Network Slicing Orchestration Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
What the network slicing orchestration filings show
Network slicing orchestration sits at the intersection of transport-domain management and machine-learning-driven resource allocation: a network device profiles multiple transport domains under a slice, trains on performance data and selects domains for orchestration. The scope here is narrow by design, drawing only 14 published records, so the picture is less about volume and more about who staked claims early and how far those claims reach. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent filing years are undercounted and should not be read as a slowdown on their own.
The dataset spans a single decade of activity concentrated around a peak filing year, with receiving offices split across the United States, Europe and India. That split matters for anyone assessing freedom to operate: a claim granted in one office does not block filing in another, and the record set here shows no single jurisdiction carrying a majority of the activity.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 14 records: how filing activity moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filing trend, 2015-2026
Filings rose to a peak of 5 records in 2017 and have not returned to that level since; 2026 is a partial year and should be read as incomplete rather than as zero activity.
IPC subclass composition
H04L (digital information transmission) appears in 85.7% of the 14 records and H04W (wireless communication networks) in 50.0%, confirming that orchestration claims are drafted primarily as transmission and network-management inventions rather than as radio-layer inventions. Smaller subclasses such as G06N, B25G, B60Q, G06F, H02P and H04N each appear in a single record and mark tangential or exploratory filings rather than a settled sub-field.
Shares are the percentage of the 14 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
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Systems and methods for transport based network slicing orchestration and management
A network device obtains service requirements tied to a customer identifier, builds an infrastructure profile and a performance profile for the transport domains under a network slice, then trains a machine learning model on performance measurements from those domains. It uses the updated model to select which transport domain to use for orchestration, tying capacity decisions directly to measured performance rather than static configuration.Filed by Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc., published 2021-10-14 as US20210320878A1 — the most-cited record in this set at 15 citations.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20210320878A1 | Systems and methods for transport based network slicing orchestration and management | 15 |
| 2 | EP3471341A1 | Network slice method and system | 12 |
| 3 | US20230337121A1 | Systems and methods for automatic application-level network slicing over private cellular networks | 3 |
| 4 | US12170954B2 | Systems and methods for automatic application-level network slicing over private cellular networks | 1 |
| 5 | US11831556B2 | Systems and methods for transport based network slicing orchestration and management | 1 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and favour older records; treat them as a signal of prior attention, not of current commercial weight.
Publication numbers are shown where the record carries one (5 of 5 rows); clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Four findings from the ranking, the trend and the class composition, read together rather than in isolation.
One assignee anchors the field
The ranked leader holds 5 records against a fifth-place entity holding just 1, out of 6 companies in the ranking. That gap is wide for a field this size, and it means a freedom-to-operate check should start with that leader's claim set before looking anywhere else.
Activity has not returned to its 2017 peak
Filing rose to 5 records in 2017 and has since run below that level in every subsequent year captured. With publication lag of roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are necessarily incomplete, but the absence of a second peak across the years already fully published is itself informative.
Claims route through transmission, not radio access
H04L covers 85.7% of the 14 records and H04W covers 50.0%; because a record can carry more than one class these figures overlap rather than sum to 100%. The pattern shows drafters framing slicing orchestration as a network-management and transmission problem, which shapes where a design-around needs to sit.
Almost no joint filing activity
The dataset contains a single co-assignee pair, linked twice. Outside that pair, filings in this set are single-assignee, which suggests the field has not yet developed the joint-venture or standards-consortium filing pattern seen in more mature wireless sub-fields.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to 5g & 6g: network slicing orchestration patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis
The ranking and the class breakdown point to specific next steps rather than a single conclusion.
Check freedom to operate against the leader first
With 5 of 14 records held by a single assignee, any new filing in transport-domain orchestration should be checked against that assignee's claim scope before broader clearance work begins.
Explore assignee claims in EurekaTest claim language outside H04L/H04W
The subclasses outside H04L and H04W each carry only one record apiece, which is a thin base to search against but also the most open space for a differently framed claim.
Draft and stress-test claims in EurekaCommon questions on network slicing orchestration patents
This dataset captures 14 published records matching a targeted search on network slicing orchestration claims and title/abstract language, spanning 2015 through mid-2026. That is a narrow, purpose-built set rather than a broad count of everything touching network slicing, so it should be read as the core orchestration-specific filings rather than the full 5G/6G slicing literature. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025-2026 figures will rise as more applications publish.
The assignee ranking lists 6 companies, with the leader holding 5 of the 14 records and the fifth-ranked entity holding just 1. That is a meaningful gap for a field this size, meaning one organisation's claim set carries disproportionate weight in any clearance review. The ranking also includes individual inventors alongside corporate assignees, reflecting the small scale of the field rather than a fragmented market.
The dominant classes are H04L (digital information transmission), present in 85.7% of the 14 records, and H04W (wireless communication networks), present in 50.0%. A handful of records also touch G06N (AI-based computing) and several unrelated classes such as B25G and B60Q, which likely reflect multi-purpose filings rather than a genuine cross-over sub-field. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, these shares overlap and do not sum to 100%.
US20210320878A1, Verizon's filing on transport-based network slicing orchestration and management, carries 15 citations in this set, ahead of the next most-cited record at 12. High citation counts inside a searched corpus tend to favour older, earlier-published records simply because they have had more time to be cited, so treat this as a marker of influence within the field rather than a statement that the claims are current or unchallenged. Anyone drafting around slicing orchestration should read this filing's claims closely regardless of its citation count, given its subject matter overlaps the core of the search.
It is a small, concentrated field rather than a crowded one: 14 total records, a single dominant assignee, and a filing peak in 2017 that later years have not matched. The concentration of claims in H04L and H04W leaves the subclasses that appear only once, such as G06N-tied AI approaches or H02P motor-control crossovers, comparatively open. That combination of low volume and narrow classification concentration suggests real white space for a differently framed claim, provided it is checked against the leading assignee's existing scope first.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.