Technology is un-precedented in its sweep. Scientific developments have added comfort in our daily lives to such an extent that today it is impossible to imagine living without technology. The mobile phone is one such invention and it is a boon to humankind. Advances in mobile phone technology have integrated mobile phones so much in our lifestyle that it feels like an extension made to the human body. The mobile phone is an invention that every person irrespective of one's lifestyle or financial status feels the need to use and can easily afford it as well. The world's first mobile phone was invented and delivered by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973. They used a handset weighing 2 kilograms! It was a breakthrough innovation and the world changed like never before. Soon in 1979, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) launched the world's first cellular network in Japan and the 'DynaTAC 8000x' was the first commercially available handheld mobile phone in 1983. Further from 1983-2014, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew to over seven billion ensuring one for every person on Earth. Apple, Samsung, Huawei are some of the leading mobile phone manufacturers. The mobile phone market is thriving, and this has led to innovations and increased interactivity with the devices, not just for communication purposes, but many more. 78% of telecommunication sales come from mobile phones.
Figure 1: Top 10 Inventor countries in Mobile Phones
Countries like USA, South Korea, China, Japan to name a few have accelerated research and development in mobility by investing in the same and also protecting the Intellectual Property (IP). Mobile phones grew tiny and smarter over a period of time because of powerful electronics like accelerometer, digital compass, gyroscope, GPS, microphone, and camera. These electronic advancements have facilitated scalable devices from personal to the community level.
Patents and Mobiles –
Patents like 'Monitoring system control technology using multiple sensors, cameras, lighting devices, and a thermostat (US10636284B1)', ' System, method, and computer program product for the directing and distributing of media content (US10637902B2)' from the US and 'Communication method for mobile terminal and mobile terminal (US10638311B2)', 'Sound effect processing method and mobile terminal (US10635388B2)', 'Method and device for enabling a plurality of mobile phones to share one SIM card (US10638300B2)' from China are very well flourished in the mobile phone manufacturing industry. There is a constructive competition amongst modern countries to develop even advanced mobile phones. With the release of open-source operating systems like android, many local manufacturers in countries like India, China, Germany have picked traction and have started manufacturing mobile phones and have sold their products worldwide and at an affordable rate.
Figure 2: Patenting Trends of last 10 years in Mobile Phones
Patent filing trends when studied carefully showcase that mobile technology is advancing for betterment every single day. From calling and messaging the users to extraction of location and search history, every single thing about a person can be studied through the mobile meta data, without compromising the person's privacy. In the year 2011, 43203 patents were granted and in the year 2018, 73703 patents were granted and as we speak, many more patents are under discussions. With affordable electronics and sensors, open source operating systems and growing demands of the public to address myriad of issues in day to day lives, mobile innovations have only grown and become significant. This has led to an IP boom which must be nurtured with the right IP law.
Figure 3: Top 5 Forward cited patents in Mobile Technology
Interactivity in Mobiles
Intelligent sensors play an important role in the advancement of the mobile technology specially to augment location-based services. Latest mobile phones are capable to do many things than just securing GPS co-ordinates. Proximity sensors, Camera based image processing, touch and near field communication protocols are some of the additional developments in a mobile phone. A combination of these has taken mobile interactivity to an advanced stage of automations. For example, gesture recognition, face recognition, audio processing to send auto text messages, settings alarms, enabling hands free mobile usage, smart navigation, safety alerts and power savings. The compass and gyroscope represent an extension of location of the phone, providing the phone with increased awareness of its position in relation to the physical world (e.g., its direction and orientation) and thereby alerting the owner of the device. Scientists have paved their way to innovation by cautiously filing patents and protecting their ideas. Various industry sectors have discovered applications using mobile innovations and have improve the operations for good. Protection of ideas leads to rightful spread of knowledge and its utilization.
Proliferation of mobile technology is dependent on faster networks, speeding processors, higher computing power reduced size and increased memory capacities of the electronic and electrical components. As indicated in figure 3 above there are 89,529 forward citations which means that even the previously filed patents are evolving. This clearly highlights the exciting future that lies ahead of all of us in the mobility space. If the ideas and proofs of concepts are rightfully protected then we never know, our smart phone could unfold into a holographic communication device and through rising neural net innovations, transform us into a virtual world of learning and experience. Our phones could be much more than just a battery operated device. Who knows?
Graph source- Patseer Platform
Image Source – Cashify
Originally published 20 May, 2020
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