Meter Communication Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 53.5% concentration. The five leading assignees account for 2,991 of the 5,592 records in scope — over half the field sits with a handful of filers.
- Filing cooled from its 2021 peak. Annual filings fell from 323 in 2021 to 163 in 2024, a 50% drop over three complete years.
- Digital transmission dominates the claim space. H04L (digital information transmission) touches 53.2% of all records, more than double the next largest class.
Filing growth compares 2021 (323 records) with 2024 (163) — 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 5,592 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape maps 5,592 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine advanced metering infrastructure, meter communication or meter data collection with a specific technical mechanism — power line communication, cellular modules, read success rate, network topology, data privacy or head-end systems. The scope is deliberately narrow: it is not every smart-meter patent, but the subset where communication and data-handling claims are explicit rather than incidental.
Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend line are undercounts, not evidence of a slowdown. The 2021-to-2024 window is the most recent stretch that can be read as complete, and it already shows filing volume pulling back from its peak.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 5,592-record corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how those records distribute across IPC subclasses.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Annual filings rose to a peak of 323 in 2021, then declined to 163 by 2024 — a 50% fall over that three-year span. 2017 filings stood at 295. Years from 2025 onward are still filling in as publications catch up with filing dates, so treat the tail of the line as a floor, not a ceiling.
IPC subclass composition
H04L (digital information transmission) appears in 53.2% of records, H04W (wireless communication networks) in 24.3%, and H02J (power supply and grid systems) in 15.9%. Because records commonly carry multiple IPC codes, these shares sum past 100% — each is measured against the full 5,592-record base, not against each other.
Shares are the percentage of the 5,592 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Meter Communication and Data Collection with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about meter communication and data collection and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited records
Advanced metering infrastructure system
Disclosed is an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system, used in a power system that comprises a high-voltage power supplying switch, at least one transformer and at least one smart meter. Each transformer connects to at least one smart meter and to the high-voltage power supplying switch or another transformer. The system comprises power line bridges and at least one data concentrator unit (DCU), with each power line bridge connected to a transformer in parallel and electrically linked to a smart meter on one end and the DCU on the other.Filed by Institute for Information Industry, published 2017-06-01 as US20170153124A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20170006135A1 | Systems, methods, and devices for an enterprise internet-of-things application development platform | 1,904 |
| 2 | US20150094968A1 | Comfort-driven optimization of electric grid utilization | 494 |
| 3 | US20110282508A1 | Generalized grid security framework | 486 |
| 4 | US20110066297A1 | Remote monitoring and control system comprising mesh and time synchronization technology | 462 |
| 5 | US20070063866A1 | Remote meter monitoring and control system | 368 |
| 6 | US20110196546A1 | Systems and methods for demand response and distributed energy resource management | 358 |
| 7 | US20180191867A1 | Systems, methods, and devices for an enterprise ai and internet-of-things platform | 351 |
| 8 | US20140222997A1 | Hidden markov model based architecture to monitor network node activities and predict relevant periods | 341 |
| 9 | US20130054863A1 | Resource Manager, System And Method For Communicating Resource Management Information For Smart Energy And Me… | 327 |
| 10 | US7308370B2 | Using a fixed network wireless data collection system to improve utility responsiveness to power outages | 326 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus skew toward older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations — read them as a signal of influence on the field, not of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three findings that shape where to file, who to watch, and how contested the space already is.
Filing is concentrated at the top
The five leading assignees account for 2,991 of the 5,592 records in scope, and the top ten extend that to 68.5% (3,832 records). Below that line, the ranking thins into a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants competing for the remaining share.
Volume has pulled back from its 2021 peak
Filings peaked at 323 in 2021 and fell to 163 by 2024, a 50% decline over three complete years. That is a real pullback in a mature filing window, not an artefact of publication lag, since both endpoints predate the 18-month reporting gap.
Digital transmission claims dominate the class mix
H04L (digital information transmission) appears in 53.2% of the 5,592 records, well ahead of H04W wireless networks at 24.3% and H02J power/grid systems at 15.9%. Dense H04L coverage signals occupied claim space around transmission protocols, not that the underlying problem is solved.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to meter communication and data collection, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd. | Kia Corporation | 193 |
| VASSEUR JEAN PHILIPPE | HUI JONATHAN W | 94 |
| Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd. | Myongji University Industry-Academia Cooperation Foundation | 58 |
| Kia Corporation | Myongji University Industry-Academia Cooperation Foundation | 57 |
| Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd. | Sungkyunkwan University Foundation for Corporate Collaboration | 23 |
| Kia Corporation | Sungkyunkwan University Foundation for Corporate Collaboration | 23 |
| VASSEUR JEAN PHILIPPE | SHAFFER SHMUEL | 19 |
| Cisco Technology, Inc. | VASSEUR JEAN PHILIPPE | 18 |
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the data, with automotive-affiliated pairings among the strongest — a reminder that meter communication claims increasingly cross into vehicle-to-grid and telematics filings rather than staying inside traditional utility-equipment portfolios.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
The leader board is dominated by a mix of networking, metering-equipment and consumer-electronics filers, with automotive names entering through vehicle telematics and grid-interface claims rather than classic meter hardware.
One filer sets the scale for the field
The leading assignee's record count is more than seven times the fifth-place total of 235, an unusually steep drop-off that marks this as a field with one dominant portfolio rather than several evenly matched ones.
A defined mid-tier sits below the top five
Tenth place holds 125 records, roughly half the fifth-place count of 235 — the drop from top five to top ten is steady rather than a cliff, suggesting a genuine second tier of active filers rather than a sharp leader/laggard split.
Several top filers show no latest-year activity
Multiple assignees among the most active historical filers show zero filings in the latest tracked year, each a -100% year-on-year change. Given the 18-month publication lag, this more likely reflects filings still in the pipeline than a genuine stop in R&D.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco Technology, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Itron, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Texas Instruments Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| LG Electronics Inc. | 0 | — |
| Kia Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| General Electric Co. | 0 | — |
| Itron Global SARL | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio benchmarking, or spotting where to file.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 1,759 records, any filing near power-line communication, network topology or head-end system claims should be checked against that portfolio first.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaWatch the mid-tier for acquisition or licensing signals
The steady drop from top-five to top-ten filers suggests active mid-tier players worth tracking for licensing moves or acquisition targets as filing volume cools from its 2021 peak.
Track filer momentum in EurekaScope new filings around the thinner branches
Read success rate optimisation and meter-side data privacy show thinner coverage than core transmission claims, making them worth a closer prior-art check before drafting.
Run a white-space search in EurekaCommon questions
One assignee leads with 1,759 records in this 5,592-record corpus, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 235 and the tenth-place holder at 125. The top five assignees combined hold 53.5% of all records, and the top ten hold 68.5%, so the field is concentrated at the top with a long tail of smaller filers below that line. Anyone assessing freedom-to-operate should check the leader's portfolio first, since its scale dwarfs every other filer in the ranking.
Filings peaked at 323 in 2021 and had fallen to 163 by 2024, a 50% decline over three complete years, so the recent trend is a pullback rather than growth. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look lower still, but publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so those final years are undercounted and should not be read as continued decline. The safest read is that filing activity cooled from a 2021 high, with the most recent trajectory still unclear.
Digital information transmission (H04L) is the largest class, touching 53.2% of the 5,592 records in scope, followed by wireless communication networks (H04W) at 24.3% and power supply and grid systems (H02J) at 15.9%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares add up to more than 100%, and each is measured against the full record count rather than against one another. Heavy H04L coverage means transmission-protocol claim space is crowded, not that the underlying communication problem is fully solved.
Relative to the dense coverage around digital transmission and wireless networking, branches like read success rate optimisation, head-end system interoperability, meter-side data privacy controls, and mesh network self-healing show thinner claim density in this corpus. That does not mean these areas are unpatented, but the filing pressure is lower than in the core transmission classes. A new filer targeting one of these branches faces less crowded prior art than one filing directly against H04L transmission claims.
US20170153124A1, filed by Institute for Information Industry, claims a specific advanced metering infrastructure architecture built around power line bridges connected in parallel to transformers and linked to a data concentrator unit. It blocks designs that replicate that exact power-line-bridge-to-DCU topology, but it does not cover meter communication generally — cellular, mesh-network or head-end-system approaches that do not use this parallel power-line-bridge structure sit outside its claims. Anyone designing in this space should map their architecture against the specific topology this filing describes rather than treating it as a blanket block on AMI systems.
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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.