Antennas & RF Systems Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 52.8% concentration. The five leading assignees account for 76,190 of 144,394 records in scope, so most core claim space sits with a small group of filers.
- Filing cooled after 2022. Annual filings peaked at 1,812 in 2022 and fell 28% from 1,809 in 2021 to 1,301 in 2024, the last year with complete publication data.
- Antennas and transmission dominate the IPC mix. H04B and H01Q alone each cover roughly 5-6% of all records, while radar/positioning and waveguide classes sit under 1.5%, marking thinner but still active branches.
Filing growth compares 2021 (1,809 records) with 2024 (1,301) — 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 144,394 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape draws on 144,394 published records matching antenna array, RF system and network antenna terms combined with radio channel, beamforming, wireless signal, frequency band, synchronization and topology concepts. The scope spans 2015 through the 2026-08-31 data cut-off, capturing both mature cellular RF work and newer beamforming and millimeter-wave filings. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend chart are still filling in and should be read as provisional rather than declining.
The assignee ranking returned by the data endpoint covers 100 companies, not a fixed top-50 or top-100 cut chosen for editorial reasons — it is the full ranked set the dataset provides. Reading concentration, technology composition and filing trend together gives a fuller picture than any single chart: a class can carry high filing density without the underlying technology being settled, since density mostly signals where claim space is already occupied.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 144,394-record corpus: the pace of filing over time, and how records distribute across IPC subclasses.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Annual filings rose from 1,029 in 2017 to a peak of 1,812 in 2022, then eased to 1,301 by 2024 — a 28% decline over 2021-2024 that marks the last fully comparable window. 2025 and 2026 figures (down to 73 in 2026) are undercounts still catching up to publication.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
H04B (Transmission, general) leads at 6.0% of all records, closely followed by H01Q (Antennas) at 5.3% and H04W (Wireless communication networks) at 4.5%. Radar and positioning (G01S), multiplex communication (H04J), waveguides (H01P) and digital data processing (G06F) each sit at 1.3% or below, marking smaller but distinct filing pockets. Since a single record can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares sum to more than 100% of the record total and should not be added together.
Shares are the percentage of the 144,394 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Antennas & RF Systems Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about antennas & rf systems patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
US11304134B2 — Radio frequency system based on millimeter wave communication, method for adjusting transmit power, and terminal
A radio frequency system based on millimeter wave communication, a method for adjusting transmit power, and a terminal are provided. The radio frequency system includes a Doherty power amplification unit, an antenna array, and a micro control unit (MCU), where an output end of the Doherty power amplification unit is connected to an input end of the antenna array, a control end of the Doherty power amplification unit and a control end of the antenna array are both connected to the MCU, and the MCU controls a radiation direction of an antenna in the antenna array.Filed by VIVO MOBILE COMMUNICATION CO., LTD., granted 2022-04-12.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20040198386A1 | Applications for a wireless location gateway | 1,332 |
| 2 | US20070270660A1 | System and method for determining a location of an orthopaedic medical device | 916 |
| 3 | US20190364492A1 | Methods and devices for radio communications | 876 |
| 4 | US20010022558A1 | Wireless location using signal fingerprinting | 814 |
| 5 | US20080300055A1 | Game with hand motion control | 773 |
| 6 | US5933421A | Method for frequency division duplex communications | 746 |
| 7 | US20050273218A1 | System for obtaining vehicular information | 703 |
| 8 | US20040110469A1 | Repeaters for wireless communication systems | 682 |
| 9 | US7298327B2 | Geographic location using multiple location estimators | 681 |
| 10 | US6222503B1 | System and method of integrating and concealing antennas, antenna subsystems and communications subsystems | 677 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations, not necessarily current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three read-outs from the dataset that matter more for strategy than the raw counts alone.
Core claim space is crowded at the top
The five leading assignees together hold 76,190 of the 144,394 records in scope. New entrants filing in mainstream antenna array or RF chain claims are filing against dense prior art from a small group of established players, not a fragmented field.
Volume has eased from its 2022 peak
Filings peaked at 1,812 in 2022 and dropped to 1,301 by 2024, a 28% decline over that span. That is the last window with complete publication data; 2025-2026 counts are still filling in and should not be read as confirming a further slowdown.
Transmission and antenna classes lead, but narrowly
H04B (6.0%) and H01Q (5.3%) are the two densest classes, with H04W close behind at 4.5%. The gap to G01S, H04J, H01P and G06F — each under 1.5% — suggests those adjacent branches carry comparatively lighter filing pressure.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to antennas & rf systems patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where momentum is shifting
The ranked set covers 100 companies. Momentum in the most recent year points to broad pullback across the leaders rather than one company pulling ahead.
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 46,003 records, far above the fifth-place figure of 4,058 and tenth-place figure of 1,182. That gap defines the shape of the whole ranking: a steep drop after the top few names, then a long tail.
Even top filers show sharp recent-year pullback
The leading assignee filed 10 records in the latest year, down 93% year-on-year; other major filers show similar drops of 70-93%. This pattern is consistent with publication lag rather than a genuine collapse in activity, since the most recent year is always undercounted.
Co-filing is limited and concentrated
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest pairs linked to a small number of individual co-inventors and one university technology-transfer office. Joint filing is the exception here, not the norm.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Qualcomm Inc | 10 | -93% |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 9 | -78% |
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 8 | -70% |
| DIGITAL GLOBAL SYSTEMS INC | 8 | -93% |
| Intel Corp | 2 | -50% |
| Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ) | 1 | -67% |
| AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. | 1 | — |
| Apple Inc | 1 | -89% |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with concentrated core claims and a cooling but still active filing pace. Two directions follow from that.
Map freedom-to-operate against the top filers
With 52.8% of records held by five assignees, any new antenna array or RF chain filing should be checked against their claim scope first, not the long tail of single-filing entrants.
Run a freedom-to-operate check →Watch the under-claimed IPC branches
Radar/positioning, waveguide elements and multiplex synchronization each sit under 1.5% of records — worth monitoring for whether filing density there rises as beamforming and mmWave designs mature.
Track emerging filing activity →Common questions on antennas and RF systems patents
The dataset shows a steep concentration at the top: the leading assignee alone holds 46,003 of 144,394 records in scope, far ahead of the fifth-ranked filer at 4,058. Together, the five leading assignees account for 52.8% of all records, and the top ten reach 59.3%. This means core RF chain and antenna array claims are dominated by a small group of large telecom and semiconductor companies rather than being spread evenly across the field.
Filings rose steadily to a peak of 1,812 in 2022, then declined 28% to 1,301 by 2024 — the most recent year with reliably complete publication data. Numbers shown for 2025 and 2026 are lower still, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, not necessarily a real drop in activity. Treat any trend conclusion drawn from 2025-2026 data as provisional until later publications catch up.
H04B (transmission, general) leads at 6.0% of all 144,394 records, followed closely by H01Q (antennas) at 5.3% and H04W (wireless communication networks) at 4.5%. Radar and positioning (G01S), multiplex communication (H04J), waveguides (H01P) and digital data processing (G06F) each sit at 1.3% or below. Because a single patent record can carry several IPC codes, these percentages overlap and should not be summed to estimate total coverage.
Classes with comparatively low filing density relative to the core antenna and transmission classes include radar/positioning fusion with beamforming control, waveguide and microwave element integration, and multiplex link synchronization schemes. These sit at or below 1.3% of the 144,394 records in scope, versus 5-6% for the leading classes, suggesting less occupied claim space. Lower density is not proof the underlying technology is immature — it may simply mean fewer filers have staked claims there yet, so a freedom-to-operate check is still warranted before relying on it.
US11304134B2, assigned to Vivo Mobile Communication and granted 2022-04-12, claims a radio frequency system for millimeter-wave communication built around a Doherty power amplification unit, an antenna array, and a micro control unit (MCU) that governs the antenna's radiation direction and coordinates transmit power adjustment between two equal-saturation-power amplifiers. Anyone building an mmWave RF front end that couples power-amplifier switching logic directly to antenna-array beam steering through a single control unit should review this claim scope closely. It is one representative record in a corpus of 144,394, so a full clearance search should not stop at this single family.
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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.