Google adds to patent arsenal

All Things Digital reports.

According to an announcement from investment bank Mooreland Partners, the search behemoth has purchased a portfolio of patents from Magnolia Broadband, a fabless semiconductor company. According to the USPTO, Magnolia has 28 issued patents and 24 patents pending in the US, many related to wireless data transmission.

CrunchBase indicates that Magnolia Broadband is the leading innovator (and patent holder) behind Mobile Transit Diversity, a “beam forming” technology that allows wireless network providers to improve data speeds and coverage without having to make physical changes to their base stations, PhoneArena.com writes, which is an interesting set of patents, but not necessarily ones that would be useful in the ongoing mobile devices patent wars.