Nvidia and Intellectual Ventures (IV) are looking to boost their IP (intellectual property) portfolio, announcing the joint acquisition of a set of patents developed and owned by 3G and 4G wireless broadband and broadcast solutions provider IPWireless. This portfolio comprises of about 500 patents granted and pending in the wireless communications area, such as essential concepts in LTE, LTE-Advanced as well as 3G/4G technologies.

The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed and ownership of these patents was split between Nvidia and IV. Nvidia will be licensing the rights to the patents that it did not acquire from IPWireless, whilst IPWireless will retain the ability to make use of the patented technology, royalty-free, as part of the deal.

“This acquisition complements our ownership of extensive fundamental patents in graphics, visual and mobile computing," said David Shannon, executive vice president and general counsel at Nvidia. “These patents, acquired in collaboration with Intellectual Ventures, will help support our rapidly expanding efforts in the mobile business.”

Bill Jones, CEO of IPWireless added that: “Retaining access to this patent portfolio allows IPWireless to continue developing its market-leading products and serving its customers now and in the future. In addition, IPWireless will continue investing and innovating in 4G LTE and other areas of wireless IP.”     

In related news, Nvidia recently unveiled the third graphics processing unit (GPU) based on its next-generation Kepler 28-nanometer graphics architecture, the GeForce GTX 670, and also pulled the wraps off of its range topping GPU behemoth, the GeForce GTX 690.