Private 5G Networks Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Two named assignees account for all 70 records in scope, meaning the ranked field is not a long tail of small filers but a near-total concentration in two portfolios.
- Filing peaked in 2023 at 26 records, and the 2022 midpoint of 23 shows the growth curve has since gone flat rather than continuing to climb.
- Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT) together outpace United States filings, with 32 and 23 receiving-office records respectively against 10 in the US — a filing geography worth checking before assuming US-first strategy.
What this landscape covers
Private 5G networks for industry sit at the intersection of cellular standards and operational technology: standalone non-public networks (SNPN), spectrum licensing for factory or campus deployments, edge computing integration, and coverage engineering for dense industrial environments. This landscape draws on 70 published records filed between 2015 and 2026 that combine private-network and non-public-network language with claims on ultra-reliable low-latency communication, spectrum licensing, OT integration, edge deployment or coverage engineering, filtered to wireless-network and industrial-control IPC classes. Publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, so the most recent year in the trend understates actual filing activity.
The scope is deliberately narrow: it isolates the intersection of non-public network architecture with industrial deployment concerns, rather than 5G broadly. That narrowness is why the assignee base looks concentrated rather than fragmented — this is a technical niche where two portfolios currently dominate the documented claim space.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 70-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filing trend
Filing rose from a standing start in 2017 to a peak of 26 records in 2023, with the 2022 midpoint at 23 records. The curve has since flattened rather than continuing to climb, and the partial-year 2026 figure should be read as undercounted given publication lag.
Technology composition
Every record in scope carries an H04W (wireless communication networks) classification by construction of the search. A smaller share also touches H04B general transmission (14.3% of the 70 records) and H04L digital information transmission (8.6%), pointing to secondary claim activity in signal transmission and data-layer protocols layered on top of the core wireless-network claims.
Shares are the percentage of the 70 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Private 5G Networks for Industry with Eureka
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Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
WO2024123066A1 — Handling operation in standalone non-public network (SNPN)
The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. The present disclosure is for handling operation in standalone non-public network (SNPN). Embodiments herein disclose methods for handling an operation in a standalone non-public network (SNPN) by a UE. The method includes determining that a dialed number is an emergency number. Further, the method includes determining a current SNPN does not support an emergency service for the dialed number. Further, the method includes performing a deregistration procedure upon determining that the current SNPN does not support the emergency service for the dialed number.Filed by Samsung Electronics, published 2024-06-13.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20250039695A1 | Method and apparatus for managing configuration of terminal by using NAS message in wireless communication sy… | 4 |
| 2 | WO2023072435A1 | False cell detection in a wireless communication network | 4 |
| 3 | US20230362684A1 | Method and apparatus to optimize non-public network (NPN) in a wireless communication system | 3 |
| 4 | WO2023014097A1 | Method and apparatus for supporting enhanced non-public networks operation in communication system | 3 |
| 5 | US20240187981A1 | Method and apparatus for operating enhanced non-public networks | 3 |
| 6 | WO2024167219A1 | Method and apparatus for managing equivalent stand-alone non-public network as hosting network in a wireless … | 2 |
| 7 | WO2022211588A1 | Method and apparatus for operating enhanced non-public networks | 2 |
| 8 | WO2024237633A1 | Techniques for improved registration and localized services access and for a standalone non-public network (S… | 1 |
Citation counts reflect this searched corpus only and favour older filings; treat them as a signal of influence rather than of current technical importance.
Publication numbers are shown where the record carries one (8 of 8 rows); clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three findings that shape where a new filing would sit relative to existing claim density.
The ranked field is two portfolios, not a market
The assignee ranking returns only two companies, and between them they account for all 70 records in scope. This is not a top-50 or top-100 list with a long tail beneath it — it is the entire documented field, which means a new entrant is filing directly against two established portfolios rather than into open competitive space.
Filing activity has stalled at the top
Both ranked assignees show zero filings in the latest year, with the leading filer down 100% year over year. Combined with a flat trend since the 2022-2023 peak, this suggests the core claim space around SNPN operation and non-public network configuration may be reaching saturation for these two filers specifically, though publication lag means very recent activity is not yet visible.
Filing strategy favours Europe and PCT over direct US filing
Europe (EPO) receives the largest share of filings at 32 records, with WIPO (PCT) close behind at 23 and the United States trailing at 10. India and Canada each register a handful of filings. A strategy built only around US Patent and Trademark Office monitoring would miss the majority of the documented activity in this field.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to private 5g networks for industry, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claims
The ranked field contains two assignees, and together they account for every record in scope — there is no long tail here to speak of.
Samsung Electronics
The leading assignee holds 56 of the 70 records in scope, the dominant share of documented activity around standalone non-public network operation, emergency-service handling within SNPN, and terminal configuration via NAS messaging. Recent-year momentum shows zero filings in the latest year, a 100% drop year over year, which is consistent with the field-wide plateau since 2023.
Ericsson
The second-ranked assignee, together with the leader, accounts for the entire 70-record field. Its filings cluster around false-cell detection and non-public network optimisation, complementing rather than duplicating the leader's SNPN-operation focus. Latest-year filings are also at zero, matching the broader slowdown.
No visible long tail
Unlike many landscapes where a handful of leaders sit atop dozens of single-filing entrants, this dataset's ranking terminates at two names. Any new filer entering this space is negotiating around two established portfolios rather than picking off gaps left by many small players.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a concentrated, currently flat field with a narrow geography skew. The next steps depend on whether the goal is defensive clearance or active filing.
Check freedom-to-operate against the two leaders
With 100% of records held by two assignees, any new filing in SNPN operation or non-public network optimisation should be checked against both portfolios specifically, not against a broad field average.
Run a freedom-to-operate scan in EurekaWatch for the 2026 filing correction
The apparent stall to zero filings in the latest year is partly a publication-lag artefact. Re-checking this trend in twelve months will show whether 2023's peak was a real ceiling or a reporting gap.
Set a filing-trend alert in EurekaProbe the under-claimed branches directly
OT-layer integration and coverage engineering for dense industrial RF sit outside the two leaders' core claims. A first-mover filing there would face less direct prior art overlap.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions about private 5G network patents
The ranked assignee list for this dataset contains only two companies, Samsung Electronics and Ericsson, and together they account for all 70 records in scope. Samsung Electronics is the larger of the two with 56 records, concentrated around standalone non-public network (SNPN) operation and terminal configuration. Because the ranking is this short, a company evaluating the field should treat these two portfolios as the primary reference point rather than looking for a broader competitive set.
Not currently, based on this dataset. Filing rose to a peak of 26 records in 2023, with the 2022 midpoint at 23, and has since flattened; both leading assignees show zero filings in the latest year. Some of that apparent drop is publication lag, since filings typically take around eighteen months to appear in public records, so the true 2025-2026 picture will only become clear over the next year or so.
This landscape is scoped to non-public network and industrial 5G filings that also touch ultra-reliable low-latency communication, spectrum licensing, OT integration, edge deployment or coverage engineering, within wireless-network and industrial-control classifications. Every record carries an H04W wireless-communication-networks classification, with smaller overlapping shares in H04B transmission and H04L digital information transmission. That means the core claim activity is squarely in network architecture and signalling, with secondary claims on transmission and data-layer protocols.
Based on the technology composition and the concentration of the ranked field in two large portfolios, thinner-claimed branches include OT-layer integration protocols for edge deployment, coverage engineering tailored to dense industrial RF environments, and spectrum-licensing automation for multi-tenant industrial campuses. These sit adjacent to the leaders' core SNPN-operation and non-public-network-optimisation claims rather than overlapping them directly. A first filing in these areas would face less direct prior art from the two dominant assignees.
Europe, through the EPO, receives the largest share of filings in this dataset at 32 records, followed by WIPO PCT filings at 23 and United States filings at 10, with smaller numbers in India, Canada and China. This geography suggests that monitoring US Patent and Trademark Office publications alone would miss most of the documented activity, and that European and PCT filings are a better first stop for freedom-to-operate checks in this field.
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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.