at Aalborg University have gotten - and sold to Samsung several years ago.
An old technique
Gert Frølund Pedersen is the professor at Aalborg University's Institute for Electronic Systems who caught worldwide attention when here on ComON last year correctly predicted the iPhone 4s antenna problems two weeks before the phone went on sale.
The story evolved into a media storm as many, mainly American, 4-iPhone users saw the phone's signal reception decline significantly when they changed their grip on the phones.
ComON has once again askedthe Danish antenna professor to evaluate the antenna design in a new phone from Apple.
And this time the answer may be considerably worse for Apple than it was under "Antennagate," as the media storm was baptized.
Since that time Apple has engaged in a worldwide war of patents against Samsung, who is fighting back with its own patent claims.
Samsung has already tried to get an injunction against the iPhone 4S sold in France and Italy, because the phone violates its patents.
Other patents in France and Italy
The patents that Samsung uses in the French and Italian courts are not the same as those Gert Frølund and his colleagues sold to Samsung back in 2007.
ComON have asked Samsung Nordic press spokesman for a clarification, but the company declined to comment on the matter.
The method of intelligent switching between multiple antennas was in Apple's presentation of the iPhone 4S described as "unique" but is in fact a well known and rather old technique.
"Innovation" is derived from the DECT-time
"When Apple says that it is new, it's not true. It has been in use for very long. For example in the DECT cordless phones. Both in their bases and in the DECT- phones themselves," says Gert Frølund Pedersen.
Apples patent violations likely occurs when an iPhone 4S tries to establish which antenna has the best signal. The process can be done in several ways, but they are almost all likely to be covered by the Danish patent.
"You can quite simply do it by measuring the signal strength. But you can also make it a little smarter - which one could imagine that Apple has done. For example, smartphones register whether they are being held in portrait or landscape position. The problem is that if they make calculations based on the type of smart registrations, they will violate a patent that I have which I have sold to Samsung, "said Gert Frølund Pedersen.
The patents describes several ways to switch to other antenna transmitters, if the user's hand is shielding the signal for example by noting what the user is doing. Thus the system can select the correct antenna based on whether the user is in browser or gaming mode.
Difficult for Apple to avoid patent infringement
"I can not say that they are directly breaking the patent, but there are not many ways they can choose the right antenna, without coming to break many patents. And just exactly what this patent covers a very broad," says Gert Frølund Pedersen to ComON.
According to media reports the antenna in the iPhone 4S is changed compared to the previous model, so that both antennas on the outside of the phone (top and bottom) now are converted to receive data and telephone signals. Before, the top antenna was dedicated to GPS and WiFi.
The patent war between Apple and Samsung have waved back and forth over the past months. Apple has long tried to stop the launch of Samsung's tablet computer because it allegedly breaks Apple's patents on multitouch.
There are in fact two originally Danish now Samsung-owned patents that Apple is likely offending with the iPhone 4S antenna system, namely Apparatus and Method for Selecting an antenna in a communication system , and Apparatus and Method for stabilizing terminal power in a communication system.
(Update: The article earlier linked to the pending patent applications from 2007 for the first patent. That link are now to the patents as it was granted on January 5, 2010.
source
Apple has a applied a technical trick that should guard the new iPhone 4S against the same signal problems that characterized the first iPhone 4-phones.
But the trick may instead become the cause of an entirely different and more serious kind of trouble.
Both in CEO Tim Cook's keynote at the launch of the new iPhone 4S last tuesday and in Apple's subsequent press materials, the phone's antenna system was presented as a technological landmark.
"Improving on the innovative stainless steel external, dual-antenna design of iPhone 4, iPhone 4S is the first phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to send and receive," says the press release.
It is a really smart technology, says the Danish antenna Professor Gert Frølund Pedersen.
He speculates that it probally solves any antenna problems the iPhone 4S would have had.
"The idea is good, but the question is whether they are allowed to use it," he told ComON.
Based on available information about the design of the iPhone 4S his assessement is that Apple is likely to come into conflict with several patents that he and other researchers at Aalborg University have gotten - and sold to Samsung several years ago.
An old technique
Gert Frølund Pedersen is the professor at Aalborg University's Institute for Electronic Systems who caught worldwide attention when here on ComON last year correctly predicted the iPhone 4s antenna problems two weeks before the phone went on sale.
The story evolved into a media storm as many, mainly American, 4-iPhone users saw the phone's signal reception decline significantly when they changed their grip on the phones.
ComON has once again askedthe Danish antenna professor to evaluate the antenna design in a new phone from Apple.
And this time the answer may be considerably worse for Apple than it was under "Antennagate," as the media storm was baptized.
Since that time Apple has engaged in a worldwide war of patents against Samsung, who is fighting back with its own patent claims.
Samsung has already tried to get an injunction against the iPhone 4S sold in France and Italy, because the phone violates its patents.
Other patents in France and Italy
The patents that Samsung uses in the French and Italian courts are not the same as those Gert Frølund and his colleagues sold to Samsung back in 2007.
ComON have asked Samsung Nordic press spokesman for a clarification, but the company declined to comment on the matter.
The method of intelligent switching between multiple antennas was in Apple's presentation of the iPhone 4S described as "unique" but is in fact a well known and rather old technique.
"Innovation" is derived from the DECT-time
"When Apple says that it is new, it's not true. It has been in use for very long. For example in the DECT cordless phones. Both in their bases and in the DECT- phones themselves," says Gert Frølund Pedersen.
Apples patent violations likely occurs when an iPhone 4S tries to establish which antenna has the best signal. The process can be done in several ways, but they are almost all likely to be covered by the Danish patent.
"You can quite simply do it by measuring the signal strength. But you can also make it a little smarter - which one could imagine that Apple has done. For example, smartphones register whether they are being held in portrait or landscape position. The problem is that if they make calculations based on the type of smart registrations, they will violate a patent that I have which I have sold to Samsung, "said Gert Frølund Pedersen.
The patents describes several ways to switch to other antenna transmitters, if the user's hand is shielding the signal for example by noting what the user is doing. Thus the system can select the correct antenna based on whether the user is in browser or gaming mode.
Difficult for Apple to avoid patent infringement
"I can not say that they are directly breaking the patent, but there are not many ways they can choose the right antenna, without coming to break many patents. And just exactly what this patent covers a very broad," says Gert Frølund Pedersen to ComON.
According to media reports the antenna in the iPhone 4S is changed compared to the previous model, so that both antennas on the outside of the phone (top and bottom) now are converted to receive data and telephone signals. Before, the top antenna was dedicated to GPS and WiFi.
The patent war between Apple and Samsung have waved back and forth over the past months. Apple has long tried to stop the launch of Samsung's tablet computer because it allegedly breaks Apple's patents on multitouch.
There are in fact two originally Danish now Samsung-owned patents that Apple is likely offending with the iPhone 4S antenna system, namely Apparatus and Method for Selecting an antenna in a communication system , and Apparatus and Method for stabilizing terminal power in a communication system.
(Update: The article earlier linked to the pending patent applications from 2007 for the first patent. That link are now to the patents as it was granted on January 5, 2010.
source
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