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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/5g-and-6g-patent-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-08-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Telecommunications5G and 6G Patents: Who Holds the Radio Access Claims and Where the Field Is Still Open
- Half the field in five hands. The top five assignees combine for 8,500 of 16,826 records in scope, 50.5% of everything filed.
- Filing has cooled from its peak, not stopped. After peaking at 3,172 records in 2022, filings fell 37% from 2021 (2,818) to 2024 (1,781), the last complete year.
- Wireless-network claims dominate everything else. H04W covers 85.0% of records; the next largest class, H04L digital transmission, sits at 34.4% — a steep drop-off after the top class.
16.8K
Published Records
51%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-37%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (2,818 records) with 2024 (1,781) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 16,826 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What the 5G and 6G filing record actually shows
The dataset covers 16,826 published records filed against fifth- and sixth-generation network terms paired with radio-layer concepts such as beamforming control, radio resource management and network protocol claims. Filing activity is concentrated: the top five assignees hold 50.5% of all records, and the top ten extend that to 71.5%. That is a field where a handful of standards-essential filers set the terms of engagement for anyone entering later.
Composition by IPC subclass confirms the corpus is genuinely a radio-access story rather than a broader computing one: H04W wireless communication networks touches 85.0% of records, with H04L digital transmission a distant second at 34.4%. Positioning, AI-based computing and antenna-specific classes each sit under 3% of records, which is where the claim space is thinner rather than absent.
Filing concentration and technology composition, 2015–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on 5G & 6G Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the final one or two years in the trend line are undercounts, not a genuine drop in activity.
Filings rose to a 2022 peak before easing
Annual records climbed from 405 in 2017 to a peak of 3,172 in 2022. The complete-year comparison shows a 37% decline from 2,818 in 2021 to 1,781 in 2024 — a real cooling after the standards-development surge, though 2025 and 2026 figures will revise upward as publications catch up.
Wireless networking claims dominate the IPC mix
H04W (wireless communication networks) appears on 85.0% of the 16,826 records, with H04L (digital transmission) on 34.4% and H04B (transmission, general) on 13.3%. Positioning (G01S), AI-based computing (G06N), general data processing (G06F), multiplexing (H04J) and antennas (H01Q) each sit at or below 3% of records — evidence of where claim density is light rather than where the technology is unimportant.
Shares are the percentage of the 16,826 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on 5G & 6G Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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Representative and most-cited filings
Representative recent filing
WO2026114749A1 — Multi-radio-access-technology spectrum sharing
NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY
The method determines, from messages exchanged with nodes on two different radio access technologies, matched discontinuous operating patterns for each RAT, then monitors a broadcasting resource based on an indication tied to that matching. In practice it is a coordination scheme for letting two RATs share spectrum by aligning their idle and active windows rather than by static band partitioning.Filed by Nokia Technologies Oy, published 2026-06-04.
Most-cited records in this corpus
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20200259896A1 | Industrial Automation with 5G and Beyond | 746 |
| 2 | US20180262924A1 | System and Method of Network Policy Optimization | 449 |
| 3 | US20170339609A1 | Method and apparatus for determining PDU session identity in wireless communication system | 398 |
| 4 | US20190223073A1 | Conditional handover procedures | 263 |
| 5 | US20190230556A1 | Apparatus and method for network function profile management | 217 |
| 6 | US11206549B1 | Wireless mesh network | 200 |
| 7 | US20210051707A1 | Random Access Procedures Using Repetition | 190 |
| 8 | US20190364541A1 | Method for selecting resource operation preferred by user in wireless communication system and device for same | 185 |
| 9 | US20190357129A1 | Method for selecting network node in wireless communication system and device therefor | 184 |
| 10 | US20220201556A1 | Method and system for SLA-based network slice control service | 176 |
Citation counts favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations within this searched corpus; treat them as a signal of influence, not of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on 5G & 6G Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the concentration and momentum data mean for a filing decision
Three patterns matter more than any single ranking: how tight the top of the field is, how filing pace has moved since the 2022 peak, and which co-filing relationships signal standards-essential coordination.
Concentration
50.5%
of 16,826 records held by top 5
Half the field sits with five assignees
With 8,500 of 16,826 records held by the five leading assignees, and 71.5% held by the top ten, this is not a fragmented emerging field — it behaves like a mature standards arena where cross-licensing and essentiality declarations already structure most competitive moves.
Ranking covers 100 companies, the full set the data endpoint returns.
Momentum
-37%
2021→2024 filings (complete years)
Filing pace has eased from its 2022 peak
Annual filings dropped from 2,818 in 2021 to 1,781 in 2024, a 37% decline across the only span where both years are publication-complete. Several leading assignees also show sharp year-on-year drops in the most recent partial year, though that figure will revise upward as later publications land.
2022 remains the single peak year at 3,172 records.
Composition
85.0%
of records classed under H04W
Wireless-network claims crowd out adjacent classes
H04W's 85.0% share dwarfs every other subclass, including H04L at 34.4% and H04B at 13.3%. Classes tied to positioning, AI-assisted radio management and antenna design each remain under 3% of records, marking them as comparatively open relative to core wireless-network claims.
A record can carry multiple IPC classes, so shares exceed 100% in total.
Coordination
418
strongest co-assignee pairing (records)
A handful of inventor-assignee pairs recur at scale
The strongest co-assignee pairing in this dataset appears 418 times, well ahead of the next pairings at 289 and 240. That density of repeat pairing is typical of a standards-contribution team filing continuations and divisionals off a shared invention disclosure pipeline rather than independent one-off filings.
Ten co-assignee pairs are tracked in this corpus.
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Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on 5G & 6G Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where the newer entrants have room
The leader board is dominated by infrastructure vendors and handset makers with long-running standards-essential portfolios; momentum figures show even the largest filers pulling back from 2022-era filing rates, which changes the calculus for anyone timing a new filing.
Leader scale
2,787
records, top-ranked assignee
The top assignee alone outfiles most mid-table entrants combined
The leading assignee's 2,787 records compare against 1,083 for the fifth-place filer and 544 for tenth place — a steep drop-off that signals an early, sustained filing programme rather than a recent push.
Based on the 100-company ranking returned by the dataset.
Pullback
-81% YoY
latest-year change, leading filer
Even the top filer has cut its latest-year pace sharply
The leading assignee filed 108 records in the latest year, down 81% year-on-year — a pattern echoed across other major filers, with declines ranging from roughly 74% to 91% depending on the company. Because publication lags filing by about 18 months, some of this gap will narrow as later records surface.
Momentum figures are drawn from the most recent tracked year, which is still partial.
Long tail
71.5%
of records held by top 10 of 100 ranked
Entrants outside the top ten face a crowded but not closed field
With 71.5% of records held by the top ten assignees, the remaining 90 ranked companies split the other 28.5% — room enough for focused filers, but only in branches the leaders have not already saturated.
Ranking counted in patent families, 16,826 total in scope.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Ofinno, LLC | 108 | -81% |
| Qualcomm Inc. | 11 | -78% |
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 10 | -80% |
| Comcast Cable Communications, LLC | 9 | -81% |
| ZTE Corporation | 8 | -91% |
| Apple Inc. | 8 | -74% |
| LG Electronics Inc. | 3 | -83% |
| Sharp Corporation | 3 | -94% |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on 5G & 6G Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this before filing or negotiating
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing leverage, or finding an open filing angle.
Check freedom-to-operate against the concentrated top ten
With 71.5% of records held by ten assignees, any new radio-access filing should be screened against their portfolios first, not the long tail.
Run an FTO screen in EurekaTrack the under-claimed IPC branches
Classes like G01S, G06N and H01Q sit under 3% of records each — worth a closer claim-by-claim read before assuming the space is occupied.
Explore white space in EurekaWatch momentum, not just totals
Sharp latest-year pullbacks across major filers may reflect publication lag rather than genuine retreat; revisit this trend as 2025-2026 data completes.
Set a filing-trend alert in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on 5G & 6G Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about the 5G and 6G patent landscape
Filing in this dataset is concentrated at the top: the leading assignee holds 2,787 of the 16,826 records in scope, and the five leading assignees together hold 50.5% of all records. That level of concentration is typical of a standards-essential field where a small group of infrastructure and handset vendors filed early and kept filing continuations. Anyone assessing licensing exposure should start with those top five before looking at the long tail of 90 remaining ranked companies.
No — filings peaked at 3,172 records in 2022 and have since eased, with the only complete year-on-year comparison showing a 37% decline from 2,818 filings in 2021 to 1,781 in 2024. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend chart will still revise upward, so it is premature to call the field closed. The realistic read is that the initial standards-development surge has passed its peak, not that new filing has stopped.
Wireless communication networks, IPC class H04W, appear on 85.0% of the 16,826 records in scope, making it by far the dominant class. Digital information transmission (H04L) is a distant second at 34.4%, and general transmission (H04B) sits at 13.3%. Classes tied to positioning, AI-assisted radio management, general data processing, multiplexing and antenna design each remain under 3% of records, which marks them as comparatively open relative to the wireless-network core.
The clearest signal is IPC classes with low record density relative to the 85.0% H04W core: radar and positioning fusion (G01S) at 2.9%, AI-based radio-management models (G06N) at 0.8%, antenna design (H01Q) at 0.5%, and multiplex scheduling (H04J) at 0.5%. Low density does not guarantee an easy filing, but it does mean fewer prior filings are staking out those specific claim combinations. A first claim built around, say, AI-assisted beamforming control paired with multi-RAT scheduling would sit in a class combination this dataset shows as thin.
WO2026114749A1, filed by Nokia Technologies Oy and published 2026-06-04, claims a method for coordinating two different radio access technologies by matching their discontinuous operating patterns and then monitoring a broadcasting resource based on that match. In effect it is a spectrum-sharing coordination scheme rather than a static band-partitioning approach. Anyone designing multi-RAT coexistence features should read its full claim set closely, since the matching-and-monitoring mechanism is the part most likely to read onto adjacent implementations.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on 5G & 6G Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.