6G Network Digital Twin Patent Landscape 2026
The 6G network digital twin field is highly concentrated, with Samsung Electronics commanding an outsized share of 286 patent families in scope and the top five filers accounting for 84% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total. The field sits in the Growth stage on a multi-year basis, though annual volume has eased from its 2023 peak and the most recent filing years remain further understated by publication lag.
Samsung leads a sharply concentrated field with a wide gap to all challengers
Samsung Electronics holds the top position with 230 patent families, establishing a lead that dwarfs every other applicant in this space. Huawei Technologies ranks second with 16 patent families, followed by Intel Corporation at 9, leaving a pronounced tier gap between the leader and the rest of the field.
The top five filers — Samsung Electronics, Huawei Technologies, Intel Corporation, Xidian University, and Datang Mobile Communications Equipment — together account for 84% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, signaling an unusually tight concentration for an emerging technology area. Below the top three, the remaining ranked applicants each hold only two or three patent families, indicating that no credible second-tier cluster has yet formed.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 230 | |
| 2 | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 16 | |
| 3 | Intel Corporation | 9 | |
| 4 | Xidian University | 3 | |
| 5 | Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co., Ltd. | 3 | |
| 6 | AT&T MOBILITY II LLC | 3 | |
| 7 | AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I L P | 3 | |
| 8 | Tasione Innovations Co., Ltd. | 2 | |
| 9 | Boost SubscriberCo LLC | 2 | |
| 10 | Medicaps University | 2 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Jio Platforms Ltd. | 2 | |
| 12 | InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. | 2 | |
| 13 | Prasad Durga Venkata P | 1 | |
| 14 | Jeniffer Thresa J | 1 | |
| 15 | UNIV OF SCI & TECH BEIJING | 1 | |
| 16 | iPLOOK Networks Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 17 | Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur | 1 | |
| 18 | Dr. Sneha Rai | 1 | |
| 19 | DISH Wireless LLC | 1 | |
| 20 | Dr. A. Kavitha | 1 |
Samsung’s position implies it has treated 6G digital twin as a core platform investment rather than a peripheral research theme. For R&D teams evaluating entry, this concentration means freedom-to-operate analysis must focus heavily on Samsung’s portfolio, while the shallow depth of challengers leaves navigable space in sub-branches not yet densely claimed.
The most recent 18–24 months of filings are understated due to patent publication lag; apparent slowdown in 2024–2026 data should not be read as a real deceleration. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Explosive multi-year growth anchored in wireless and AI-driven network management
The filing trend reveals a field that moved from near-zero activity before 2022 to a peak in 2023, while the technology composition shows the dominant focus on wireless network management with a meaningful but smaller AI-computing layer.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings were negligible through 2021, then surged to 99 families in 2023 — a three-year growth rate of approximately 2,800% versus the prior window — before appearing to ease in 2024 and 2025. The 2024–2026 data are substantially understated by publication lag and should not be interpreted as a genuine decline; the field remains in a multi-year growth phase.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
Wireless communication networks (H04W) and digital information transmission (H04L) together dominate the technology mix, reflecting the core 6G protocol and network-management focus of most filings. Computing based on AI models (G06N) forms a meaningful third branch, consistent with the field’s emphasis on AI-driven network optimization, while transmission-general (H04B), digital data processing (G06F), and all remaining branches are sparsely populated.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Method and apparatus for configuring session conne…
The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. A method performed by a network data analytics function (NWDAF) in a mobile communication system is provided. The method includes receiving, from a session management function (SMF), a message requesting a subscription to a data analysis service related… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Policy enhancement to support group application fu… | 30 |
| 2 | Method and apparatus to support federated machine … | 16 |
| 3 | 通信方法及装置 | 15 |
| 4 | Method and apparatus for implementation of ai/ML i… | 13 |
| 5 | Method and apparatus for energy performance policy | 12 |
| 6 | 测量方法和测量装置 | 12 |
| 7 | Exchange of time of day between two IoT devices | 11 |
| 8 | Automated root cause determination using a pre-tra… | 9 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the patent structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of rapid growth, extreme concentration, and nascent collaboration signals a field where early positioning still matters but where the dominant player already shapes the competitive landscape.
Growth stage with eased annual volume from the 2023 peak
The field is classified as Growth: three-year filing volume sits well above the prior three-year window at roughly 2,800% growth. Annual output peaked in 2023 and has moderated since, though publication lag artificially suppresses 2024–2026 counts. New entrants can still secure meaningful positions, but the window for first-mover advantage in core wireless-management claims is narrowing.
Growth · post-peak cautionSingle dominant player controls the vast majority of families
The top five filers account for 84% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, with Samsung Electronics alone holding 230 patent families against Huawei’s 16 and Intel’s 9. This tier structure leaves limited room for challengers to match the leader on breadth; a focused sub-domain strategy targeting sparse branches — particularly H04B transmission and G06F data processing — offers a more viable entry path than head-on competition in H04W or H04L.
High concentrationMinimal co-filing activity; AT&T entities are the sole documented pair
The only recorded co-applicant relationship is between AT&T Mobility II LLC and AT&T Intellectual Property I L.P., which have jointly filed 3 patent families — likely reflecting an intra-corporate IP structuring arrangement rather than an external partnership. No cross-company or industry-academia co-filing clusters are visible in the evidence, suggesting the ecosystem has not yet coalesced around joint development agreements in this space.
Collaboration nascentPCT and EPO lead; US and Asia secondary but present
WIPO (PCT) is the leading filing office, followed by Europe (EPO) and the United States, indicating that leading applicants are pursuing broad multi-jurisdictional protection rather than concentrating in a single home market. India and China are secondary destinations, consistent with the presence of applicants such as Jio Platforms and Datang Mobile. The UK, New Zealand, and Canada appear at low volumes, suggesting geographic breadth is still consolidating.
PCT-led geographyGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T移动第二有限责任公司 | AT&T知识产权一部有限合伙公司 | 3 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies lead on different sub-route emphases
All tracked leading applicants entered the field recently, reflecting the field’s own novelty, with Samsung establishing a commanding position on both network-management and information-transmission routes while Huawei concentrates on wireless network coverage.
Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics holds 230 patent families and entered as a new entrant, now representing a dominant share of the entire corpus. Its technology emphasis spans H04L 41 (digital information transmission, 155 records), H04W 24 (wireless network monitoring and performance, 134 records), and H04W 8 (wireless network data management, 42 records), indicating a broad platform strategy that covers both the protocol and the network-management layers of the 6G digital twin stack.
patent families: 230Huawei Technologies
Huawei Technologies holds 16 patent families and also entered as a new entrant in this specific domain. Its filings concentrate on H04W 24 (wireless network monitoring, 14 records), with smaller positions in H04L 25 and H04W 4, suggesting a narrower but coherent focus on the network-monitoring sub-layer rather than Samsung’s broader transmission and management coverage.
patent families: 16| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 168 | ▲ new entrant |
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 13 | ▲ new entrant |
| Intel Corporation | 9 | ▲ new entrant |
| Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co., Ltd. | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
| DISH Wireless LLC | 3 | ▲ new entrant |
| Tasione Innovations Co., Ltd. | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
| Jio Platforms Ltd. | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches in transmission and data processing adjacent to the core
Two IPC branches sit at notably lower patent densities relative to the dominant H04W and H04L clusters, representing areas where the technical foundation exists but filing activity remains sparse.
H04B · Transmission (general)
With 20 patent records and a 4% share among the top branches, H04B covers physical-layer and general transmission methods that underpin 6G channel modeling — a prerequisite for accurate digital twin simulation. The relative sparsity against the dominant wireless-management layers suggests that physical-layer twin modeling remains an under-claimed area. Teams with antenna, waveform, or channel-estimation expertise could find navigable whitespace here, though entry requires deep physical-layer competence to differentiate from existing H04W claims.
Search this in Eureka →G06F · Electric digital data processing
G06F accounts for only 6 patent records and a 1% share, pointing to sparse coverage of the data-processing and computational infrastructure supporting digital twin platforms — areas such as real-time data pipelines, synchronization algorithms, and twin-state management. Given that operational digital twins require substantial software and compute orchestration, this gap may reflect a lag in filing rather than a lack of technical activity. Applicants focused on cloud-native or edge-computing implementations of 6G network twins may find this branch relatively open.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ across wireless management, transmission, and AI sub-routes
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H04L 41 · Digital information transmission | H04W 24 · Wireless communication networks | H04L 67 · Digital information transmission | H04W 88 · Wireless communication networks | H04W 8 · Wireless communication networks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Strong · 155 | Strong · 134 | Moderate · 37 | Moderate · 38 | Moderate · 42 |
| Intel Corporation | Strong · 7 | Moderate · 2 | Moderate · 3 | Strong · 5 | Absent |
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | Emerging · 2 | Strong · 14 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Xidian University | Strong · 3 | Strong · 3 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Jio Platforms Ltd. | Strong · 2 | Strong · 2 | Strong · 2 | Absent | Absent |
| DISH Wireless LLC | Strong · 3 | Absent | Absent | Moderate · 1 | Absent |
| AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. | Absent | Strong · 3 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 286 patent families in scope, spanning filings from 2019 through 2026 across all major jurisdictions.
Samsung Electronics holds the top position with 230 patent families, far ahead of the second-ranked applicant, Huawei Technologies, which holds 16 patent families.
Annual filings were negligible before 2022, then grew rapidly to a peak of 99 families in 2023, representing approximately 2,800% growth versus the prior three-year window. The field remains in a multi-year growth stage; apparent softness in 2024–2026 data is substantially attributable to patent publication lag.
Wireless communication networks (H04W) and digital information transmission (H04L) are the dominant branches, followed at a distance by computing based on AI models (G06N). Physical-layer transmission (H04B) and digital data processing (G06F) are present but sparse.
WIPO (PCT) leads with 128 records, followed by Europe (EPO) with 77 and the United States with 48. India and China are secondary destinations, while the UK, New Zealand, and Canada appear at low volumes.
Documented co-filing is minimal. The only recorded collaboration is between AT&T Mobility II LLC and AT&T Intellectual Property I L.P., which have jointly filed 3 patent families — most likely an intra-corporate IP structuring arrangement. No cross-company or industry-academia co-filing clusters are evident in the evidence.
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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.
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