Media Codec Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The five leading filers account for 47.8% of all 45,572 records in scope, and the top ten reach 65.8% — this is a field with a small set of entrenched claimants.
- Filing has cooled from its 2022 peak. Volume ran from 2,206 filings in 2021 down to 1,260 in 2024, a 43% drop over that span — though 2025-2026 figures are still filling in under the usual 18-month publication lag.
- Pictorial communication still dominates the claim map. H04N covers 21.4% of all records, more than G06T and G06N combined, meaning core video/TV transport claims remain the densest single layer to search around.
Filing growth compares 2021 (2,206 records) with 2024 (1,260) — 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 45,572 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the media codec patent record actually shows
Media codecs sit at the intersection of video transport, image processing and increasingly AI-driven compression, and the patent record reflects that spread: H04N (pictorial communication) is the single largest class at 21.4% of all records, followed by general digital data processing and image data generation. The filing curve peaked in 2022 and has since eased off its high, though the most recent two years are still being backfilled by publication lag and should not be read as a hard decline.
Ownership is unusually concentrated for a technology this broad: five companies hold nearly half of all published records, and ten hold nearly two-thirds. That concentration, paired with a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants, is the shape a reader needs to plan around — whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing leverage, or finding an underclaimed niche.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 45,572-record corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how those records distribute across the IPC subclasses that make up the codec and media-processing stack.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Annual filings rose from 1,172 in 2017 to a peak of 2,387 in 2022, then fell to 1,260 by 2024 — a 43% drop from the 2021 level of 2,206. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
IPC subclass composition
H04N (pictorial communication) leads at 21.4% of all records, with G06F (13.2%) and G06T (11.4%) forming the next tier. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should be read as claim-space overlap, not as a partition of the field.
Shares are the percentage of the 45,572 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Media Codecs Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about media codecs patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative claim and the most-cited prior art
US11825094B2 — System-on-chip having a merged frame rate converter and video codec
A system-on-chip which includes a video codec including a deblocking filter includes a motion estimator that calculates a motion vector of an input image, a motion compensator that compensates for a motion of the input image by using the motion vector, and a parameter generator that allows image data, in which the motion is compensated, to be transferred to and filtered by the deblocking filter of the video codec.Filed by Samsung Electronics, granted 2023-11-21 — illustrative of how frame-rate conversion and codec deblocking are being claimed together at the SoC level rather than as separate functional blocks.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6850252B1 | Intelligent electronic appliance system and method | 4,058 |
| 2 | US6400996B1 | Adaptive pattern recognition based control system and method | 2,342 |
| 3 | US20130201316A1 | System and method for server based control | 1,724 |
| 4 | US6640145B2 | Media recording device with packet data interface | 1,591 |
| 5 | US20070053513A1 | Intelligent electronic appliance system and method | 1,452 |
| 6 | US20120127062A1 | Automatic focus improvement for augmented reality displays | 1,286 |
| 7 | US20070005795A1 | Object oriented video system | 1,242 |
| 8 | US7006881B1 | Media recording device with remote graphic user interface | 1,218 |
| 9 | US7813822B1 | Intelligent electronic appliance system and method | 1,198 |
| 10 | US20120127284A1 | Head-mounted display device which provides surround video | 824 |
Citation counts favour older filings inside any searched corpus — treat this table as a signal of historical influence on the field, not a ranking of current technical importance.
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 or licensing decision
Three read-outs from the concentration, trend and composition data above, each pointed at a decision rather than a description.
A small group sets the terms in this field
With ten companies accounting for 65.8% of all records and five alone holding 47.8%, freedom-to-operate work in core codec claims will almost always run into one of a handful of portfolios. Licensing conversations are correspondingly concentrated rather than fragmented.
Volume has eased from its 2022 high
Filing peaked at 2,387 in 2022 and has since pulled back to 1,260 by 2024. That is a real cooling in the complete-year data, not a sign the field is closing — recent-year momentum still shows active filing activity across several major assignees.
Transport-layer claims are the densest single layer
H04N pictorial communication carries more claim density than any other subclass, ahead of general data processing (G06F) and image data generation (G06T). A search strategy that skips H04N will miss the largest single concentration of prior art in the field.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to media codecs patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where activity is shifting
The ranked leaders span device makers, chipmakers and platform companies; recent-year momentum shows most of the largest filers pulling back from their historical pace, which is consistent with the post-2022 cooling in the overall trend.
One filer holds a clear lead
The top-ranked assignee's 7,498 records sit well ahead of fifth place at 1,935, underscoring how top-heavy this field is even within the leading group.
Even active filers are pulling back
Huawei filed 28 records in the latest year, down 81% year over year; Nvidia, Honor, Intel, Tencent America and Nokia show similarly steep pullbacks. This matches the corpus-wide cooling but should be read with the 18-month publication lag in mind — the latest year is always undercounted.
Co-filing is limited and concentrated
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear in the corpus, and the strongest links pair a large corporate filer with individual named inventors rather than another company — a sign that formal co-assignment is the exception, not the norm, in this field.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 28 | -81% |
| NVIDIA Corporation | 14 | -75% |
| Honor Device Co., Ltd. | 12 | -76% |
| Intel Corporation | 5 | -97% |
| Tencent America LLC | 3 | -98% |
| Nokia Technologies Oy | 3 | -89% |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 2 | -82% |
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field that rewards precision rather than breadth: the dense classes are worth mapping claim-by-claim, and the thinner branches are worth testing before committing a filing strategy.
Map claim scope inside H04N and G06T
Before filing near frame-rate conversion or image rendering, work through the actual claim boundaries held by the leading assignees in these two classes rather than relying on class-level density alone.
Explore claim scope in EurekaTrack momentum, not just totals
Recent-year pullbacks across several major filers suggest priorities are shifting; watching filing momentum by assignee over the next few publication cycles will be more informative than the historical totals alone.
Set up momentum tracking in EurekaTest the white space branches directly
Under-claimed areas like pose-tracking-aware encoding or cross-device codec negotiation are named from thin filing density, not confirmed novelty — validate each against the live record before committing.
Search white space in EurekaCommon questions about the media codec patent landscape
The ranking is led by one company with 7,498 records, well ahead of the field, with the top five combined holding 47.8% of all 45,572 records in scope. The leading group includes major chipmakers and platform companies rather than any single specialist codec vendor. This concentration means most freedom-to-operate questions in core codec claims will trace back to a small number of portfolios.
Filing rose steadily to a peak of 2,387 records in 2022, then declined to 1,260 by 2024, a 43% drop over that three-year span. That decline is measured using complete-year data only; 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the most recent years should not yet be read as a continuing slide. Recent-year momentum data for individual assignees shows the same pattern of pulling back from 2022-era highs.
H04N, covering pictorial communication such as video and TV transport, is the single largest class at 21.4% of all records. G06F (general digital data processing) and G06T (image data processing and generation) follow at 13.2% and 11.4% respectively. Because records often carry multiple IPC classes, these figures overlap rather than partition the field, and a thorough search needs to cover all three rather than treating them as separate silos.
US11825094B2 is a Samsung Electronics patent, granted November 2023, covering a system-on-chip that merges a frame rate converter with a video codec containing a deblocking filter. Its claims tie together motion estimation, motion compensation and the transfer of motion-compensated image data into the codec's deblocking filter at the hardware level. Anyone designing a combined frame-rate-conversion-and-codec block on a single chip should check this claim scope directly rather than assuming the functions can be implemented independently.
Filing density is markedly thinner in branches adjacent to the dense H04N and G06T core, including pose-tracking-aware encoding, AI-model-driven bitstream adaptation, and cross-device codec interface negotiation. These are read from relative filing thinness in the corpus, not from a novelty search, so each candidate area needs direct validation before a filing decision. Thin filing density in a fast-moving adjacent area can also mean the technology is simply early, not that it is unclaimed for long.
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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.