MEMS gyroscope patent investigation 2013 Report by Yole Developpement

© 2013

Copyrights © Yole Développement SA. All rights reserved.

MEMS Gyroscope

Patent Investigation

Report Sample

Dow

corning

Hillcrest LabsDomintech

Granted

17 (29%)

Pending

39 (66%)

Lapsed

2 (3%)

Unavailab

le1 (2%)

InvenSense

© 2013 • 2Copyrights © Yole Développement SA. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

• Introduction

• Context and Frame of the Survey

• Definitions & Glossary

• Objective and Methodology

• Executive Summary 18

• 1. Status of MEMS gyroscopes: market and technology trends 42

– Market trends

– Competitive landscape

– Gyroscope design and detection principle

– Technical trends in front-end and assembly

– Software trends: functionalities based on gyroscopes

• 2. MEMS Gyroscope Patent Landscape 97

– Evolution of MEMS Gyro Patent Publication Time-line

– Geographical distribution of patents filing

– Legal status of patent filings

– Top 10 IPC Classes

– Top 15 patent applicants

– Top 10 academic assignees

– Assignee collaboration network

– Top 10 inventors and last inventors

– Inventor / Assignees collaboration network and assignee citations network

– Summary of Top 15 patent assignees patent portfolio


Table of Contents

• 3. Segmentation and patent ranking 117

– Technology segmentation and top patent assignees for each segment

– Patent ranking

• 4. MEMS gyroscope patent portfolio analysis of business leaders 131

– STMicroelectonics

• Patent filling evolution / Geographical analysis / Top inventors / Legal status / Citation analysis / Top patents

– InvenSense


– Bosch


• 5. Analysis: link between IP, technical trends and market trends 157

– Link between IP and market evolution

– Link between IP and reverse engineering of products currently in the market

• 6. Analysis of key patents 180

– MEMS design & process - Analysis of 14 key Patents

– Circuit & IC design – Analysis of 6 key patents

– Application / Software – Analysis of 10 key patents

• Conclusion 214

• Appendix – Presentation of Yole Developpement


What does this report include ?

What it does not…?

• Context

– After several years of specific analysis for customers, YOLE Développement started last year to publish report on the analysis of

the technical contents of patents

– This new IP report is focused on the MEMS gyroscope technologies: from MEMS design & process to IC design to applications

– YOLE has developed a specific methodology in order to make such analysis, mixing YOLE technical and business knowledge and

classical access to patent database

• It includes…

– This IP report provide an overview of « who is owning what » in terms of patents for MEMS gyroscope sensors and gyro-based

applications, plus a dedicated focus on top players which are most active in this area

– The main report objectives are

• To present the industrial and business status of MEMS gyroscopes today

• To define and provide a database of all the relevant patents with technological segmentation

• To identify the key patents and the owner of such patents

• To analyze the link between patents, technology implementation and business status

• It does not include…

– Juridical analysis of patent portfolio

– Deep link analysis (legal, juridical…) between assignees

• To summarize, our work in the frame of the new kind of reports is to analyze key patents to identify structuring concepts

from a technological or an industrial point of view, leading to business and strategic conclusions


Yole’s standard

reports

• Market analysis

• Technology analysis

A new type of reports providing a clear link

between IP situation and market evolutions

• More than a report describing a state of the art of an IP situation, this report provides a missing

link between patented technological solutions and market, technological and business trends

– YOLE has developed a unique methodology in order to define a technical segmentation of patent landscape, define which patents

are the most innovative, either to prepare the future or to be used already in production

– By mixing its technical knowledge, business understanding and patent search, Yole is able to provide unique analysis and added

value you will find in this report

– In depth technological analysis of patents provided by this report will lead to the understanding of strategic decisions and

positioning of key players within the value chain

MEMS Gyroscope Technological

evolutions

& Market evolutions

MEMS Gyroscope

IP landscape

Yole’s new IP report

• Relevant patents analysis

• Technological segmentation

• Detailed architecture to be implemented

• Key patent identification

• Links with the patents and available

products


Introduction

• This study presents the patent landscape about MEMS gyroscopes

– The patent landscape is analyzed with a particular focus on the design, detection principles and functionalities

– A ranking of the top patents is established and the link to market and technology developments is analyzed

– Several key patents were selected based on the particular technological issues related to MEMS gyroscope

developments, at the front-end side, electronics or software

• Selection of the patents has been done both automatically and manually

– We have used search equations which are detailed in the next slides

– To be selected, the association of MEMS and gyro / angular rate sensor /… must be established

– Many other patents exist with gyroscopes but without reference to MEMS technologies (in particular for some players

or when it comes to applications). But it could not be included in the analysis because the scope would be too large

(>40 000 patent families!)

– To complete this automated selection, it has been decided to add some patents manually:

• For some important device makers that did not appear: Panasonic, Wacoh…

• For some important companies involved in software: Movea, Hillcrest Labs, Qualcomm…

– For all those patents: the selection between relevant / related / non relevant patents has been done manually


MEMS gyro design

Raw wafers

“Generic”

MEMS

design

blocks

Specific MEMS

gyro design /

detection

principle

Gyro ASIC design

“Generic”

MEMS IC

blocks

Specific MEMS

gyro IC design

MEMS Front-end

manufacturing

“Generic”

MEMS

processes

Specific MEMS

gyro

processes

Wafer test

ASIC Front-end

manufacturing

Standard ASIC processes

Front-end

assembly

Dicing

Dicing

Back-End

AssemblyFinal test

Packaged

gyroscopesApplications

Software /

Data fusionApplications

Other sensors

Data

RF communication

Storage

...

SCOPE of

the report

Context and Frame of the SurveyChoice to focus on the 3 most critical / hottest areas: Gyro

design & process / Gyro IC & Software


• Objective

– The aim of this study is to provide a patent survey in the field of MEMS gyroscopes: patent landscape and key patents

• Topics of the research

– MEMS gyroscope design & process

– MEMS gyroscope IC

– Applications for which the use of gyroscope is critical

• Database

– The data was extract from the Questel IP portal www.orbit.com (FamPat). The FamPat database covers more than 60 million patent documents (90+ offices)

grouped in invention-based families

• Search strategy

– Step 1 – Global search

• Search equation: ((MEMS OR MICRO_ELECTRO_MECHANICAL OR MICRO_MECHANICAL OR MICRO_MACHIN+) AND (GYRO+ OR CORIOLIS OR ANGULAR VELOCIT+ OR

YAW_RATE SENSOR? OR ((SEISMIC OR PROOF OR SUSPENDED OR MOVABLE) 0W MASS+) OR ((ROTARY OR ROTATION+ OR TURNING OR ANGULAR) 1D

(ACCELERATION? OR SPEED OR INERTIAL+ OR SENSOR? OR SENSING OR RATE? OR OSCILLATOR+ OR MOTION? OR DETECTION?)) OR (VIBRAT+ 1D (BEAM? OR

PLATE? OR SHELL? OR FORK?)) OR TUNING FORK?))/BI/CLMS AND (B81+ OR G01C+ OR G11B+ OR G01P+ OR H01+)/IC

– Step 2 – Search by key player

• Search equation: (Player)/PA.fld AND (((GYRO+)/BI OR ((ANGULAR VELOCIT+) 1D (SENSOR? OR SENSING OR DETECTION?))/BI OR ((ROTARY OR ROTATION+ OR

TURNING OR YAW_RATE) 0W (SENSOR? OR SENSING OR DETECTION?))/BI) AND (B81+ OR G01C+ OR G11B+ OR G01P+)/IC) NOT Step 1

– Notes:

• ? replaces 0 or 1 character

• + replaces 0 or n characters

• nD searches adjacent termes, regardless of the order, being separated by a maximum of n words

• nW searches adjacent terms in the order specified and being separated by a maximum of n words

• /BI searches in the title and abstract

• /CLMS searches in the claims

• /IC searches in the International Classification Codes

• /PA.fld searches in current assignees

• Data analysis

– The quantitative analysis of data was made using the Intellixir software.

• Preliminary remark: for all the evolution charts, the data corresponding to the years 2011 and 2012 may not be complete since a significant number of

patent applications filed during these years might not have been published yet

Objectives and Search Strategy

Number of selected patent families related to MEMS gyroscopes: 2508

(2061 relevant and 447 related) over a total of >4700 results


Methodology for Patent Screening,

Classification and Analysis

• The screening was performed for US, EP, WO, J translated English full text, GB, DE,

FR, CN+TW+KR translated English full text using English + French + German

keywords


Global MEMS gyro market2007 – 2018 market

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

2 007 2 008 2 009 2 010 2 011 2 012 2 013 2 014 2 015 2 016 2 017 2 018

Mar

ket

($M

)

MEMS Gyroscope - 2007 - 2018 market ($M)(standalone gyros + combos with gyros)

Yole développement © Feb. 2013

• Dominated in the past by automotive applications, but now by consumer

– From $XXXM in 2007 to $XXB in 2018!

– Significant took off in 2010 with mobile phone adoption


Evolution of MEMS Gyro Patent Publication Time-line

• 2508 patents were filed from 1972 to 2012. 55% of patents were filed since 2003.

• Note: The data corresponding to the years 2011 and 2012 may not be complete since a significant number of patent applications

filed during these years might not have been published yet.

• The MEMS gyro market started in volume in the 90’ with automotive applications (ESC) and then in the 2000’ with consumer

applications (stabilization, gaming and then mobile)

Patent filing trends for MEMS gyro technologies (relevant and related included)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

No

. of

Pat

ent

Fam

ilies

Priority years

Note: Most patents

filed in 2011 – 2012

not published yet


2000’s: automotive market dominates,

consumer emerges

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

197219741976197819801982198419861988199019921994199619982000200220042006200820102012

No

. o

f P

ate

nt

Fa

mil

ies

Priority yearsPatent filing trends for MEMS gyro technologies (relevant and related inclued)

Market

status

Patent

status

Significant

automotive market

Panasonic, Bosch and Systron Donner dominate for Automotive

Japanese players leading OIS market, InvenSense new successful player

2004: big increase in patent activity linked to compact

silicon MEMS designs targeting consumer applications

OIS dominate, gaming emerges in 2009

Most designs on comb-drive

structure, silicon MEMS

capacitive detection

Continuous activity for very specific

concepts targeting tactical and navigation-

grade for high end market

Applications / Software: limited to

pointing function and some

compensations in sensor fusion


TOP-15 Leading Patent Applicants

• About 200 players are involved in MEMS gyro technologies. The top 10 and the top 15 assignees respectively represents 63% and 70% of patents filed

in MEMS gyro domain

• Panasonic, Murata and Sony together account for 44%. Panasonic and Murata are historically strong players with piezo / ceramic MEMS gyroscopes.

However Sony is a surprise since its market footprint is not very large (mostly piezo gyroscopes for DSC stabilization and gaming in the past)

• The low level of ST Micro is a surprise. However we note that most ST patents are related to MEMS in general and are thus not counted here (not

specifically for gyroscopes)

• Applications-focused companies are growing in this ranking: Qualcomm and Movea

Top 15 patent assignees for MEMS gyro patents (relevant and related included)

447

472

125

89

42

51

31

57

32

26

41

27

30

27

15

37

9

14

20

47

9

29

1

17

18

2

116

5

13

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

PANASONIC (JP)

MURATA (JP)

SONY (JP)

BOSCH (DE)

HONEYWELL (US)

SEIKO EPSON (JP)

ADI (US)

WACOH (JP)

ST MICRO (FR/IT)

CEA (FR)

UNIV SHANGHAI (CN)

QUALCOMM (US)

DRAPER LABORATORY (US)

INVENSENSE (US)

MOVEA (FR)

No. of Patent FamiliesAssignee

Relevant

Related


Detail between process flow and IP portfolioCase study: InvenSense MPU-9150 9-axis sensor

APPARATUS AND METHODOLOGY FOR

CALIBRATION OF A GYROSCOPE AND A COMPASS

INCLUDED IN A HANDHELD DEVICE

(US20110178707) – filed in 01/2011

TEARDOWN

PATENT

Patent included

in the scope of

this report


Assignee(s) InvenSense (US)

Publication Number

(representative member)US20100290769

Segment / Rank Application / Top ranked patent

Citing patent families 0

Rating for family 6.19

Oldest priority date of the

family2009-05-18

Legal statut Alive: US20100290769

Title Optical image stabilization in a digital still camera or handset

What is claimed:

-An optical image stabilization system for a camera module. The stabilization

system comprises a voice coil motor (VCM), at least one digital gyroscope for

receiving signals from the VCM, and an estimator based controller to process

the signals from the digital gyroscope and a reference comparator to output a

loop error signal. The stabilization system further comprises hard coded logic

for receiving the error signal, and comparing the error signal to a reference

signal and providing a stabilized image based upon that comparison, wherein

the signal processing logic, digital gyroscope and estimator based controller

resides on the same chip.

Key words: optical image stabilization (OIS) controller

Context: Handsets and digital still cameras have been challenges to try to improve their optical performance. Methodology requires more accurate optical image

stabilization as the cameras increase in the number of pixels per image. It is desirable to provide an OIS controller for a camera module that addresses all criteria related

to improving their performance that is small in size, having increased optical image stabilization, being very robust and being low in cost.

Advantages / Prev.:

-A high bandwidth digital gyroscope is utilized to estimate the angular position sensor. This eliminates the need for a

Hall element and its associated circuitry that is typically utilized in OIS systems. This further reduces the size of the

chip.

-The control and drive electronics can be implemented primarily through signal processing logic.

-Less phase delay due to a high bandwidth gyro and a unique control loop design.

-The peak filter increases rejection gain to a frequency and also improves the stabilization for the low pass notch.

-The peak filter design increases the gain at the frequency of interest through the use of the VCM and also selectively

changing the spring constant of the VCM.

-OIS system is lower in cost and small in size. Therefore it can be placed on a single chip.

Weakness:

Based on International preliminary

examination report, the subject-matter of the

invention has been anticipated or suggested

by

US2006251410 (Citicorp North America &

Avago Technologies General IP, 2006-11-09)

ApplicationTop ranked patent

http://sobjprd.questel.fr/sobj/servlet/get_pds/US8170408B2.pdf?userid=QPRK1001&type=0&pdfid=36804289&ekey=1008

MEMS gyroscope patent investigation 2013 Report by Yole Developpement

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