Coal Mining & Processing Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- One filer dominates. a single assignee holds 353 of the 448 records in scope, with the top 5 combined accounting for 88.8% of the field.
- Growth has cooled from its peak. filings ran from 27 in 2021 down to 14 in 2024, a 48% pullback over that span, after a 2018 peak of 146.
- The technology skews digital, not mechanical. 76.3% of records touch control and regulating systems (G05B) and 65.4% touch AI-based computing (G06N) — this is an instrumentation and analytics landscape more than an equipment one.
Filing growth compares 2021 (27 records) with 2024 (14) — 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 448 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape actually covers
The 448 records in scope sit at the intersection of coal mining and processing operations and condition-monitoring technology: equipment integrity, leak detection, corrosion monitoring and wellbore or process-condition sensing applied to extraction and processing environments. Rather than drilling rigs or conveyor mechanics, the bulk of the claim activity is in industrial IoT data collection, analytics platforms and digital twins that happen to be scoped to mining and processing assets. Reading the assignee list and IPC mix together, this looks less like a mechanical-engineering field and more like a sensing-and-software layer retrofitted onto extraction infrastructure.
That framing matters for anyone assessing freedom to operate: the densest claim space is in data collection architectures and expert-system detection logic, not in the physical hardware that sits on the coal face or in the processing plant. Filing activity is concentrated early in the window and has since narrowed to a smaller, steadier set of filers.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 448 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the records fall under. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC codes, the class shares below add up to more than 100% of the record total.
Filing activity, 2017-2026
Filings rose from 2 in 2017 to a peak of 146 in 2018, then settled into a lower band; the tracked 2021-to-2024 window shows a 48% decline (27 to 14). 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent bars will fill in over time and should not be read as a continued fall.
IPC subclass composition
Control and regulating systems (G05B, 76.3%) and digital transmission (H04L, 67.9%) lead the mix, closely followed by AI-based computing (G06N, 65.4%) and general transmission (H04B, 61.4%). Data recognition (G06K), business data processing (G06Q), wireless networks (H04W) and general digital data processing (G06F) each cover a meaningful minority of the 448 records, confirming the field's centre of gravity is sensing, connectivity and analytics rather than mining machinery.
Shares are the percentage of the 448 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Coal Mining & Processing Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about coal mining & processing patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records and a representative filing
Detection and process response for oil and gas processing operations via an industrial internet of things data collection environment
Methods and systems for a monitoring system for data collection in an industrial environment including a data collector communicatively coupled to a plurality of input channels connected to data collection points operationally coupled to an industrial component in at least one of an oil processing system or gas processing system; a data storage structured to store a plurality of stored process condition states; a data acquisition circuit structured to interpret a plurality of detection values from the collected data; an expert system detection circuit structured to detect a process condition in response to the plurality of detection values, wherein the expert system detection circuit generates a response.Filed by Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016, LLC in February 2019, this record illustrates the pattern common to the leader's portfolio: broad data-collection architecture claims layered with an expert-system detection and response mechanism.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20190339688A1 | Methods and systems for data collection, learning, and streaming of machine signals for analytics and mainten… | 974 |
| 2 | US20200348662A1 | Platform for facilitating development of intelligence in an industrial internet of things system | 733 |
| 3 | US20210157312A1 | Intelligent vibration digital twin systems and methods for industrial environments | 716 |
| 4 | US20180284758A1 | Methods and systems for industrial internet of things data collection for equipment analysis in an upstream o… | 600 |
| 5 | US20200225655A1 | Methods, systems, kits and apparatuses for monitoring and managing industrial settings in an industrial inter… | 563 |
| 6 | US20200103894A1 | Methods and systems for data collection, learning, and streaming of machine signals for computerized maintena… | 514 |
| 7 | US20190033845A1 | Methods and systems for detection in an industrial internet of things data collection environment with freque… | 412 |
| 8 | WO2019028269A2 | Methods and systems for detection in an industrial internet of things data collection environment with large … | 391 |
| 9 | US20220108262A1 | Industrial digital twin systems and methods with echelons of executive, advisory and operations messaging and… | 387 |
| 10 | US20190129407A1 | Systems and methods for policy automation for a data collection system | 370 |
Citation counts inside this corpus favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations; treat this as a signal of influence on the field's vocabulary, not a ranking of present-day importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three read-throughs from the concentration, trend and technology data, aimed at where a new filer would actually run into prior art.
The field is a single-filer field with a long tail
One assignee holds 353 of the 448 records in scope, and the top 5 combined reach 88.8% of the field. Beyond that handful, the ranking of 55 companies thins out quickly to single- and double-digit filers, meaning most of the remaining organisations hold only a handful of families each.
Activity has cooled from its 2018 peak
Filings peaked at 146 in 2018 and have since settled lower, with the tracked window showing 27 filings in 2021 down to 14 in 2024. The 2025-2026 figures are still incomplete given typical publication lag, so this should be read as a plateau after an early surge rather than a live downtrend.
This is a software and sensing landscape
Control and regulating systems (G05B) and AI-based computing (G06N) each cover a majority of the 448 records, well ahead of any purely mechanical class. Claim density sits in data collection architecture and detection logic, not in extraction hardware — that is where a new entrant's freedom-to-operate review should concentrate.
Filing activity is US-centred with modest international spread
Of the receiving offices tracked, the United States accounts for 328 filings, well ahead of the EPO and WIPO/PCT routes at 28 each, with Australia, Canada and India each in single digits relative to the US total. A defensive filing strategy built only around US coverage would miss a modest but real PCT and EPO presence.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to coal mining & processing patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is still open
The ranked list of 55 companies is dominated by one industrial IoT specialist, with the remaining assignees each holding a thin slice of the 448 records. Momentum in the most recent tracked year has slowed even for the leader.
Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016 sets the baseline
The leading assignee alone accounts for 353 of the 448 records in scope, built primarily around industrial-internet-of-things data collection and expert-system detection architectures applied across oil, gas and processing environments. Its recent-year momentum has fallen sharply, down 75% year over year in the latest tracked period.
A thin second tier of specialist filers
Fifth place in the ranking holds 8 records and tenth place holds 3, indicating a sharp drop-off after the leader rather than a gradually tapering field. Organisations in this tier include sensing and materials specialists rather than pure IoT platform players.
Most assignees hold only a handful of families
Once past the top 10, filers in this dataset typically hold only one or two families each. That long tail suggests the remaining claim space outside the leader's core architecture is fragmented and available to a focused new entrant rather than blocked by a dense thicket.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016, LLC | 1 | -75% |
| MultiSensor Scientific, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Battelle Memorial Institute | 0 | — |
| Biomass Energy Enhancements, LLC | 0 | — |
| WINNER WATER SERVICES | 0 | — |
| The Boeing Company | 0 | — |
| VAN THORRE DOUGLAS M | 0 | — |
| TAIT CARLETON DREW | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a concentrated core and a fragmented periphery. Two practical next steps follow from that shape.
Map freedom to operate against the leader's architecture
Because one assignee holds 353 of 448 records built around industrial IoT data collection and expert-system detection, any new filing in that core architecture should be checked claim-by-claim against that portfolio before drafting.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaTarget the under-claimed branches directly
Corrosion monitoring, leak-detection signal processing and material-degradation prediction show thinner filing density than the core detection architecture, and are more realistic entry points for a first claim.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
One assignee, Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016, holds 353 of the 448 records in scope, making it by far the dominant filer in this dataset. The next four assignees combined bring the top 5 total to 88.8% of all records, so the field is best described as a single dominant filer plus a small group of secondary players. Beyond the top 10, the ranking of 55 companies thins out quickly to organisations holding only one or two families each.
Filing peaked in 2018 at 146 records and has since settled to a lower level, with the tracked 2021-to-2024 window showing a 48% decline from 27 to 14 filings. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent years will rise as more records are published. The honest read is a plateau after an early surge rather than a confirmed ongoing downtrend.
Despite the topic name, the bulk of the claim activity sits in control and regulating systems (G05B, 76.3% of the 448 records), digital information transmission (H04L, 67.9%), and AI-based computing (G06N, 65.4%). This means the densest patent thickets are around data collection, connectivity and analytics architectures applied to mining and processing assets, not around mechanical extraction equipment itself. A new entrant's prior-art search should weight these software and sensing classes heavily.
The under-claimed branches sit adjacent to the dominant IoT-detection cluster: corrosion-monitoring sensor fusion for wellbore systems, leak-detection signal processing at the process-condition layer, and material-degradation prediction models for processing equipment all show thinner filing density than the core architecture. These are realistic entry points for a first claim because they sit outside the leader's core portfolio while still connecting to the same equipment-integrity problem space. A freedom-to-operate review focused on these branches is more likely to find open claim space than one aimed at the core detection architecture.
Concentration is high at the top and thin everywhere else: the top 5 assignees hold 88.8% of the 448 records and the top 10 hold 93.3%, but the full ranking covers 55 companies, most holding only a handful of records each. For a new filer, this means the practical risk is concentrated in a narrow set of core architecture claims held by one or two organisations, while the remaining technical space is fragmented enough to leave room for a well-targeted filing.
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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.