NTN Channel Coding Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing has already peaked. activity crested at 3,922 families in 2023 and has since declined, with the 2022 midpoint of 2,851 showing the growth phase is behind this field, not ahead of it.
- Every tracked assignee is pulling back at once. the largest recent filers are all down 78-92% year-on-year in the latest period, a synchronized retreat rather than one company ceding ground to another.
- Coding-specific claims are a minority position. H03M (coding & code conversion) accounts for only 1,246 of 18,973 records against 12,356 in H04W, meaning most filings sit in network architecture, not the coding schemes themselves.
Filing growth compares 2021 (890 records) with 2024 (3,264) — 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 18,973 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Non-terrestrial network (NTN) channel coding sits at the intersection of satellite communication and error-correction engineering: LDPC and related coding schemes adapted for the long propagation delays, Doppler shift and intermittent link conditions of satellite and high-altitude platform links. This dataset spans 18,973 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026, filtered on the joint appearance of non-terrestrial network or satellite communication terminology together with channel-coding or error-correction terminology in title, abstract, claims or description.
The filing curve rose steadily through the late 2010s, peaked in 2023, and has since turned down across effectively every major assignee. That pattern, combined with a technology mix weighted toward network-layer subclasses rather than coding-layer ones, shapes where a freedom-to-operate review should start and where it can move faster.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim weight.
A field that has already crested
Filings grew from 208 in 2017 to a peak of 3,922 in 2023, roughly a nineteen-fold increase over six years. Growth was already flattening by the 2022 midpoint of 2,851, and 2026 figures (283 so far, partial year) confirm the retreat rather than a plateau. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent one to two years will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be, but the downturn from 2023 predates that lag effect.
Network layer dominates over coding layer
H04W (wireless communication networks) and H04L (digital transmission) together account for the large majority of records, with H04B (general transmission) close behind. H03M, the subclass most directly tied to the coding schemes themselves, holds only 1,246 records — a signal that most filers are claiming NTN system architecture and protocol behaviour around coding, not the coding algorithms in isolation.
Shares are the percentage of the 18,973 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Non-Terrestrial Network Channel Coding with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about non-terrestrial network channel coding and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited records
US20230170987A1 — Satellite communication system and method for managing radio resource of non-terrestrial network
A satellite communication system and a method for managing radio resource of a non-terrestrial network are provided. The method includes: transmitting, by a first satellite, a first resource scheduling assignment when leaving a service area of the non-terrestrial network; receiving, by a second satellite, a second resource scheduling assignment corresponding to the first scheduling assignment when entering the service area; and accessing, by the second satellite, the radio resource according to the second resource scheduling assignment.Filed by Industrial Technology Research Institute, published 2023-06-01. The claim scope centres on handover-time resource scheduling between satellites rather than the coding scheme carried over the link, which is why it constrains system integrators more than coding-algorithm designers.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US7020701B1 | Method for collecting and processing data using internetworked wireless integrated network sensors (WINS) | 1,457 |
| 2 | US6735630B1 | Method for collecting data using compact internetworked wireless integrated network sensors (WINS) | 1,420 |
| 3 | US6859831B1 | Method and apparatus for internetworked wireless integrated network sensor (WINS) nodes | 1,175 |
| 4 | US20040095907A1 | Method and apparatus for optimization of wireless multipoint electromagnetic communication networks | 1,101 |
| 5 | US5726984A | Hierarchical data collection network supporting packetized voice communications among wireless terminals and … | 1,049 |
| 6 | US20190364492A1 | Methods and devices for radio communications | 871 |
| 7 | US20190363843A1 | Next generation radio technologies | 731 |
| 8 | US20200348662A1 | Platform for facilitating development of intelligence in an industrial internet of things system | 730 |
| 9 | US20210157312A1 | Intelligent vibration digital twin systems and methods for industrial environments | 713 |
| 10 | US20080272934A1 | Systems and Methods for Modifying Power Usage | 681 |
High citation counts here concentrate in older wireless sensor-network filings from the early-to-mid 2000s, reflecting how citation counts favour age within a searched corpus rather than current technical relevance to NTN coding specifically.
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 decision
Three signals worth weighing before committing engineering or legal resource to this space.
The growth phase has closed
Volume rose from 208 filings in 2017 to a 2023 peak of 3,922, then declined. A field that has already peaked rewards defensive clearance work more than aggressive first-to-file strategy — the open ground was claimed in 2021-2023.
US and Europe carry the bulk of filings
The United States, EPO and WIPO/PCT together dominate receiving-office counts, with India, China and Canada each in the hundreds rather than thousands. Clearance searches concentrated on US and EPO filings will catch most of the enforceable scope.
A synchronized pullback, not a single exit
Every tracked leading assignee shows a steep year-on-year drop in the latest period. That uniformity suggests a shared driver — likely standards settling into 3GPP NTN releases — rather than any one company abandoning the space to competitors.
Coding algorithms are the smaller target
Only about 6.6% of records sit in H03M, the subclass most tied to coding and code conversion itself. Most claim scope instead covers how coding integrates into NTN link and resource management, which is where new entrants are more likely to collide with existing claims.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to non-terrestrial network channel coding, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is opening up
Recent-year momentum shows retrenchment across the board rather than a widening lead for any single filer, while several technically specific sub-areas remain lightly claimed.
Samsung Electronics
Still the largest single filer by recent-year count among tracked assignees, but its filing rate has fallen by roughly seven-eighths from the prior year, consistent with the broader post-peak retreat.
Qualcomm
Qualcomm's recent filings track the same steep decline seen across the field, though its cumulative position and co-assignee network (including Ofinno-linked inventors) suggest continued involvement in standards-adjacent claim territory.
Ofinno and named inventors
Ofinno's pairing with individual named inventors is the strongest co-assignee relationship in the dataset, a pattern typical of standards-essential patent portfolios built through prolific individual inventor-assignee filing rather than large corporate R&D teams.
LG Electronics
LG shows the sharpest year-on-year decline among the tracked assignees, filing only a handful of records in the latest year — a near-exit from active filing in this specific intersection of terms.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics | 115 | -87% |
| Qualcomm | 45 | -88% |
| Huawei Technologies | 29 | -78% |
| Ofinno, LLC | 24 | -78% |
| Comcast Cable Communications, LLC | 6 | -88% |
| LG Electronics | 3 | -92% |
| HUGHES NETWORK SYST | 1 | -88% |
| Shanghai Langbo Communication Technology Co., Ltd. | 1 | -97% |
Where to take this
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is clearance, monitoring or new filing.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on H04W/H04L overlap claims
Because most claim density sits in network-layer subclasses rather than pure coding, a clearance search should weight NTN resource-management and handover claims as heavily as coding-scheme claims.
Explore in EurekaMonitor the post-peak assignee set for re-acceleration
A synchronized pullback across leading filers can precede a standards-driven refiling wave; tracking whether Samsung, Qualcomm or Ofinno resume filing after standard finalization is a leading indicator worth watching.
Set up tracking in EurekaScope a first claim in an under-claimed branch
Doppler-adaptive coding rate selection and inter-satellite handover coding continuity show thinner filing density than the core intersection, making them candidates for a narrowly drafted first-filing position.
Draft with EurekaCommon questions on NTN channel coding patents
It is a patent family whose claims or description combine non-terrestrial network or satellite communication terminology with channel coding, LDPC coding, or error correction coding terminology. In practice this covers coding schemes adapted for satellite link conditions, resource management systems that carry coded data across satellite handovers, and related digital transmission methods. This dataset used a title/abstract/claims/description search across those two term groups, returning 18,973 families published between 2015 and mid-2026.
Samsung Electronics leads recent-year filing volume among tracked assignees, followed by Qualcomm, Huawei, Ofinno, Comcast and LG Electronics. Every one of these shows a steep year-on-year decline in the latest tracked period, ranging from roughly 78% to 92% down, so leadership by volume does not currently mean rising momentum. The pattern looks like a field-wide pullback tied to filing having already peaked in 2023, rather than one company overtaking another.
Yes, on the evidence available. Filings rose from 208 in 2017 to a peak of 3,922 in 2023, then declined; the 2022 midpoint of 2,851 already shows the growth rate slowing before the peak. Recent-year counts for individual assignees confirm the same trend, with steep year-on-year drops across the board. Some of the apparent 2025-2026 decline is inflated by the usual 18-month gap between filing and publication, but the downturn clearly predates that lag.
The clearest gaps sit outside the dense H04W/H04L core: video and broadcast coding over NTN links (H04N overlap), multiplex-layer coding for NTN (H04J overlap), and software-defined or reconfigurable coding schemes (G06F overlap) each carry far fewer records than the main wireless-network subclasses. Doppler-adaptive LDPC rate selection and inter-satellite handover coding continuity are also thinner branches within the core intersection. These are starting points for a novelty search, not a guarantee of clear ground — each needs its own clearance check.
Not directly. Its claims cover resource scheduling handover between satellites as a spacecraft leaves and enters a service area, not the channel coding scheme itself. A team designing a new LDPC variant for NTN links is unlikely to infringe this particular filing, but any system that manages scheduling assignments across satellite handovers should review it, since that is where its claim scope sits.
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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.
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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.