Countries with developed and developing economies focus a lot on their mobile technology and intend to increase sales of the mobile device specifically Smartphones and Tablets. The mobile device manufacturing companies are mainly focusing on the technologies and patent to improve interconnectivity between a plurality of mobile devices.
Advances in Mobile technology includes improvement in hardware technology, communication technology, software technology and design of the aesthetics of the mobile device.
SO, CAN WE ASSUME THAT EVERYTHING IS GOING AS PER EXPECTATION IN MOBILE TECHNOLOGY SECTOR?
Well, if we are looking for a broad answer, then no. The mobile development companies sold nearly 1.5 billion mobile device in year 2018 (Source – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_mobile_phones) and most of these mobile device had 4G tech enabled hardware. But, the innovations in mobile sector are mainly focused in on development of a range of mobile apps which are native to the mobile device and improve the efficiency of the mobile.
Does this plan to pursue with better mobile app is working? What effects it brings in terms of innovation and patent protection. As per a report published by World Intellectual Property Organization in 2012 (source – https://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/ip-competition/en/studies/clip_smartphone_patent.pdf ), the patent filed in different sectors of the mobile technology are:
If we extrapolate this data to the current scenario, then relative patent ratio has not changed a lot. Thus, we can see that the patent communication sector mainly comprises process patents, and software which mainly comprises mobile applications.
Hence, in this patent race, the hardware and firmware patent are slightly lagging behind and that too, if seen through a peer view of emerging technical fields in Mobile technology:
- Future Communication Tech such as 5G Mobile Technology
5G mobile technology is the fifth-generation wireless technology for digital cellular networks that began wide deployment in 2019. As with previous standards, the covered areas are divided into regions called “cells”, serviced by individual antennas. Virtually every major telecommunication service provider in the developed world is deploying antennas or intends to deploy them soon. The frequency spectrum of 5G is divided into millimeter waves, mid-band and low-band. Low-band uses a similar frequency range as the predecessor, 4G.
- Processor
The processor technology used in the mobile phones has hardly changed significantly which can be adjudged with the fact that the speed of almost all the smartphones is same from past 6 years. The battery usage has also remained intact due to non-inception of high-end commercial battery technologies which can run for longer period in stressful operational scenario (high usage of hardware). The major changes that we are seeing are in the field of imaging or camera technology but the new age Smartphone camera also juice down the battery and heats up the hardware.
- Firmware
The User Interface and the operating system of the mobile devices have come to a nearly halt situation. The operating system plays a major role in mobile app compatibility, deliverability and functionality and also impacts a battery and hardware usage.
So, we will observe each point in mobile technology or Smartphone technology one by one and a potential solution to resolve them.
- Future Communication Technology – Implementation of the future communication technologies such as 5G mobile technology should be only done when the majority of the mobile devices are enabled to use that future technology in an efficient manner. When I say efficient, it means that the mobile device should operate for same running time as with previous communication technologies and without heating up the hardware which reduces a life of Smartphone. Hence, the future communication technology patent should majorly focus to work in on improving the mobile functioning.
- Hardware – Hardware technology should be focused on distributed core technologies and allot one core only for communication processing which further allows the mobile to run the basic features such as calling for a longer period while the multiple cores should work in tandem, they should also be controllable as per the battery status of the Smartphone. Hence, the patents should focus on improving the hardware in such a way that implement multiple, customize-able processing cores. The distributed core also improves multi-window function and mobile gaming.
Another field where the technologies are failing is cooling of the mobile device hardware. Not a lot of patents are filed in mobile cooling tech and hence life of mobile devices are reducing in current trends.
- Firmware – This field demands a lot of patent filing to improve smooth running of the installed applications and the operating system should force to tweak the applications to automatically reduce the battery usage when not in active use like idling of a vehicle.
The patents targeting the above mentioned areas are required to set a trend for futuristic technologies to be more efficient because they will be heavily relying on the technologies in mobile sector which are in force at present.
