5G Base Station Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing peaked in 2020 at 7 families and has not returned to that level since, pointing to a claim space that filled early rather than one still accelerating.
- China dominates the filing map with 18 of the tracked receiving-office filings, against 4 from India and a handful from South Korea and Taiwan.
- No single assignee shows current-year momentum every tracked filer in the recent-year table sits at zero for the latest year, including a -100% YoY drop for one repeat filer.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent families matching 5G base station, gNB radio unit and massive MIMO base station filings that also claim active antenna units, energy efficiency, fronthaul, beam management or digital predistortion, classified under H04W88, H01Q21 or H04B1. The 25 families in scope span 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, with publication naturally lagging filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent year understates real activity.
The technology composition leans heavily on wireless network architecture (H04W) rather than antenna hardware (H01Q) or power systems (H02J), which tells a reader where the claim density actually sits before they open a single document.
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Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 25-family dataset: activity over time, and how that activity splits across IPC subclasses.
A single peak year, not a steady climb
Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 7 in 2020, sat at 3 by the 2022 midpoint, and show no recovery toward the peak through the most recent complete years. That shape reads as a burst of filing tied to early 5G deployment cycles rather than sustained investment.
Wireless network claims dominate
H04W (wireless communication networks) appears in 22 of 25 records, far ahead of H04B and H04L at 7 each. Antenna-specific claims under H01Q appear in only 2 records, and power-system claims under H02J in just 3 — a gap worth checking against the white-space chips below before assuming the hardware side is well covered.
Shares are the percentage of the 25 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on 5G Base Station Systems with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about 5g base station systems and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in this set
5G base station active antenna unit array mounting frame
The filing describes a mounting frame for a 5G base station's active antenna unit array, built around a support rod, a protective cover, a base and a guide frame that lets the antenna array be installed and removed without requiring workers to perform the task at height. A processing module handles data at the top of the assembly, and cable routing is enclosed within the structure to protect wiring from external damage and slow cable ageing.Mechanical and installation-safety claims of this kind sit adjacent to, rather than inside, the dense H04W wireless-network claim space — worth checking separately before assuming freedom to operate on hardware mounting.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CN111148120A | 不具有波束对应的波束管理 | 9 |
| 2 | KR1020180137397A | Methods for managing resource based on open interface and Apparatuses thereof | 7 |
| 3 | CN116799477A | 5G基站有源天线单元阵列装载架 | 3 |
| 4 | CN212163730U | 一种智能散热的5G基站 | 3 |
| 5 | CN114339840A | 5G分流接入网系统、通信系统及5G通信分流方法 | 2 |
| 6 | CN112492667A | 一种基于智慧基站的数据处理方法、系统及控制器 | 2 |
| 7 | CN213547114U | 一种基于配电房共享的5G基站融合系统 | 2 |
| 8 | CN120980569A | 一种基于可分解周期模式网络的5G基站流量预测方法 | 1 |
| 9 | CN114900745A | 一种用于城市通信网络的智能散热型5G基站 | 1 |
| 10 | KR1020200050883A | Beam management without beam correspondence | 1 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older records; treat them as a signal of prior relevance, not current strategic weight.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Reading the filing trend, geography and citation pattern together points to a technology area that filled quickly around a narrow set of claims.
Activity front-loaded around early 5G rollout
Filings climbed to 7 in 2020 and had fallen to 3 by 2022, with no later year matching the peak. That pattern is consistent with a wave of filings tied to initial 5G network deployment rather than an area still drawing fresh investment.
Filing activity concentrates in one jurisdiction
China accounts for 18 of the tracked filings against 4 from India and smaller counts from South Korea and Taiwan. A filer targeting protection outside China should not assume the same claim density applies in other receiving offices.
Network-layer claims outweigh hardware claims
Wireless network architecture claims under H04W appear in nearly every record, while antenna-specific claims under H01Q appear in only 2. That imbalance suggests hardware-level antenna design may be comparatively open relative to network-layer beam and resource management claims.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to 5g base station systems, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and who has gone quiet
The assignee list is a long tail rather than a concentrated group, and the recent-year momentum data shows no filer currently active.
No filer shows current-year activity
Every assignee in the recent-year momentum table, from Wisig Networks to Apple, reports zero filings in the latest tracked year, and one repeat filer shows a -100% year-on-year drop. That is a strong signal to verify filing dates directly before treating any single company as an active leader today.
A long tail rather than a concentrated leader
The assignee ranking spans state-owned research institutes, individual inventors and telecom equipment firms, with no single organisation dominating the 25-family set. That spread makes freedom-to-operate checks more about breadth of search than depth against one incumbent.
Filing strategy skews domestic-first
With China well ahead of India, South Korea and Taiwan combined, most assignees appear to be securing home-market protection before, or instead of, pursuing broader international filings.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| WISIG NETWORKS PTE LTD | 0 | — |
| Xi'an Zhongyijian Technology Group Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Apple Inc. | 0 | — |
| Wuxi Jiruhe Energy Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| CITT Consulting & Design Institute Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Shanghai Gonglian Communication Information Development Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Zhao Lei | 0 | — |
| Fanjing Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The filing and citation data point to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing, or identifying open claim space.
Check antenna hardware claims separately
H01Q coverage is thin relative to H04W network claims, so a hardware-focused antenna design should be checked against a broader antenna-specific search, not this network-weighted set.
Explore antenna claim spaceVerify current activity before assuming a leader
With every tracked assignee at zero in the latest year, confirm filing dates directly rather than relying on historical ranking alone when assessing who is active today.
Run an assignee activity checkModel a claim in the identified white space
Fronthaul synchronisation hardware and base station power-grid integration show low record counts relative to the rest of the dataset, making them candidates for a first-mover claim.
Draft a claim in EurekaCommon questions about 5G base station patents
This dataset of 25 families does not show a single dominant assignee; instead the ranking is a long tail that includes research institutes, telecom equipment companies and individual inventors. The recent-year momentum table shows every tracked assignee at zero filings in the latest year, so any historical leader identified from raw counts should be checked against current filing activity before being treated as an active player. China accounts for the large majority of receiving-office filings, so domestic Chinese filers are well represented in the ranking by volume alone.
No. Filing activity peaked in 2020 at 7 families and had dropped to 3 by the 2022 midpoint, with no later year returning to the peak. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent tracked years will always look lower than they eventually turn out to be, but the overall trend across the dataset reads as flat-to-declining rather than growing.
The dataset is weighted heavily toward wireless network architecture: H04W subclass records account for 22 of the 25 tracked families, well ahead of transmission (H04B) and digital information transmission (H04L) at 7 each. Antenna-specific claims (H01Q) and power-supply claims (H02J) are comparatively rare, at 2 and 3 records respectively, suggesting the network and resource-management layer is where most claim activity has concentrated.
Based on the IPC composition, sub-areas with only a handful of records include base station power-grid integration, antenna array mounting and installation safety, and fronthaul synchronisation hardware. These low counts do not guarantee an open field, but they indicate lighter claim density than the crowded H04W network-management space, making them worth a closer freedom-to-operate check before filing there.
China leads by a wide margin with 18 of the tracked receiving-office filings, followed by India at 4, and smaller counts from South Korea and Taiwan. This concentration suggests most assignees in this dataset are prioritising domestic Chinese protection, and a company planning international enforcement or licensing should not assume the same claim density exists in other jurisdictions.
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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.