Researchers and Patents
Patents
Once a year, Siemens honors outstanding employees for their patent registrations with the "Inventors of the Year" award. The prize winners (usually 12 in number) are chosen from thousands of researchers and developers throughout Siemens. About 600 inventions are credited to last year's 12 winners alone. Representative of this impressive achievement are two inventors responsible for important advances in the fields of multimedia mobile communication systems and sensor technology.
Antennas that Combine Their Signals
Dr. Stefan Bahrenburg is developing the building blocks of multimedia mobile communications at Siemens in Shanghai
With more than 230 million cell phone customers, China is the world's biggest mobile communications market. Considering this, Siemens has not only chosen Shanghai as its second worldwide production location for UMTS technology, it is also jointly developing the TD-SCDMA 3G standard with Chinese partners. This mobile communications standard makes it possible to use one common network to provide data services that are just as economical as audio and video services. TD-SCDMA increases system capacity (fewer base stations for the same number of users) and makes fewer demands on cell-phone signal processing. Dr. Stefan Bahrenburg played a vital role in the design of this standard and is a driving force behind its continued development. One of his latest projects is the adaptation of smart antenna technology to TD-SCDMA requirements. Smart antennas consist of a number of antennas that automatically combine their signals into an optimal transmission/reception beam and are focused, so to speak, on the receiver. The advantage is a greater range for base stations and improved reception quality, even in high-speed vehicles.
Laser Flash Detects Distance
A sensor from Dr. Peter Mengel and his team can detect object locations with an accuracy of one centimeter
Artificial eyes with the capacity for detailed spatial vision could some day help to prevent traffic accidents or make alarm devices more reliable. Thanks to an innovative measurement principle developed by Dr. Peter Mengel and his team in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits (IMS) in Duisburg, Germany, cost-effective mass production of such sensors is nearly within reach. In daylight or the dark of night, and at distances up to 30 meters, the new 3D sensor requires only a few thousandths of a second to accurately detect the location of objects to within one centimeter even if they are moving rapidly. This performance is made possible by light-sensitive semiconductor components (CMOS image converters). The sensors have extremely short exposure times (a few millionths of a second), which are exactly synchronized with a controlled laser-flash illumination. The sensor simultaneously measures the laser-flash light reflected from the detected object for some 1,000 pixels. Using the times it takes the reflected light to arrive, the chip calculates a spatial image. Mengel and his team are currently testing possible applications for the 3D sensor. One of the first systems suitable for large scale production could be an intelligent airbag that triggers and orients itself according to the sitting positions of driver or passenger.
In Search of Golden Nuggets
With over 40,000 patents worldwide, Siemens has a strong competitive position. But is the number of patents the decisive factor?
Dr. Winfried Büttner is head of Corporate Intellectual Property and Functions
Büttner: Such a large portfolio of patents does represent a form of protection against competitors and serves as a valuable form of currency for things like license exchange contracts, company takeovers and sell-offs. In order to raise the quality of our patents, improve their usage and optimize the registration process, we have joined forces with the Siemens Groups to launch IP+ projects. Given the fact that we reformulate our entire portfolio of patents roughly every five to six years, we are talking about some 7,000 inventions that have to be registered every year. The key patents in this process are what we call golden nuggets.
What do you consider to be a key patent?
Büttner: These are patents that guarantee us the long-term opportunity to apply key technologies without interference. They also prevent competitors from entering a certain business sector without paying a license fee. They are basically patents that the competition can not circumvent. One special aspect of these patents is that they've been included in an international standard or have set a defacto standard. In the area of mobile communications, for instance, our "GSM/GPRS portfolio"' has a series of such key patents. But I would say this group of patents also includes ideas that can be used far beyond Siemens' current requirements.
For example?
Büttner: I'm thinking of things like long-distance maintenance and remote service. These patents describe, for instance, how a software product can be updated over a long-distance line or how fault diagnosis can be conducted without sending technicians to the local site. Such technologies can be used for power plants, industrial facilities, hospitals and communications facilities. They combine cost savings with major benefits for the customer, creating competitive advantages as a result. Other examples are patents for control engineering, network management and operator interfaces.
Can you plan the development of key patents?
Büttner: Yes. That is also part of our IP+ initiative with the Groups. During an "Invention-on-Demand'' workshop, the Power Generation Group determined the areas where additional lines of defense against important competitors need to be added. This workshop alone produced 200 invention announcements. By the way, that's not nearly as difficult as it sounds: It's frequently a question of intelligently combining known technologies into new functions that no one has thought of before. Things like micropayment with remote service or the utilization of certain elements from the world of speech communication in the Internet. We have a high level of innovative potential in other words, we want to pan golden nuggets from the minds of our employees. Our job is to challenge these creative minds and point them in the right direction.
What about the fact that the value of patents can change as the technological landscape evolves?
Büttner: That's why we reassess our patents once a year to determine how they measure up in comparison with the competition, international standardization processes and synergy potential. That's in addition to evaluating them in terms of "Pictures of the Future" predictions. Here, the focus is on those technologies that will have a significant impact on our future business.
And every business sector develops its own patent strategy?
Büttner: That's necessary naturally within a corporate IP strategy that establishes basic rules. Such a strategy must also expand Siemens' patent position particularly with regard to trend-setting technologies and Siemens-wide cross-sectoral technologies. It's a fact of life that the patent strategy for the automotive sector has to be different from the strategy for the medical technology sector. In the medical area, we primarily employ our very strong IP position to stay ahead of the competition. In the automotive sector, on the other hand, our customers the automakers want to buy this competitive protection with the product itself. In other words, it has to be patented. Then there are areas with major service activity where patents for the design of a process or the organization of a business model are important. Particularly in the United States, patents play a major role with regard to software, processes and, increasingly, business models. With the establishment of a task force for first registrations in these areas, we are giving new protective cover to our innovative ideas in the U.S. market.
Interview by Ulrich Eberl
The value of patents
In 1995, Siemens launched a patent initiative aimed at increasing the number of inventions announced by the company. By establishing the "Inventor of the Year" award (see related stories on this page), the company succeeded in significantly improving the image of innovation within Siemens. The number of patent registrations each year has actually doubled since then. Meanwhile, the focus has shifted slightly. Today, efforts are directed at further improving the quality and the value of patents. One method of measuring progress here is provided by the value of license exchange contracts with other companies. License agreements prevent other companies from launching patent attacks. If this form of protection did not exist, a certain percentage of sales would have to be set aside to cover license costs. Seen in this way, Siemens' intellectual property has produced a significant yield, whose value has also nearly doubled in recent years.