Distribution Automation Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 72.2% concentration. The top five assignees hold 285 of 395 records in scope — a field where filing decisions by a handful of companies set the terms for everyone else.
- Filings down 48% from peak. Annual filings fell from 46 in 2021 to 24 in 2024, the last year with a complete count — a real pullback, not a data artefact.
- One leader dwarfs the rest. The top assignee alone accounts for 196 of the 395 records in scope, with a sharp drop to 11 at fifth place and 6 by tenth.
Filing growth compares 2021 (46 records) with 2024 (24) — 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 395 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this dataset covers
This landscape covers 395 published records matching distribution automation control terms — control parameter, process variable, controller output, equipment state, frequency control and protection relay — filed or published between 2015 and the 2026-08-31 cut-off. The search combines grid-level distribution automation language with the specific control and protection vocabulary that separates automated feeder and substation control from generic grid-management filings.
Records are drawn from receiving offices led by the United States, followed by Europe, China, WIPO and India, so the picture skews toward jurisdictions where distribution utilities and equipment vendors file defensively as well as commercially. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any trend will read lower than they will eventually settle.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 395 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend: rise, peak, pullback
Annual filings climbed from 26 in 2017 to a peak of 46 in 2021, then fell to 24 by 2024 — a 48% decline over that three-year span. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as a continuation of the decline.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
H02J (power supply and grid systems) and H04L (digital information transmission) each cover close to or above four in ten of the 395 records, confirming that distribution automation filings are as much about communications infrastructure as about power switching. G05B, G06Q and G05F each cover a quarter or more of records, reflecting heavy overlap between control-loop claims and the commerce/metering layer built on top of them. Records can carry several IPC classes, so these shares add to well over 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 395 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Distribution Automation Patent Landscape with Eureka
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Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this landscape
Method of Generating Fault Indication in Feeder Remote Terminal Unit for Power Distribution Automation System
Describes fault indication generated at feeder remote terminal units that measure voltage, current and phase difference along a distribution line, with a central control unit determining fault occurrence from zero-sequence current and voltage phase comparison across the network of terminal units.Filed by Myongji University Industry and Academia Cooperation Foundation, published 2008 — an early academic filing that predates most of the commercial activity in this dataset and still sits upstream of feeder-level fault detection claims.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20140018969A1 | Method and Apparatus for Actively Managing Electric Power Supply for an Electric Power Grid | 509 |
| 2 | US8588991B1 | System, method, and apparatus for electric power grid and network management of grid elements | 494 |
| 3 | US8583520B1 | System, method, and apparatus for settlement for participation in an electric power grid | 312 |
| 4 | US7702424B2 | Utility load control management communications protocol | 268 |
| 5 | US20140277788A1 | System, method, and data packets for messaging for electric power grid elements over a secure internet protoc… | 246 |
| 6 | US20140039699A1 | System, method, and apparatus for electric power grid and network management of grid elements | 168 |
| 7 | US20190305589A1 | Distribution network risk identification system and method and computer storage medium | 165 |
| 8 | US20140039703A1 | System, method, and apparatus for electric power grid and network management of grid elements | 161 |
| 9 | US5732193A | Method and apparatus for behavioristic-format coding of quantitative resource data/distributed automation pro… | 141 |
| 10 | US9465397B2 | System, method, and apparatus for electric power grid and network management of grid elements | 128 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside the searched corpus — treat this as a signal of influence, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the records are broken down by assignee, technology class and year.
A small group sets the claim boundaries
With 285 of 395 records held by the top five assignees, and the leader alone holding 196, most of the addressable claim space in core distribution automation control is already occupied by a handful of filers. New entrants need to look past the obvious control-loop claims these firms have staked out.
Filing activity has cooled from its 2021 peak
Annual filings dropped 48% from the 2021 peak of 46 to 24 in 2024, the last year with a reliable count. That is a genuine pullback in new filing activity rather than noise from publication lag, since 2024 is far enough back to be considered complete.
Control claims are inseparable from communications claims
H02J (power supply and grid systems) and H04L (digital information transmission) each touch close to half of the 395 records, meaning most distribution automation filings pair a power-control mechanism with a specific data-transport or protocol claim rather than filing either alone.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to distribution automation patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
The ranking covers 83 companies returned by the data endpoint — not a top-50 or top-100 cut, but the full set of ranked assignees for this search.
One assignee dominates the ranked field
The top-ranked assignee holds 196 of the 395 records in scope, more than five times the fifth-place count of 11. That gap suggests a single company built a defensive filing programme around distribution automation control years before most competitors treated it as a distinct claim area.
A long tail of smaller and single-filing entrants
Below the top ten, the ranking spreads across dozens of assignees including utilities, university foundations and equipment vendors, most holding only a handful of records each. That tail is where narrow, defensible claims on specific sub-components are still being filed.
Co-filing is rare and concentrated in one utility group
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in this dataset, and the strongest pairing links a national grid operator with one of its regional marketing and research subsidiaries. Cross-company co-filing between unrelated entities is essentially absent.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| CAUSAM ENERGY INC | 1 | -50% |
| Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America | 1 | -83% |
| Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | 0 | — |
| FORBES JR JOSEPH W | 0 | — |
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Cooper Technologies Company | 0 | — |
| State Grid Corporation of China | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The trends above point to a field with an occupied core and an open edge. Two directions make sense from here.
Map claims against the top assignee's portfolio
With 196 of 395 records held by one company, any new filing in core feeder control or fault indication should be checked against that portfolio specifically before drafting claims.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTrack the 2025-2026 filing signal as it fills in
The apparent decline from the 2021 peak is real through 2024, but 2025-2026 counts are still incomplete due to publication lag; re-checking this trend in the next data cut will show whether filing is stabilising or continuing to fall.
Set up a filing-trend alert in EurekaQuestions practitioners ask about this landscape
One assignee holds 196 of the 395 records in scope, far ahead of the rest of the ranked field, with fifth place holding only 11 and tenth place 6. The top five combined account for 72.2% of all records, and the top ten reach 82.5%. That means most of the core claim space in distribution automation control is already occupied by a small group of filers, and any new entrant should check its planned claims against that group specifically rather than the field in general.
Filing activity peaked in 2021 at 46 records and had fallen to 24 by 2024, a 48% decline over that three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year that can be treated as complete, because publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months. The 2025 and 2026 counts in any dataset will look lower still, but that reflects the reporting lag, not a further collapse in filing — the real trend should be judged from 2024 backward, not from the last one or two years.
H02J (power supply and grid systems) and H04L (digital information transmission) are the two largest IPC subclasses, covering 47.8% and 43.0% of the 395 records respectively. G05B (control and regulating systems), G06Q (business and commerce data processing) and G05F (electric/magnetic variable control) each cover a quarter or more of records as well. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these figures add up to well over 100%, and they show that most filings pair a power-control mechanism with a specific communications or data-handling claim.
The IPC composition and momentum data point to lower claim density in areas such as feeder-level fault-direction detection refinements, zero-sequence phase-comparison protection logic, and wireless backhaul for feeder remote terminal units, alongside the G07F (vending/coin-operated) and G05D (non-electric variable control) crossover classes, which each cover a smaller share of records than the core power and communications classes. These are not guaranteed-clear areas, but they show comparatively less filing density and are worth a freedom-to-operate check before assuming the space is occupied. Confirming this requires checking specific claims, not just class-level shares.
Concentration is high at the very top and long-tailed below it: the top five assignees hold 72.2% of the 395 records in scope, and the top ten hold 82.5%. Below that, the ranking spreads across 83 companies total, many holding only a handful of records each. Co-filing between separate organisations is rare, with only 10 co-assignee pairs identified across the entire dataset, so most patenting here is done by single entities rather than joint ventures or research collaborations.
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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.