Formation Protocol Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Two assignees account for all 13 records in scope. The ranking is not a top-50 — it is the entire field the data endpoint returns for this search.
- Filing peaked in 2022 at 5 records and has not grown since. The midpoint year matches the peak, meaning the curve is flat to declining rather than still building.
- G01R and H01M each cover 76.9% of the 13 records. Measurement claims and cell-hardware claims run almost in lockstep, pointing to diagnostics-driven formation work rather than pure electrochemistry.
A narrow, university-led corner of battery manufacturing IP
Formation protocol optimization sits at the intersection of manufacturing process control and cell diagnostics: how a cell is first charged, aged and degassed determines the quality of its solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and, downstream, its cycle life. The patent record for this specific slice — formation protocol, SEI formation protocol and related capacity-grading and degassing claims — is small at 13 published records, filed across Europe, WIPO, the United States and Australia.
The filing curve is not a growth story. It rose to a peak of 5 records in 2022 and has since flattened, with the most recent year understated by the usual 18-month gap between filing and publication. That makes this a field worth watching for who consolidates existing claims rather than one where new entrants are flooding in.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 13 records: how filing activity moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Flat since the 2022 peak
Filings ran from zero in 2017 to a peak of 5 in 2022, the dataset's midpoint year. Activity has not exceeded that peak since, and 2026 is still an open, partial year in the count.
Measurement and cell hardware dominate
G01R (electric and magnetic measurement) and H01M (batteries, cells and fuel cells) each appear in 76.9% of the 13 records, with G01N material analysis and G05B control systems trailing well behind. Because records can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% of the record total.
Shares are the percentage of the 13 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Formation Protocol Optimization for Lithium Cells with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about formation protocol optimization for lithium cells and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited filings in this set
Battery Formation Diagnostics Using Real-Time Expansion
A method for manufacturing an electrochemical cell that selects a cell component known to cause degradation, defines a formation protocol with a charging phase and an aging phase, and calculates a solid electrolyte interphase growth process based on that protocol to inform diagnostics during formation.Filed by The Regents of the University of Michigan, published 2024-11-28.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20230029405A1 | Early-Life Diagnostics For Fast Battery Formation Protocols And Their Impacts To Long-Term Aging | 15 |
| 2 | US20240394436A1 | Battery Formation Diagnostics Using Real-Time Expansion | 3 |
| 3 | WO2024000043A1 | Battery formation protocols | 3 |
| 4 | WO2023283341A2 | Early-life diagnostics for fast battery formation protocols and their impacts to long-term aging | 3 |
Citation counts inside this corpus favour older filings; treat them as a signal of influence within the set, not as a measure of current commercial importance.
Publication numbers are shown where the record carries one (4 of 4 rows); 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-throughs from the trend, the assignee concentration and the citation pattern.
This is a two-player field, not a crowded one
The top 2 combined account for all 13 records in scope, and the ranked list itself contains only two entities. There is no long tail of single-filer entrants to track here — the entire documented activity runs through two organisations.
Flat, not building
The midpoint year of the trend (2022) is also the peak year. That pattern signals a field that established its core claims early and has not seen renewed filing pressure since, rather than one still in a growth phase.
Diagnostics and hardware claims run together
Measurement (G01R) and cell/battery hardware (H01M) each cover more than three-quarters of the 13 records, well ahead of material analysis or control-systems classes. Formation IP in this set is being claimed as a diagnostics-plus-hardware combination more often than as either alone.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to formation protocol optimization for lithium cells, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claims
Two university assignees account for the entire ranked field. Neither shows filing activity in the most recent year, consistent with the flat overall trend.
A single assignee holds the majority position
The leading assignee accounts for 9 of the 13 records in this dataset, filed across the formation-diagnostics and SEI-quality claim space described in the representative filing above.
The second assignee closes out the ranking
With only two entities in the entire ranked list, the second assignee accounts for the balance of the 13 records, giving the field a clean two-party structure rather than a competitive cluster.
No fresh filings from either leader recently
Both ranked assignees show zero filings in the latest year tracked. Combined with the 2022 peak, this suggests the active claim-building phase for this specific search scope has already passed, at least in what has published so far.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| The Regents of the University of Michigan | 0 | — |
| Deakin University | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a narrow, two-party field with specific under-claimed branches. These next steps help translate that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision.
Map claim scope on the leading assignee's filings
With one assignee holding 9 of 13 records, a claim-by-claim read of its formation-protocol and diagnostics filings will show exactly how much room remains for a differentiated approach.
Explore in EurekaCheck the under-claimed branches before drafting
Degassing timing, capacity-grading correlation and formation-time reduction show lighter claim density than the G01R/H01M core — worth a targeted prior-art pull before committing a claim set.
Run a white space search in EurekaWatch for renewed filing after the 2022 peak
Flat filing since 2022 does not rule out a resurgence once the 18-month publication lag catches up; monitoring both assignees for new applications is worthwhile before assuming the field is settled.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about formation protocol patents
In this dataset, the entire ranked field consists of just two assignees, together accounting for all 13 records in scope. That is unusually concentrated compared with broader battery manufacturing categories, and it means freedom-to-operate work here can focus on two portfolios rather than a wide field of competitors. It also means a new entrant with a genuinely different approach faces less prior art to design around than the raw patent count for batteries generally might suggest.
No. Filing peaked at 5 records in 2022, which is also the midpoint of the tracked period, and no subsequent year has matched or exceeded it. The most recent year is always understated in trend data because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, but even accounting for that lag the pattern reads as flat to declining rather than an accelerating field.
The two dominant IPC subclasses are G01R (electric and magnetic measurement) and H01M (batteries, cells and fuel cells), each covering 76.9% of the 13 records, with material analysis (G01N) and control systems (G05B) appearing less often. This points to formation IP being claimed primarily as a combination of real-time diagnostic measurement and cell hardware design, rather than as pure chemistry or pure software control.
US20240394436A1, 'Battery Formation Diagnostics Using Real-Time Expansion,' is held by The Regents of the University of Michigan and published on 2024-11-28. It claims a method for manufacturing an electrochemical cell that selects a degradation-causing cell component, defines a formation protocol with distinct charging and aging phases, and calculates SEI growth based on that protocol to drive diagnostics. Anyone building a real-time expansion-based formation diagnostic tied to SEI growth modeling should read this filing's claim set closely before finalizing a design.
The dataset shows light claim density outside the dense G01R/H01M measurement-and-hardware overlap, specifically around degassing step timing, capacity-grading correlation models, gas generation prediction and formation-time reduction algorithms. These sub-areas appear in the underlying search terms but are not where the bulk of the 13 records concentrate their claims. That gap is worth validating with a dedicated prior-art search before drafting, since a small dataset can understate activity that exists just outside its search string.
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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.