In this patent corpus, a RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) refers to the software platform in an Open RAN architecture that hosts xApps and rApps to optimize radio access network behaviour in near-real-time or non-real-time control loops. Patent claims in this space typically cover the interface between the RIC and RAN network functions, the application-manager logic that runs xApps/rApps, or conflict-resolution methods when multiple applications issue competing control parameters. The IPC classification most associated with this corpus is H04W24/02 alongside H04W28 and H04L41, which cover wireless network management and digital transmission control respectively.

The dataset shows Rakuten group entities — including Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony — as active filers, alongside Samsung, Intel, Dell and NEC appearing among tracked assignees. Momentum data indicates several of these, including Rakuten Mobile, recorded year-on-year declines in the most recent tracked year, with multiple assignees showing zero filings in that period. This pattern is consistent with a field that peaked in 2022 and has since plateaued rather than one with a single company pulling further ahead.

Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 143 in 2022, tracking closely with the broader industry push to standardize Open RAN interfaces through bodies like the O-RAN Alliance around that period. Once core architecture and interface claims were filed, the pace of new foundational filings naturally slows because later filers must differentiate around already-claimed ground. The flat trend since 2022 does not necessarily mean declining commercial interest — it more likely reflects claim space consolidation, and the two most recent years are also understated by normal publication lag.

The IPC composition shows heavy concentration in H04W (366 records) and H04L (190 records) but comparatively little in G06N, the class covering AI/ML computing methods, at only 20 records. This suggests that claims describing the specific machine-learning techniques used inside a near-real-time RIC's inference loop, rather than the surrounding interface architecture, remain less densely claimed. Cross-vendor interoperability testing and dependency-graph-based conflict detection, illustrated by the most recent representative filing in this set, also appear to be earlier-stage claim territory.

Citation counts in this corpus, such as the 237 citations on WO2023091664A1, measure how often a record was cited by later filings within the searched dataset, which structurally favours older, foundational patents over newer ones that have not yet had time to accumulate citations. A recent filing addressing a narrower and more current problem, like the 2026 conflict-detection application from Rakuten Symphony, may be more relevant to current freedom-to-operate work even though its citation count is necessarily low. Citation data is best used to identify influential prior art to search around, not as a ranking of present-day commercial importance.