Abstract: This article argues how the fifth generation of mobile networks (5G) drives the Internet of Things (IoT) and the scope of Industrial Property, resulting in essential patents and technological developments that already directly impact society. The text also points out barriers that Brazil needs to break to enjoy the benefits of this innovation.
Keywords: 5G Mobile Network – IoT – patent
- Introduction
The International Organization of Standardization (ISO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) are examples of organizations that aim to standardize the creation, sending and reproduction of technologies among the most varied devices, such as smartphones, tablets, notebooks and smart appliances. It is from this standardization that companies and educational institutions can promote the development of new technologies responsible for the implementation of new standards.
The main objective of technological standardization is to allow interoperability between a variety of devices designed and manufactured by different companies around the world. According to the European Industry Association Information Systems Communications Technologies Consumer Electronics (EICTA, 2004), currently known as DigitalEurope, interoperability, in free translation, can be defined as “the ability of two or more networks, systems, devices, applications or components to exchange information between themselves and to use the information exchanged”. For example, the standardization of IEEE 802.11 technology, also known as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance, is widely present in everyday society.
When the technological components necessary for the existence of these standards permeate Industrial Property, these are considered as essential patents. This type of patent is related to methods and systems that are critical to the implementation of a given technology. This type of patent is extremely strategic because, among several factors, it provides the company that holds the protection rights with the possibility of getting better product quality, reducing the time needed to bring new technologies to the market, promoting industrial property and contributing to the growth of a relevant market worldwide.
In this sense, in order for other companies to have access to a certain technology, companies holding essential patents adopt the negotiation of their licenses and the calculation of the licensing fee according to the FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non Discriminatory) principle. This principle aims to ensure fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory conditions in the licensing of protected technologies.
Recently, telecommunications patents focus on the implementation of 5G technology and its use for the dissemination of the Internet of Things (IoT), which is a technological concept aimed at interconnecting smart devices with low processing capabilities.
According to data from the report of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA, 2022), by 2021, there were approximately 29,000 families of essential patents related to 5G and about 125,000 patents and applications that refer to the same standard registered worldwide. In 2022, however, these numbers grew exponentially. Currently, there are about 47,000 families of essential patents encompassing 210,000 essential patents related to 5G, which represents an increase of 62% and 68% respectively. At present, China holds approximately 40% of these essential patents, with a total of 18,728 patent families. Second, there is the United States with about 34% and then the Republic of Korea with about 9.2% of households.
In Brazil, even before the auction for the concession of operation in the 5G frequency bands, in November 2021, the applications for telecommunication patents related to this mobile network were already in progress in the country. According to data published for Brazil, there are currently about 2,493 essential patents already granted by the BPTO and 9,604 applications in progress. Regarding 5G technology and its registered standards, we have 1,010 patents granted in Brazil and 4,295 applications in progress. The main holders of these patents and applications for 5G technology in Brazil are the US giant Qualcomm with 42% of the patent filing and the Japanese NTT Docomo with about 13%.
- 5G mobile network
The new generation of 5G mobile internet presents many changes compared to previous generations. Such changes encompass a higher connection speed, low latency, and increased ability to connect devices to a single antenna, through new multiple access techniques.
These changes make it possible, among other things, to expand the reach of the internet in rural and industrial areas that today are without signal in countries of continental dimensions such as Brazil. This increase in the coverage radius is due to the fact that while in the 4G network the coverage is around 10 thousand devices per square kilometer, in the 5G network the coverage can be up to 1 million devices in the same area. The Picture below shows a comparison between the generations of the mobile internet network.
5G technology will provide wireless connectivity for various applications such as cities and smart homes, wearables ( devices such as smartwatches), security and/or traffic control, high-speed media delivery, and industrial processes.
Certainly, the implementation of fifth-generation networks in Brazil will directly impact the improvement of the country’s economic indicators. The study carried out by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU, 2019), entitled “Economic contribution of broadband, digitization and regulation of ICT: econometric modeling for the Americas”, suggests that there may be an increase of up to 1.9% of GDP for every 10% expansion of broadband coverage.
- IoT and 5G
One of the fundamental premises of IoT is to allow machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and, thus, to make several devices connect to the Internet without necessarily requiring human intervention for data acquisition and manipulation. This means that any device can be connected to the network at anytime and anywhere.
Current IoT applications are well-supported by 4G-based technologies such as LTE-M (Long Term Evolution for Machines) and NB-IoT (Narrowband-IoT). These technologies are used in low complexity devices, but with a high volume of data, such as sensors that monitor temperature and humidity in a greenhouse.
However, with 5G arrival, more robust IoT devices can be connected to the network, as more data can travel and be processed more quickly, since the use of 5G networks allows greater connection speed and lower latencies in communication between these devices.
In Brazil, in 2019, the National Internet of Things Plan was created, an initiative of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTIC), Ministry of Economy and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) in partnership with civil society.
The study carried out prior to the creation of the Plan, entitled “Study of Internet of Things”, developed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations in 2017, discussed which pillars IoT could be used in Brazil as a tool for the sustainable development of society. The main goals of the plan involve improving people’s quality of life, promoting efficiency gains in services, promoting professional training related to the development of IoT applications and the generation of jobs in the digital economy, in addition to increasing productivity and fostering the competitiveness of Brazilian IoT developers.
- Applicability of 5G network in IoT
Around the world there are several successful cases of 5G network implementation in IoT applications that directly impact everyday life.
In 2015, the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) was created, a corporate coalition that aims to develop and promote standardized communication protocols for automotive vehicles that use 5G. Among the founding members of the association are telecommunications giants such as Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm Incorporated, as well as automobile companies such as AUDI AG, BMW Group and Daimler AG. Since its inception, 5GAA has expanded rapidly to include the largest players in the global market in the automotive, technology and telecommunications industries. Today, more than 130 companies are already part of 5GAA.
Three years later, in 2018, the essential North American patent document entitled “Dual Connectivity for Reliability”[1] by Apple Inc was published, which clearly exemplifies an application of the 5G mobile network with an impact on everyday life and shows how wireless communications are evolving.
Its technology is based on a dual connectivity system for communication from device to vehicle or vehicle to vehicle, on a 5G mobile network, as standardized by 3GPP.
The Apple document describes how a 5G mobile network allows communication between vehicles without human interference. Thus, the concept of intelligent car, which manages to take the user from one point to another, autonomously, tracing the best route and avoiding traffic accidents is increasingly close.
Pedido de patente Norte-Americano número US20180235022A1[1], intitulado “Conectividade dupla para confiabilidade”
In Michigan, in the United States, the concept of “Road of the Future” has been developed with great strides. In the highway construction, a lane is exclusively dedicated to autonomous vehicles. Thus, cars, motorcycles and trucks will be able to connect to the highway network in order to establish a “conversation” between the software and that one of the highway.
The goal of this type of project is to reduce accidents generally attributed to human errors and optimize daily activities.
In the same year, during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea, the government established 5G pilot networks that provided augmented reality navigation for game-goers. Such applications indicate a strong technological trend aimed at implementing increasingly intelligent and connected cities.
Also in 2018, Ericsson together with other companies such as BT, Verizon, King’s and Unmanned Life autonomously controlled and managed a fleet of drones in central London. This fleet was launched from the United States by Verizon on a dedicated 5G network[1], within BT’s mobile network.
The following year, in September 2019, due to the 5G networks provided by China Unicom and Huawei, remote surgery was performed on a patient diagnosed with bladder cancer in the province of Guinzhou, China. Along with the country’s intelligent medical perception and interaction technology and the medical robot system, it was possible to perform the surgery at a distance of 3,000 km.
For the years between 2020 and 2030, according to Butaney (2022), in projections published by Cisco, the IoT industry shall move about 19 trillion dollars around the world. From this total value, it is estimated that 860 billion dollars will specifically impact Latin American economies, 40% of which is the share corresponding to the Brazilian market.
- Conclusion
Although the forecasts are quite optimistic, there is still a lot of work to be done in the world and especially in Brazil. In countries such as the United States, the IoT ecosystem is at least 20 times larger than the Brazilian one.
That said, Brazil needs to break some barriers to be able to leverage in the IoT scenario. Among them, we highlight the qualification of labor, the advancement of telecommunications networks and especially the 5G mobile network, as well as the modernization and maintenance of the infrastructure present in the national territory.
In a long-term basis, the advances between the IoT and 5G relationship will be even more noticeable, through larger and more impactful projects. It is known that the technological scenario is constantly evolving, with increasingly transformative technologies that allow IoT to exercise its maximum efficiency with the arrival of 5G.
References
BUTANEY, Vikas. The power of intent-based networking for the IoT edge. Cisco, 2019. Available on: https://blogs.cisco.com/internet-of-things/cisco-announces-the-next-generation-industrial-iot-switching-and-routing-platforms – Accessed on: jun 01st. 2022.
China assume liderança global em números de patentes 5G declaradas. XINHUA Português, 2022. Available on: http://portuguese.news.cn/2022-06/08/c_1310616954.htm – Accessed on: Jun. 08th 2022.
Cirurgião usa robô chinês com 5G e opera paciente a 3 mil quilômetros. XINHUA Português, 2020. Available on: http://portuguese.xinhuanet.com/2020-10/08/c_139426086.htm. -Accessed on Jun 8th. 2022.
Economic contribution of broadband, digitalization and ICT regulation: Econometric modelling for the Americas. ITU, 2019. Available on: https://www.itu.int/hub/publication/d-pref-ef-bdt_am-2019/.Accessed on: May 31st, 2022
EUROPEAN INFORMATION COMMUNICATIONS AND CONSUMER ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION. EICTA interoperability white paper. EICTA, 2004. Available on: https://www.etsi.org/images/files/SOSInteroperability/SOSinteropIIIpresentation1-02.pdf. Accessed on: May 31st, 2022.
MINISTÉRIO DA CIÊNCIA, TECNOLOGIA E INOVAÇÕES. Estudo de Internet das Coisas. 2017. Available on: https://www.gov.br/mcti/pt-br/acompanhe-o-mcti/transformacaodigital/internet-das-coisas-estudo-repositorio – Accessed on: June 08th, 2022.
MINISTÉRIO DA ECONOMIA et al. Plano nacional de Internet das Coisas. 2021. Available on: https://www.gov.br/governodigital/pt-br/estrategias-e-politicas-digitais/plano-nacional-de-internet-das-coisas – Accessed on: June 01st, 2022
[1] Redes dedicadas são redes voltadas ao mercado coorporativo que possuem velocidade muito maior do que velocidades oferecidas pelos planos de internet banda larga e são mais estáveis