Byeong Woo Kang

Performance of Single-Carrier Frequency-Domain Adaptive Antenna Array

The bit error rate (BER) performance of single-carrier (SC) transmission in a frequency-selective fading channel can be significantly improved by using frequency-domain equalization (FDE). In a cellular network, however, the same frequency is reused in different cells to efficiently utilize the limited bandwidth and therefore, the BER performance degrades due to co-channel interference (CCI). Adaptive antenna array (AAA) is one of the well-known techniques to suppress the CCI. In this paper, we consider a frequency-domain AAA, based on the average CCI power minimization criterion, jointly used with FDE and theoretically derive the optimum array weight using Lagrange multiplier method. We evaluate, by the computer simulation, the outage probability of the BER in a frequency-selective CCI environment.

Just-in-time inventions and the development of standards: How firms use opportunistic strategies to obtain standard-essential patents (SEPs)

Recent years have seen large-scale litigation of standard-essential patents (SEPs) between companies like Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, Google, HTC, Microsoft, Kodak, and Research in Motion. Such patents are particular because they are, by definition, indispensable to any company wishing to implement a technical standard. Such patents bring substantial benefits to their owners and firms that do not have such patents in their own portfolio are sometimes prepared to spend billions of dollars purchasing them and/or signing a license agreement with each of the owners. In addition, the owners have other benefits in financial returns (Blind et al., 2011) and stock market returns (Aggarwal et al., 2011). Thus, firms have huge incentives to obtain essential patents. While there is already a considerable body of literature on the possible effects of SEP ownership on competition (e.g. patent holdup, royalty stacking), not much work has yet been done on how firms obtain such patents in the first place. Notable exceptions are the studies of Omachi (2004), who shows how firms use patent continuations to extend the scope of existing patents in order to make them essential to the standard.

The impacts of export competition on international technology flows

ABSTRACT Knowledge flow is a key to building technological capabilities. This article investigates how competition in international trade affects knowledge flow between countries using patent data and trade data for analysis. The main finding is that export competition in the third market (in our study, the US market) seems to have a positive impact on the flow of knowledge. The findings from this study contribute to the debate on ‘learning-by-exporting’.

Essential intellectual property rights and corporate technology strategy: manufacturing firms vs. non-practicing entities

Obtaining essential intellectual property rights (IPRs) is important for innovation competition in the network industry, where technical standardisation plays a critical role in development. In this study, we empirically investigate the determinants of essential IPRs for wireless communications standards by using the patent database. More specifically, we compare manufacturing firms’ and non-practicing entities’ (NPEs) technology strategies for essential IPRs. Our results indicate that manufacturing firms accumulate their technological capability in specific technology fields, whereas NPEs cover broader technology fields to keep their dominant position in the standardisation process.