Open RAN Process Automation Patents: Who Leads, Where Gaps Are 2026
- Filing activity has plateaued, not grown. the field peaked at 36 families in 2022 and has not exceeded that since, with 2026 filings (partial) still in single digits.
- The United States dominates the filing map. 38 records file through the USPTO versus 25 via WIPO/PCT and 19 through the EPO, with India a distant but notable fourth at 12.
- Claims cluster tightly in wireless-network IPC codes. H04W covers 90 of 103 records, while AI-adjacent G06N appears in only 11 — a gap between RIC-driven automation claims and the machine-learning methods that power them.
Filing growth compares 2021 (18 records) with 2024 (23) — 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 103 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the patent record shows about Open RAN process automation
Open RAN process automation covers the software and control logic that let a disaggregated radio access network configure, heal and optimise itself without manual intervention — zero-touch automation, self-organizing network functions, and RIC-driven closed-loop control are the recurring claim themes across this dataset. The 103 patent families captured here span 2015 through mid-2026, concentrated overwhelmingly in wireless-network and digital-transmission IPC subclasses rather than in the AI or control-theory codes that underpin much of the intelligence layer.
Filing rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 36 families in 2022, then did not sustain that pace — a pattern more consistent with an initial land-grab around O-RAN Alliance specifications than with a technology still accelerating. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025-2026 figures in any trend chart understate real filing activity for those years.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 103-family dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
A peak year, then a plateau
Filings climbed from nothing in 2017 to 36 in 2022, the high point of the series. Volume since has not matched that peak, and the partial 2026 count of 2 sits well below the midpoint — a flat-to-declining trajectory rather than one still building.
Wireless subclasses carry the claim weight
H04W (wireless communication networks) appears in 90 of 103 records and H04L (digital transmission) in 42, confirming this is fundamentally a networking-protocol landscape. AI-model codes (G06N, 11 records) and control-of-non-electric-variable codes (G05D, 2 records) are present but thin, suggesting the automation logic itself is less densely claimed than the network architecture it operates on.
Shares are the percentage of the 103 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Open RAN Process Automation with Eureka
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Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
Federated learning inside the O-RAN RIC hierarchy
WO2024217710A1, filed by NEC Laboratories Europe, describes deploying a federated learning manager inside the Non-Real-Time RIC that coordinates federated learning schemes between the Non-RT RIC and the Near-RT RIC. It is a 2024 filing that sits at the intersection of the two thinnest IPC codes in this dataset — network control and AI methods — which makes it a useful marker for where the field is heading even though its own citation count is still building.Filed 2024-10-24 · NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20220167236A1 | Intelligence and Learning in O-RAN for 5G and 6G Cellular Networks | 99 |
| 2 | WO2020242987A1 | 5g new radio load balancing and mobility robustness | 74 |
| 3 | US20220159525A1 | 5g new radio load balancing and mobility robustness | 57 |
| 4 | US20220210708A1 | Method and apparatus for updating handover parameters in open-radio access network (o-ran) environment | 37 |
| 5 | US20210204148A1 | Real-time intelligent ran controller to support self-driving open ran | 35 |
| 6 | US20240214272A1 | A1 policy functions for open radio access network (o-ran) systems | 21 |
| 7 | US20210306899A1 | OpenRAN Networking Infrastructure | 17 |
| 8 | US20210045011A1 | OpenRAN and Virtualized Baseband Radio Unit | 15 |
| 9 | US20230014932A1 | Method and device of communication in a communication system using an open radio access network | 13 |
| 10 | US20230055306A1 | 4G/5G Open RAN CU-UP High Availability Solution | 12 |
Citation counts reward earlier publication dates and should be read as a signal of influence within this searched corpus, not as a ranking of current technical importance.
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Three findings that shape how a freedom-to-operate or whitespace assessment should be scoped in this field.
The land-grab has already happened
Filing volume rose sharply through 2022 and has not returned to that level since. For a competitive team, this suggests the core architectural claims around zero-touch automation and SON functions are largely staked out, and new filings are more likely to be refinements than foundational claims.
Filing strategy still centres on the US and PCT route
The United States receives the largest single share of filings, with WIPO/PCT close behind as the preferred route for multi-jurisdiction protection. India's 12 filings are notable given its much smaller historical share of telecom patent activity generally, pointing to active operator or vendor interest tied to India's own network rollouts.
Automation logic is claimed thinner than network architecture
G06N (AI-model computing) appears in only 11 records against 90 for H04W. That gap matters for anyone building RIC-driven intelligence: the network-control envelope is heavily claimed, but the specific learning methods used inside it are comparatively open.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to open ran process automation, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is still open
Recent-year momentum is uneven: most tracked assignees show a drop to zero filings in the latest year, against a backdrop of an overall plateau since 2022.
Ericsson is the one assignee still filing at pace
Ericsson shows 2 filings in the latest tracked year with 100% year-over-year growth, making it the only assignee in the momentum data moving upward while others have gone quiet. That divergence is worth watching for signs of where the next filing wave originates.
Multiple established filers dropped to zero
Several assignees that were active in prior years, including specialist RAN vendors and a US university, show no filings in the latest year. This is consistent with the broader plateau since 2022 rather than a single-company retreat.
No single assignee dominates the corpus
With filing spread across telecom equipment vendors, chipset and software specialists, and at least one university, the dataset shows concentration at the top alongside a long tail of smaller or single-filing entrants rather than one clear category leader.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson | 2 | +100% |
| Geo Platform Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Parallel Wireless, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Starlight Technologies Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Korea) | 0 | — |
| Northeastern University (USA) | 0 | -100% |
| NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH | 0 | — |
| DISH WIRELESS LLC | 0 | — |
Turning this landscape into a filing or FTO decision
The published data points to where claim space is dense and where it thins out; the next step is testing a specific claim or product feature against it.
Check a specific claim against the cited art
The most-cited records in this corpus, several tied to load balancing, mobility robustness and handover parameter updates, are the densest prior art a new O-RAN automation claim is likely to run into.
Explore citation chains in EurekaScope freedom-to-operate on the RIC intelligence layer
With G06N filings thin relative to H04W, a learning-method claim inside the Non-RT or Near-RT RIC has more open space than a network-control claim does.
Run an FTO scan in EurekaTrack the assignees still filing
Most tracked assignees show zero filings in the latest year; identifying which ones are still active narrows down who to monitor for competitive filings.
Set up assignee alerts in EurekaCommon questions on Open RAN process automation patents
This dataset captures 103 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026, matched against Open RAN and O-RAN terminology combined with automation-related claim language in IPC classes H04W24, H04L41 and H04W28. Filing activity peaked at 36 families in 2022 and has not returned to that level since. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in this count will rise as more applications publish.
The corpus shows concentration at the top alongside a long tail of smaller filers, spanning telecom equipment vendors, RAN software specialists and at least one university. Recent-year momentum data shows most tracked assignees dropped to zero filings in the latest year, while Ericsson is the one assignee showing continued growth. A full assignee ranking with family counts is provided in the accompanying table.
No — filing volume peaked in 2022 at 36 families and has been flat to declining since, with only 2 filings recorded so far in the partial 2026 year. This pattern suggests the initial wave of foundational claims around zero-touch automation and self-organizing network functions has largely been filed, and that new activity is more likely incremental. Readers should still account for the 18-month publication lag when judging the very latest years.
The clearest gap sits between network-control claims (H04W, 90 of 103 records) and AI-method claims (G06N, only 11 records) — the RIC-driven intelligence layer is less densely claimed than the network architecture it runs on. Specific under-claimed branches include federated learning coordination across the Non-RT and Near-RT RIC, cross-vendor xApp/rApp conflict resolution, and energy-aware SON parameter tuning. These are areas where a well-drafted first claim has more room than in the crowded handover and load-balancing space.
WO2024217710A1 is a 2024 filing by NEC Laboratories Europe describing a federated learning scheme coordinated by a federated learning manager placed in the O-RAN Non-Real-Time RIC, working with the Near-Real-Time RIC to execute the learning scheme. It sits precisely at the thin intersection of network-control and AI-method IPC codes identified in this dataset. Anyone designing federated or distributed learning across the RIC hierarchy should review its claim scope closely, since it is one of the few filings explicitly bridging these two areas.
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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.