AMI Wireless Connectivity Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filings are still accelerating, climbing from a near-standing start in 2017 to 529 in 2024, with growth continuing into the partial 2026 count.
- One assignee is pulling away, posting 81 filings in the latest year and +13% YoY while several other named entrants have dropped to zero activity.
- Wireless subclasses dominate the claim space, H04W and H04L together cover most records, leaving grid-hardware classes like H02B and H01H comparatively open.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent families at the intersection of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and the wireless links that carry its data — RF mesh, cellular metering communication and general IoT connectivity. The corpus spans 915 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from filings that explicitly combine smart-meter or AMI language with a wireless-communication claim element.
Filing activity is concentrated in the wireless-networking subclasses rather than in meter hardware itself, which tells a straightforward story: the contested ground is how meters talk to the network, not how they measure. Publication naturally lags filing by roughly eighteen months, so the most recent year in any trend understates real filing activity.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 915-family dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
A late but sharp acceleration
Annual filings sat near zero through 2017 and reached only 28 by the 2022 midpoint, then jumped to 529 by 2024 — the steepest part of the curve is recent enough that later years will still be revised upward as more families publish.
Wireless networking classes carry the claim density
H04W (wireless communication networks) appears in 620 records and H04L (digital information transmission) in 339, dwarfing the power-systems classes H02J, H02B and H01H that sit closer to the meter itself.
Shares are the percentage of the 915 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Advanced Metering Infrastructure Wireless Connectivity and IoT with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about advanced metering infrastructure wireless connectivity and iot and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative claim: mesh network device modules
Device module formation of network devices for a distributed mesh radio network
A network device module formed from distributed device modules is disclosed. The network device module includes a computing platform; one or more radio device modules coupled to the computing platform; and one or more networking device modules coupled to the computing platform. The one or more network devices include one or more of a centralized unit, a distributed unit, and a radio unit. In some embodiments, the network device module may be a UE gateway device that can interact with protected end-point devices.Filed by Instant! Communications LLC; published 2021-04-08.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20210083506A1 | Systems and methods for managing electrical loads | 78 |
| 2 | US20200412565A1 | Wireless enabled distributed data apparatus and methods | 54 |
| 3 | US20200259336A1 | Integrated electrical panel | 44 |
| 4 | US20250200431A1 | Inference data distribution criteria for artificial intelligence or machine learning model monitoring | 42 |
| 5 | US20230120740A1 | Integrated home energy management and electric vehicle charging | 38 |
| 6 | US9001787B1 | System and method for implementing handover of a hybrid communications module | 38 |
| 7 | US20220216728A1 | Multilayer control for managing power flow | 37 |
| 8 | US20230120453A1 | Integrated home energy management, home monitoring, and automated fault mitigation | 24 |
| 9 | US20200112199A1 | Integrated electrical management system and architecture | 19 |
| 10 | US11552500B2 | Systems and methods for managing electrical loads | 13 |
Citation counts favour older records within the searched corpus and should be read as a signal of influence rather than current relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Reading volume, citation and co-filing data together points to where claim space is dense and where it is thin.
Growth is still in its steep phase
From 28 filings at the 2022 midpoint to 529 by 2024, the curve has not shown signs of plateauing. A partial 2026 count of 85 is consistent with continued filing, not a slowdown — publication lag means the true 2025-2026 volume is higher than currently visible.
Wireless protocol claims outweigh grid hardware
Wireless communication networks and digital information transmission subclasses together account for the bulk of records, while power-switchboard and relay classes (H02B, H01H) sit in the low tens. Filers are staking out the communication layer, not the electrical infrastructure layer.
A tight cluster of co-assignees
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest three all involve the same small cluster of parties, suggesting coordinated filing programmes rather than broad industry-wide collaboration.
One filer is separating from the pack
The top assignee grew filings 13% year over year to 81 in the latest year, while several other named entrants in the momentum table dropped to zero activity, a sign of programmes that were front-loaded and then wound down.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to advanced metering infrastructure wireless connectivity and iot, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape and where filing has stalled
Recent-year momentum separates active filers from entrants whose programmes have already gone quiet, and the receiving-office mix shows where protection is actually being sought.
Sustained, growing output
This assignee is the only one in the momentum table still filing at volume in the latest year, and its growth rate suggests an active, funded programme rather than a one-off filing burst.
Several programmes have gone to zero
More than one named assignee shows a full drop to zero latest-year filings after prior activity, consistent with a completed patent programme, an acquisition, or a shift in filing strategy away from this claim space.
US and PCT dominate, India is a strong third
The United States accounts for the largest share of receiving-office filings at 482, with WIPO/PCT applications at 283 and India at 108; European, Canadian and Australian filings are comparatively minor by count.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 81 | +13% |
| Energy I/O Smart Panel Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| YUAN FANG | 0 | — |
| ZHOU YAN | 0 | — |
| YANG LUANXIA | 0 | -100% |
| XU HAO | 0 | — |
| WU ZHIKUN | 0 | -100% |
| LIU LE | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this next
The trend and assignee data point to specific follow-up questions rather than a single conclusion.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leading filer
With one assignee growing filings while others stall, a claim chart against its recent publications is the highest-value next step for anyone building RF mesh or cellular metering hardware.
Explore assignee claims in EurekaProbe the under-claimed branches
Grid-hardware classes like H02B and H01H carry far fewer filings than the wireless-networking classes, which may reflect real white space or simply a different filing venue for that art.
Run a white-space search in EurekaTrack the stalled programmes
Several named assignees dropped to zero latest-year filings; understanding whether that reflects acquisition, abandonment or a strategy shift changes how their existing portfolio should be weighted.
Monitor assignee activity in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
This dataset identifies 915 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine AMI or smart-meter language with a wireless-communication claim element such as RF mesh, cellular metering or IoT connectivity. That count reflects families, not raw document counts, which gives a fairer picture than counting every continuation and multi-jurisdiction duplicate separately. Because publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, the true total for 2025-2026 is higher than what has published so far.
The recent-year momentum data shows a small number of assignees filing at real volume, with one entity growing 13% year over year to 81 filings in the latest year while several other named filers have dropped to zero activity. This pattern suggests the field has an active leader and a group of entrants whose filing programmes were front-loaded and have since concluded. A full assignee ranking, updated against the 915-family corpus, is the more reliable way to check current standing than any single-year snapshot.
Wireless-networking subclasses lead by a wide margin: H04W (wireless communication networks) appears in 620 of the 915 records and H04L (digital information transmission) in 339, together far outweighing grid-hardware classes like H02J, H02B and H01H. That composition shows filers are contesting the communication layer between meter and network rather than the electrical measurement or switching hardware itself. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should weight their search accordingly, since the wireless-protocol classes carry the densest prior art.
The grid-adjacent classes such as H02B (switchboards and substations) and H01H (switches and relays) show far fewer filings than the wireless-networking classes, at 21 and 18 records respectively against 620 for H04W. That gap points to under-claimed integration points, such as meter-to-switchgear fault signalling or relay-integrated demand-response triggers, where wireless-mesh claims have not yet been extended into the switching hardware itself. A targeted search within those subclasses is the fastest way to confirm whether the gap is real white space or simply filed under different classification codes.
Filings moved from a midpoint of 28 in 2022 to a peak of 529 in 2024, and the acceleration lines up with the broader push to embed cellular and mesh connectivity directly into metering hardware rather than treating communication as a bolt-on module. Because recent years are still subject to publication lag, the 2024 figure itself may be revised upward, and the apparent slowdown in the partial 2026 count of 85 is very likely a reporting artefact rather than a real drop in filing activity. Readers should treat any year within the last eighteen months as a floor, not a final count.
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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.