On Wednesday, May 15 at 11AM Eastern, InterDigital and Synopsis will be co-hosting a free IEEE Communications webinar on HSPA+ modem design, highlighting a design flow that enables quick validation of prototype algorithms that can be readily measured against 3GPP requirements. To register for the webinar, please visit this link.

The Telecom Council event, co-sponsored by InterDigital and Qualcomm, was an opportunity for technologists, investors and other members of the Silicon Valley technology landscape to come together, share ideas, and engage in a lively discussion and debate over the future of M2M. According to a survey by market research firm IHS, however, it seems that many people are thinking the same thing: when a panel of wireless industry executives was asked what they see as the biggest challenges in reaching mass adoption for M2M and the Internet of the Things, 86 percent of respondents saw standards, architecture and interoperability as the number one challenge. The survey is ongoing – feel free to participate here.

User-Adaptive Video is InterDigital’s technology that uses the frontal camera of a device to establish user distance, number of viewers, and other conditions like ambient light to modulate a video stream’s quality based on the limits of human perception. Using UAV technology, reductions of bandwidth of up to 70-80% can be achieved with no perceived loss of quality of the part of the user. The technology is part of our overall effort to develop new technologies that adapt video streaming – a huge proportion of future network traffic – to the particularities of wireless connectivity. Successfully demonstrated at Mobile World Congress, you can read more about the technology here.

This is an important area: it’s no secret that many predictions see existing wireless spectrum as insufficient for future needs. In addition, many people are looking to unlicensed spectrum or TV White Space as a possible connectivity area for machine-to-machine communications – essentially, as a means for connecting the billions of devices that could come onto the network in the next few years without having a serious impact on current wireless communications.

There’s no doubt that biometric security is a huge growth area in mobile, and in technology generally. The BIO-Key deal is also noteworthy from another respect: it’s an agreement struck by InterDigital’s recently-launched Innovation Partners unit, which is tasked with sourcing new technologies that are being developed outside of InterDigital’s core technology research areas, through partnerships with companies, research entities and even individuals.

Our colleagues at Mindspeed put together this video, where our own Senior Staff Engineer Bartosz Balazinski discusses InterDigital’s Bandwidth Management solution and its integration with Mindspeed’s technology to provide seamless Wi-Fi access within the context of an overall network management. The result: increased bandwidth availability when required, and reduce data traffic on the core network.

You can see the video here, or at http://www.tianow.org/videos/mwc-2013-m2ms-tipping-point/11152

The piece highlights our own research into various areas, but most especially what we call “Fuzzy Cells”. The principle is simple: by blurring the distinction between cell edges – where the worst reception occurs, and data speeds for the most disadvantaged users plummet – through better handover, you can improve cell edge performance with no significant infrastructure change. InterDigital’s Fuzzy Cell technology shows gains of ~2X over fractional frequency reuse (FFR), a technique often considered for LTE.

The technique was also featured in a Connected Planet article, here.

As the release notes:

“Network operators are increasingly embracing cellular and Wi-Fi as complementary technologies in delivering the ever-growing volume of data through offloading cellular users onto Wi-Fi. As such, many operators are deploying carrier Wi-Fi in significant volume today. But critically, for urban deployments with metrocells, the total cost of ownership (TCO) is driven by the number of nodes, as each requires power, backhaul, installation and site acquisition. Having separate carrier Wi-Fi installations and small cell installations to serve the same area doubles TCO compared to an integrated unit that shares power, backhaul and installation.”

To join us for free martinis on Tuesday, February 25th and Wednesday, February 26th from 5pm to 7pm, simply download the app on-site or search for APPeritivo at either Google Play or the Apple Store. The app will use SCMS to connect to our stand, and enable you to register your choice.

InterDigital’s demos and booth are located in Hall 7, Stand 7G111. Gràcies, i esperem a veure a Barcelona! (Thanks, and looking forward to seeing you in Barcelona!)