Parallel File System Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
A data-backed look at parallel file system patents: filing trends since 2017, the concentration among leading assignees, IPC technology composition, and the most-cited foundational records shaping storage architecture cl
Filing growth = 2021 (55 records) → 2024 (48); 2024 is the last year we treat as complete. Top-5 share = the 5 largest assignees ÷ all 2,253 records in scope (CR5), not the ranked leaders only.
What the parallel file system patent record actually shows
Parallel file systems distribute data and metadata across many storage nodes so a cluster can read and write as one logical volume at high throughput. The patent record in scope — 2,253 published records filed against a search built around parallel file architecture and storage-device claims — spans classic distributed-storage assignees alongside newer NVMe and SSD-oriented filers. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent filing years in any trend understate real activity; treat 2024 as the most recent year that can be read as complete.
The picture that emerges is a mature, well-populated claim space with a peak filing year already behind it, a moderately concentrated set of leading assignees, and technology composition still centred on core data-processing and transmission classes rather than on newer AI-adjacent subclasses.
Filing trends, IPC composition and where records are filed
Three views of the same 2,253-record dataset: how filing volume has moved since 2017, which technology classes the records carry, and where applicants have chosen to file.
Filing trend: a 2017 peak followed by a plateau
Filings ran from 115 in 2017 to 11 in the still-filling 2026 count. Across the last full three-year window the evidence supports, 2021's 55 filings fell to 48 in 2024 — a -13% move, not a collapse, and not a basis for calling the field in decline given the 18-month publication lag on the years since.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in. Growth rates on this page therefore end at 2024; running them to the last bar would understate the field.
Technology composition: core storage architecture dominates
G06F (electric digital data processing) appears in 78.8% of the 2,253 records, far ahead of H04L (digital information transmission) at 19.4%. Video/image-adjacent classes (H04N, G06T, G06K) and AI-related G06N each sit in the single digits, meaning the bulk of claim activity is still architectural rather than tied to a specific downstream application.
Shares are the percentage of the 2,253 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
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Try EurekaThe records anchoring this space
US20020059309A1 — Implementing data management application programming interface access rights in a parallel file system
In a cluster of computing nodes sharing access to volumes of data storage through a parallel file system, a data management application initiated in the cluster obtains a data management access right from a data management application programming interface (DMAPI) in response to a node's request to operate on a file. The operation is then carried out on the file using that access right.Filed by Daedalus Blue LLC (formerly IBM); the earliest-filed records in this landscape, including US5163131A and US5751997A, still draw the heaviest citation weight and shape how later DMAPI-style access-right claims are drafted around them.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5163131A | Parallel I/O network file server architecture | 1,413 |
| 2 | US5751997A | Method and apparatus for transferring archival data among an arbitrarily large number of computer devices in … | 1,366 |
| 3 | US5673381A | System and parallel streaming and data stripping to back-up a network | 1,130 |
| 4 | US20020133491A1 | Method and system for managing distributed content and related metadata | 930 |
| 5 | US5649200A | Dynamic rule-based version control system | 738 |
| 6 | US7617253B2 | Destination systems and methods for performing data replication | 695 |
| 7 | US8086585B1 | Access control to block storage devices for a shared disk based file system | 693 |
| 8 | US20120166582A1 | System and method for routing-based internet security | 667 |
| 9 | US20060010227A1 | Methods and apparatus for accessing data from a primary data storage system for secondary storage | 660 |
| 10 | US5253308A | Massively parallel digital image data processor using pixel-mapped input/output and relative indexed addressi… | 639 |
Citation counts inside this corpus favour older filings and should be read as a signal of influence on later claim drafting, not of current commercial relevance.
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Reading the concentration, trend and composition figures together points to where the claim space is crowded and where it is not.
The front of the ranking is close, not commanding
The leading assignee holds 204 records out of 2,253, and the top 5 combined reach only 18.9% of the field. That is enough to matter in freedom-to-operate work but far from a lock — the remaining 81% of records sit across a long tail of the other 95 ranked companies plus unranked filers.
A plateau after the 2017 peak, not a decline
Filing volume peaked at 115 in 2017 and has settled lower since; the -13% move from 55 filings in 2021 to 48 in 2024 is a moderate pullback across the last fully-observable window. Years after 2024 will fill in further as publication catches up, so reading recent years as a downtrend would be premature.
Core architecture claims dominate over application-specific ones
G06F covers the large majority of records, while H04L trails at 19.4% and every other class sits under 7%. AI-related G06N appears in just 2.5% of records, indicating that most parallel file system claims are still written around distributed storage mechanics rather than around learned components layered on top.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to high-performance storage: parallel file system patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | IBM UNITED KINGDOM LTD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT | 8 |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | IBM (China) Co., Ltd. | 5 |
| Intel Corporation | OOI ENG | 4 |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | TAUFERNER ANDREW THOMAS | 2 |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | TAL SIVAN | 2 |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | SATRAN JULIAN | 2 |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | RODEH MICHAEL | 2 |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | NAOR DALIT | 2 |
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest of them link a single organisation's own regional or IP-holding entities rather than independent companies — cross-company joint filing is not a meaningful pattern in this space.
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps for teams deciding whether and where to file.
Map claims against the leading assignees' filings
With the top 5 assignees holding 18.9% of records and the top 10 holding 25.2%, a freedom-to-operate check against just the ranked leaders covers a meaningful but partial slice of the field — the long tail still needs its own search.
Explore assignee filings in EurekaTrack the post-2024 filing window as it fills in
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures will rise as more records publish; re-check the trend before concluding the field has slowed.
Set up a filing trend alert in EurekaProbe the under-represented IPC branches
G06N, G06K and G06Q each sit under 4% of records, suggesting AI-assisted metadata management and business-logic integration on top of parallel file systems remain comparatively open.
Run a white-space search in EurekaCommon questions about parallel file system patents
The ranked leader in this dataset holds 204 of the 2,253 records in scope, with the top 5 assignees combined accounting for 18.9% of all records and the top 10 reaching 25.2%. That leaves roughly three-quarters of the field spread across a long tail of other ranked and unranked filers, so no single company controls the space outright. Anyone doing freedom-to-operate work should still search well beyond the leading names.
Filing peaked at 115 records in 2017 and has settled to a lower plateau since, with the last fully-observable window showing a -13% move from 55 filings in 2021 to 48 in 2024. Because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 counts in the raw data are still incomplete and should not be read as evidence of a decline. The honest read is a mature field past its peak filing year, not a shrinking one.
G06F, electric digital data processing, appears in 78.8% of the 2,253 records in scope, making it by far the dominant class. H04L, digital information transmission, follows at 19.4%, while image, video and AI-related classes such as G06T, G06K and G06N each sit under 7%. This tells you that most claims are still built around core distributed-storage architecture rather than around a specific downstream application like AI inference or video pipelines.
This record, filed originally by IBM and now held by Daedalus Blue LLC, covers a method for managing data storage in a cluster where nodes share access to volumes through a parallel file system. The core mechanism is obtaining a data management access right from a data management application programming interface (DMAPI) before an operation is performed on a file. It is a representative example of access-control claiming layered on top of parallel file system architecture, a pattern that shows up repeatedly in later filings in this space.
Based on the IPC composition, the branches with the lowest coverage relative to the 2,253-record total are G06N (AI-related computing, 2.5%), G06K (data recognition, 3.1%) and G06Q (business and admin data processing, 3.7%). These low shares suggest that claims combining parallel file system mechanics with AI-driven metadata management, automated data classification, or business-logic-aware storage policies are comparatively under-filed relative to core architecture claims. That does not guarantee the space is empty, but it is a reasonable starting point for a deeper prior-art search.
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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.