RF Filters for Wireless Front Ends Patents: Who Leads, Filing Trends 2026
- Filing has cooled since a 2019 peak. 305 records that year against 225 in 2017 and a marked drop into the most recent partial year — this is a maturing claim space, not a growing one.
- H03H dominates the classification mix. 4,868 of 5,740 records sit in impedance networks & filters, with H01P microwave elements a distant second at 1,157 — most activity is concentrated in one subclass.
- The largest assignees have gone quiet at the top. Several of the most active historical filers show zero filings in the latest year, including firms with double-digit YoY declines — momentum has shifted away from incumbents' recent output.
Filing growth compares 2021 (223 records) with 2024 (166) — 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 5,740 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 5,740 patent families matching RF filter, acoustic wave filter and duplexer terminology in the claims or description, cross-referenced against filter, out-of-band rejection, bulk acoustic wave, temperature drift and passband language, and restricted to the core impedance-network and microwave IPC classes. Coverage runs from 2015 through a partial 2026 cut, with the bulk of substantive activity between 2017 and 2022. Bulk acoustic wave (BAW) and film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) architectures dominate the most-cited prior art, which signals where the earliest foundational claims were laid down.
Because publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, the drop-off visible in the last one to two years is partly an artefact of the data cut-off rather than a real collapse in R&D. Read the recent-year figures as a floor, not a final count.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how records split across the IPC subclasses that define the technical scope of RF front-end filtering.
A 2019 peak followed by a plateau and decline
Filings rose from 225 in 2017 to a peak of 305 in 2019, held near that level through the 2022 midpoint at 287, then declined toward the most recent partial year's 15 records. The shape is consistent with a technology area where the core architectural questions — BAW versus SAW, resonator stacking, temperature compensation — were largely staked out by the early 2020s.
H03H carries the field; adjacent classes are thin
Impedance networks & filters (H03H) accounts for 4,868 of the 5,740 records, an order of magnitude ahead of waveguides & microwave elements (H01P) at 1,157. Transmission-general (H04B), semiconductor devices (H01L) and other solid-state device classes (H10N, H03F, H04L, H01Q) each hold a few hundred records or fewer, marking them as adjacent rather than core to this filing population.
Shares are the percentage of the 5,740 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on RF Filters for Wireless Front Ends with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about rf filters for wireless front ends and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art anchoring this space
Bulk acoustic wave resonance device and bulk acoustic wave filter
The disclosure covers a bulk acoustic wave resonance device, a bulk acoustic wave filter device and a radio frequency front-end device. The resonance device includes a first layer with a cavity, a first electrode layer inside the cavity, a flat second layer covering the cavity, and a second electrode layer on the second layer — with either electrode layer including at least two electrode bars rather than a single continuous electrode.Filed by Changzhou Chemsemi, published 2026-03-10 — illustrates continued refinement of BAW electrode geometry well after the field's foundational FBAR patents.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6262637B1 | Duplexer incorporating thin-film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs) | 535 |
| 2 | US20160028367A1 | Single crystal acoustic resonator and bulk acoustic wave filter | 357 |
| 3 | US20190273480A1 | Lamb wave loop circuit for acoustic wave filter | 317 |
| 4 | US6492883B2 | Method of channel frequency allocation for RF and microwave duplexers | 313 |
| 5 | US6720844B1 | Coupled resonator bulk acoustic wave filter | 304 |
| 6 | US20130234805A1 | Resonator, frequency filter, duplexer, electronic device, and method of manufacturing resonator | 301 |
| 7 | US20040127178A1 | Tunable duplexer | 301 |
| 8 | US9219466B2 | Laterally coupled bulk acoustic wave filter with improved passband characteristics | 288 |
| 9 | US20040164367A1 | Duplexer filter having film bulk acoustic resonator and semiconductor package thereof | 287 |
| 10 | US20190068164A1 | 5G BAND n79 ACOUSTIC WAVE RESONATOR RF FILTER CIRCUIT | 283 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate them; treat this table as a map of foundational influence, not of current filing activity.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once volume, classification and citation data are read together.
Nearly all activity sits in one subclass
Impedance networks & filters absorbs the overwhelming majority of records. A new entrant filing purely in H03H is filing into the most crowded part of the map; genuine white space is more likely at the H03H boundary with H01L or H10N, where resonator materials and solid-state integration intersect.
Growth peaked, then reversed
The midpoint year of 2022 still logged 287 filings, close to the 2019 peak, before the visible decline set in. Some of that recent drop is publication lag, but the multi-year plateau before it suggests the core resonator and duplexer architectures were already well claimed.
FBAR duplexer patents anchor the field
The most-cited record in the corpus covers thin-film bulk acoustic resonator duplexers, and several of the next most-cited records are also BAW or FBAR structures. Any new filing touching resonator stacking or duplexer architecture should expect to be read against this cluster first.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to rf filters for wireless front ends, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignees and where their recent activity stands
Historical leaders in RF filter patenting are visible in the ranking, but recent-year momentum tells a different story: several of the largest historical filers show no filings at all in the latest year.
Even active filers are pulling back
Murata still logged filings in the latest year but at a sharply reduced rate compared to the year before, consistent with the broader plateau-then-decline pattern across the dataset.
Several historical leaders show zero recent output
Panasonic, Skyworks, Fujitsu, Taiyo Yuden and Fujitsu Media Devices all show zero filings in the latest year in this dataset, with Skyworks down 100% year over year. This does not mean these firms have exited the space — publication lag means recent filings may not yet be visible — but it does mean the visible claim pressure from incumbents has eased.
Corporate-subsidiary co-filing is the strongest pairing
The strongest co-assignee relationship in the dataset links a parent company and its device subsidiary, at a scale well above the next co-assignee pairs, which sit in the single digits. This points to internal corporate structuring rather than cross-company joint development as the dominant collaboration pattern.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | 2 | -80% |
| Panasonic Corporation | 0 | — |
| Skyworks Solutions, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Fujitsu Limited | 0 | — |
| Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Fujitsu Media Devices Limited | 0 | — |
| TDK Corporation | 0 | — |
| Kyocera Corporation | 0 | -100% |
Taking this landscape further
The trend and assignee data point to where to look next; the next step is usually a narrower, claim-level check.
Check freedom-to-operate against the BAW/FBAR cluster
The most-cited records in this corpus are concentrated in bulk acoustic wave and FBAR duplexer architectures. Any resonator or duplexer filing should be checked against this cluster specifically, not just the general H03H class.
Run an FTO check in EurekaTrack the momentum shift away from incumbents
Several long-standing filers show no recent output while overall volume has plateaued. Monitoring which entities pick up the filing pace next is a leading indicator of where competitive pressure will build.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The assignee ranking in this dataset is led by established acoustic wave filter manufacturers with long-running resonator and duplexer portfolios, though several of these same firms show little to no filing activity in the most recent year covered. That combination — deep historical portfolios but reduced recent output — suggests the leadership position was established earlier in the 2017-2022 window rather than being actively contested now. Anyone assessing 'who leads' should look at both the cumulative ranking and the recent-year momentum figures, since they tell different parts of the story.
Filing volume in this corpus peaked in 2019 at 305 records, held roughly steady through 2022, and has declined since, falling to just 15 in the most recent partial year. Some of that final drop reflects publication lag rather than an actual halt in R&D, since patent publication typically trails filing by about eighteen months. Even accounting for that lag, the multi-year plateau before the decline points to a technology area where the foundational architecture questions have largely been settled.
Bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters, including thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) variants, dominate the most-cited prior art in this dataset, with the single most-cited record covering an FBAR duplexer structure. Surface acoustic wave and Lamb-wave variants appear as more recent, more specific filings layered on top of that foundational BAW art. In practical terms, this means new BAW resonator-stacking claims face a denser, older prior-art landscape, while Lamb-wave and related surface-wave refinements sit in a comparatively newer and thinner claim space.
The classification data shows an extreme concentration in H03H (impedance networks & filters), with adjacent classes such as H01L (semiconductor devices) and H10N (other solid-state devices) holding only a few hundred records each. That gap suggests under-claimed territory sits at the intersection of acoustic filter design and semiconductor integration or solid-state resonator materials, rather than in core filter topology itself. A first claim in this space would likely combine a specific resonator material or packaging structure with a filter function, rather than claiming filter architecture alone.
Several assignees with substantial historical filing volume show zero or sharply reduced output in the latest year tracked, including firms with year-over-year declines as steep as -80% or -100%. This pattern appears across multiple historically active filers rather than being isolated to one company. It is worth treating this as a signal of reduced visible claim pressure rather than confirmed market exit, since the most recent one to two years of any filing dataset are understated due to publication lag.
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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.