Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS
Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS

Patent Licensing

We offer patent licenses for the following technologies:

LC3/LC3plus

LC3plus

LC3plus is a low complexity communication codec jointly developed by Fraunhofer IIS and Ericsson and standardized by ETSI as TS 103 634.

A patent license for the related Fraunhofer IP is available from Fraunhofer directly. Please see the LC3plus Patent Licensing Overview for your information.

LC3 (for Bluetooth)

LC3 is a feature reduced derivative of LC3plus, exclusively for use according to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) audio profiles. The specification of LC3 v1 is published here: https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/specs/low-complexity-communication-codec-1-0/

Fraunhofer IIS offers licenses for Advanced Packet Loss Concealment as an add-on to the Bluetooth-standardized LC3. Please contact us for an individual license.

Learn more about LC3/LC3plus product features.

MPEG-4 AAC

  • AAC-LC
  • HE-AAC, HE-AAC v2
  • xHE-AAC
  • AAC-ELD family: AAC-LD, AAC-ELD, AAC-ELD v2
  • AAC Scalable

A patent license for the related Fraunhofer IP is either available

The digital radio standard DRM mandates xHE-AAC, which is part of the AAC patent pool.

To learn more about the technologies' features, please browse our product overview for audio codecs.

To learn more about the features of xHE-AAC, please see our product page.

EVS (3GPP Enhanced Voice Services)

For the latest technical information about EVS, see the 3GPP Specification series (TS 26.441 to TS 26.451). Further information can also be obtained from the 3GPP press release Enhanced Voice Services Codec for LTE.

The following 12 companies have submitted a single joint codec candidate for EVS codec standardization (alphabetical order):

  • Fraunhofer IIS
  • Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
  • Nokia Corporation
  • NTT
  • NTT DOCOMO Inc.
  • ORANGE SA
  • Panasonic Corporation
  • Qualcomm Incorporated
  • Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
  • Telefon LM Ericsson AB
  • VoiceAge Corporation
  • ZTE Corporation

The EVS candidate has been approved at 3GPP SA#65 meeting held on 15-17 Sept 2014 (see Section 12.4 of the Draft Report for TSG SA meeting #65).

The companies have filed licensing declarations with ETSI or ARIB or TTA or TTC or CCSA and are prepared to grant a license to their potential essential IP in accordance with the ETSI IPR Policy.

Please contact us for an appropriate license of Fraunhofer IIS patents.

Learn more about EVS' technology features.

MPEG-H Audio

In June 2021, Via Licensing Alliance announced the availability of an MPEG-H patent pool.

A patent license for the related Fraunhofer IP is either available

Learn more about the MPEG-H Audio technology features.

Journaline

Journaline is the ETSI standardized advanced text application for the open digital radio systems DRM and DAB. It is also a mandatory part of EWF - Emergency Warning Functionality for both systems.

A patent license for the related Fraunhofer IP is available from Fraunhofer directly: Please contact us for an individual license.

Learn more about Journaline's product features.

DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale)

A patent license for DRM-related IP is required for multiple components: 

  • xHE-AAC/AAC audio technology (see MPEG-4 AAC section above) and
  • Journaline advanced text application and mandatory component of EWF - Emergency Warning Functionality (see Journaline section above).

An overview of DRM-related IP is also available from Via Licensing Alliance at https://www.via-la.com/.