RIS Waveform & Modulation Patents: Leaders and White Space 2026
- Filing peaked in 2021 at 7 families, then eased through the 2022 midpoint — this is a technology that filled a claim window rather than one still accelerating.
- China-origin filings dominate the receiving-office mix, with 20 of the tracked filings entering via China against single-digit counts everywhere else, including the US and PCT route.
- The most-cited record sits at 13 citations, and the top five cited documents are almost entirely Chinese-university or Chinese-assignee filings on beamforming- and MIMO-linked modulation.
Filing growth compares 2021 (7 records) with 2024 (4) — 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 33 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this patent set covers
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) waveform and modulation patents describe how a passive reflecting surface can be used to carry information — not just to steer a beam. The underlying idea is reflection or index modulation: encoding data in which reflecting elements are switched on, in their phase state, or in both, so the surface itself becomes part of the transmitter chain rather than a passive relay. This dataset isolates that intersection specifically, filtering RIS/IRS filings down to those whose claims touch index modulation, reflection modulation or passive information transfer under the relevant modulation and antenna IPC classes.
Filing activity is concentrated in IPC subclass H04B (transmission) and H04L (digital information transmission), with only marginal presence in H04W and H01Q — a sign that applicants are claiming this as a modulation and signal-processing problem, not primarily as an antenna or network-architecture one. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent filing years in any such dataset will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 33-family dataset: how filing volume moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 7 in 2021, held near that level through the 2022 midpoint (5), and have since softened — a flat-to-declining pattern rather than sustained growth. The 2026 figure is a partial year and should be read as a floor, not a forecast.
IPC subclass composition
H04B (transmission, general) and H04L (digital information transmission) together account for the large majority of records, with H04W (wireless networks) and H01Q (antennas) each appearing in only one or two filings — the claim activity is concentrated in signal modulation and transmission mechanics, not in network protocol or antenna hardware.
Shares are the percentage of the 33 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Waveform and Modulation with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about reconfigurable intelligent surface waveform and modulation and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in this dataset
Method for reflective index modulation based on intelligent reflecting surface
An IRS control unit is added into the wireless communication system, and data to be transmitted is split into a reflective-domain component and a phase-amplitude-domain component. The reflective-domain data is sent over a wired link to the IRS control unit to activate or deactivate groups of reflecting elements, while the phase-amplitude-domain data is modulated conventionally and transmitted to the IRS; the reflected signal then carries both data streams.Filed by University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, published 2024-08-08.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CN112260739A | 基于智能反射表面进行波束赋形的信息传输方法 | 13 |
| 2 | CN115022146A | 一种可重构智能表面辅助的通信与定位一体化全双工系统 | 11 |
| 3 | CN113645171A | 可重构智能表面多用户MIMO系统调制解调方法及装置 | 10 |
| 4 | CN114172773A | 调制方法及装置、通信设备和可读存储介质 | 10 |
| 5 | WO2022178747A1 | Communicating data using reconfigurable intelligent surface | 7 |
| 6 | US20240267088A1 | Method for reflective index modulation based on intelligent reflecting surface | 5 |
| 7 | CN116614165A | 一种智能反射面辅助的空间调制系统反射系数优化方法 | 5 |
| 8 | CN116527176A | 一种基于非正交多址接入的可重构表面辅助索引调制方法 | 4 |
| 9 | CN118869016A | 一种智能反射面辅助的广义空间调制方法及系统 | 3 |
| 10 | CN115766370A | 一种基于反射码索引调制的方法 | 3 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings; treat this as a signal of influence on later applicants, not of present-day commercial weight.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three readings of the dataset that matter more than the raw counts on their own.
Growth already crested
Filing rose to a peak of 7 families in 2021 and had softened to 5 by the 2022 midpoint, with no year since matching the peak. That pattern points to a technology whose core claim space filled quickly rather than one still in an early growth curve.
Filing is not globally distributed
Twenty of the tracked filings entered through the China receiving office, versus four each for South Korea and the United States, two for India, two via WIPO/PCT, and one via the EPO. A reader benchmarking freedom-to-operate outside China is working against a thin comparison set.
Influence sits with early Chinese filings
The most-cited record in the set draws 13 citations, and the next four most-cited are also predominantly Chinese-assignee filings covering beamforming-linked information transfer, MIMO modulation/demodulation, and integrated communication-and-positioning systems. Citation counts favour older filings, so read this as a map of who shaped the field's vocabulary, not of who leads it today.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to reconfigurable intelligent surface waveform and modulation, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and how they connect
The assignee base is a mix of Chinese universities, a Korean university-affiliated technology transfer office, and two multinational device/chipset makers with a small number of individually-named co-inventors.
A long tail behind a handful of repeat filers
Recent-year momentum data shows several of the more active assignees — including two Chinese universities and a Korean university consortium — recording zero filings in the latest tracked year, one with a -100% year-on-year change. That is consistent with a field where early movers have already staked claims and filing has cooled rather than compounded.
Co-assignment is sparse and individual-linked
Only five co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest of them all involve the same corporate assignee paired with individually named co-inventors rather than with another company or university. This suggests filing here is largely done solo, with joint filings the exception rather than a pattern of formal cross-licensing or joint ventures.
Universities set the claim vocabulary
The most-cited records are dominated by Chinese university and research-institute assignees, filing on beamforming-linked information transfer, full-duplex integrated communication-and-positioning, and MIMO modulation/demodulation — while the two multinational names in the set appear mainly through individually co-named inventor filings rather than as top-cited anchors.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Kumoh National Institute of Technology Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation | 0 | — |
| Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications | 0 | — |
| University of Electronic Science and Technology of China | 0 | — |
| China Jiliang University | 0 | -100% |
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 0 | — |
| Vivo Mobile Communication Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Tsinghua University | 0 | — |
| Xiamen University | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio benchmarking, or first-filing strategy.
Check freedom-to-operate against the top-cited cluster
The five most-cited records concentrate around beamforming-linked information transfer, MIMO modulation/demodulation and integrated communication-positioning systems. Any new filing on reflection or index modulation should be checked against these claims before drafting.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaWatch the assignees that have gone quiet
Several of the most active historical filers show zero filings in the latest tracked year. That can mean a portfolio has matured, or that filings are in the 18-month publication lag — worth monitoring rather than assuming the field has settled.
Track assignee activity in EurekaScope claims around the under-claimed branches
Wired IRS control-unit signalling and hybrid phase-amplitude/reflective-domain coding show far less claim density than the core reflection-modulation art. A first-filed claim there faces a thinner prior-art field.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions on RIS waveform and modulation patents
RIS-assisted index modulation encodes information in which reflecting elements of a surface are active, or in their phase/amplitude state, rather than only using the surface to steer a beam toward a receiver. Ordinary RIS beamforming patents typically claim phase control for signal enhancement; index or reflection modulation patents claim the reflecting-element pattern itself as a data-bearing channel. That distinction is why this dataset filters specifically on modulation and information-transfer language rather than on RIS beamforming broadly, and why the IPC composition here sits heavily in H04B/H04L rather than antenna or network classes.
The assignee base is dominated by Chinese universities and research institutes, with a Korean university technology-transfer office and two multinational device makers also present. The most-cited records in the dataset — covering beamforming-linked information transfer, full-duplex communication-and-positioning, and MIMO modulation/demodulation — are almost entirely Chinese-assignee filings. Recent-year momentum data shows several of these same assignees recording zero filings in the latest tracked year, suggesting the leading edge has shifted or paused rather than continuing to accelerate.
No — filings peaked at 7 families in 2021 and had already eased to 5 by the 2022 midpoint, with no later year matching the peak. That is a flat-to-declining trend rather than sustained growth, though the very latest year in any dataset is understated because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months. A practitioner should treat the recent-year dip as a floor, not confirmation that interest has ended.
Relative to the dense core claims around index and reflection modulation, sub-areas such as wired IRS control-unit signalling protocols, hybrid phase-amplitude/reflective-domain coding, and multi-user MIMO reflection demodulation show thinner claim density in this dataset. These are not unclaimed, but they carry far fewer filings than the core modulation-encoding claims, making them a more realistic starting point for a first-filed, narrowly scoped application. Any filing strategy there should still be checked against the top-cited records before drafting.
Not necessarily. Citation counts inside a searched patent corpus tend to favour older filings simply because they have had more time to be cited by later applicants and examiners. The most-cited record here draws 13 citations, but that reflects influence on how later filers described the problem, not a signal that the underlying technology is currently dominant or commercially deployed. Recency-adjusted filing momentum by assignee is a better indicator of current-day activity than raw citation count.
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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.