Smart Water & Utility Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- One filer holds 187 of 388 records, and the top five together account for 59.5% of all records in scope — a field with a dominant leader rather than a crowded middle.
- Filings grew 55% from 2021 to 2024, the last year the dataset treats as complete, before publication lag makes 2025-2026 look artificially quiet.
- Signalling and alarm claims (G08B) touch 35.8% of records, while AI-based computing (G06N) sits at just 9.5% — control logic is far more claimed than the models behind it.
Filing growth compares 2021 (11 records) with 2024 (17) — 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 388 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 388 patent families published between 2015 and 2026 at the intersection of smart water systems and physical utility infrastructure — filings that combine sensing, monitoring or automated control language with structural or material claims such as deformation sensing, foundation condition or resilient design. It captures the overlap between consumer and municipal smart-sensored systems and the harder infrastructure engineering underneath them, rather than either field alone.
Records span receiving offices led by the United States and India, with smaller but consistent volumes through WIPO, Europe, Canada and Australia, suggesting the technology is being filed as a global platform play rather than a single-jurisdiction defensive filing pattern.
Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 388 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim weight.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Annual filings rose from 15 in 2017 to a peak of 64 in 2025, with 37 recorded so far in 2026. The three-year span from 2021 (11) to 2024 (17) shows +55% growth — the most recent period the dataset can treat as complete, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
G08B (signalling & alarm systems) and H04L (digital information transmission) lead at 35.8% and 33.2% of all 388 records respectively, followed by G06Q (business/admin data processing) at 25.8% and G05B (control & regulating systems) at 21.9%. Materials and sensing classes — G01N and G01J — sit lower at 11.6% and 9.8%, and G06N (AI-based computing) trails at 9.5%, indicating that most claim activity still centres on detecting and transmitting conditions rather than modelling them.
Shares are the percentage of the 388 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Smart Water & Utility Infrastructure Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about smart water & utility infrastructure patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative record
US20180017526A1 — Automated smart water quality monitor and analyzer and associated methods
A fluid testing system measures contaminant levels in a fluid system using anodic stripping voltammetry or another chemical, electrical or electrochemical process. Wire electrodes facilitate the tests, and unused portions of the electrode wire are fed into the test chambers between tests to keep electrodes clean and reliable for subsequent measurements.Filed by KETOS INC., published 2018-01-18.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20140266669A1 | Devices, methods, and associated information processing for security in a smart-sensored home | 1,283 |
| 2 | US20150156031A1 | Environmental sensing with a doorbell at a smart-home | 800 |
| 3 | US20150061859A1 | Security scoring in a smart-sensored home | 706 |
| 4 | US20170103468A1 | Use of Blockchain Based Distributed Consensus Control | 459 |
| 5 | US20150100167A1 | Smart-home control system providing HVAC system dependent responses to hazard detection events | 382 |
| 6 | US20150287310A1 | Smart hazard detector drills | 323 |
| 7 | US20150109104A1 | Smart invitation handling at a smart-home | 297 |
| 8 | US20150156030A1 | Handling specific visitor behavior at an entryway to a smart-home | 289 |
| 9 | US20160314782A1 | Customizing speech-recognition dictionaries in a smart-home environment | 287 |
| 10 | US20150347910A1 | Devices, methods, and associated information processing for security in a smart-sensored home | 230 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings; treat them as a signal of prior reach, not current commercial weight.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns matter more than any single ranking: where claim density already sits, where growth is real versus a lag artefact, and where citation weight concentrates around a small cluster of foundational filings.
One leader, then a steep drop-off
The leading assignee alone accounts for 187 of 388 records, and the top five combined reach 59.5% of all records in scope. That leaves a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants competing for the remaining claim space, rather than a broad field of comparably sized players.
Real growth, understated recent years
Filings grew 55% from 2021 (11) to 2024 (17), the most recent year the dataset can treat as complete. The 2025 peak of 64 and 2026's partial count of 37 should not be read as a slowdown — publication lag of roughly 18 months means the newest filings are still arriving.
Alarm and signalling logic dominates the claim set
G08B and H04L together touch more than a third of all 388 records each, well ahead of G06N (AI-based computing) at 9.5%. Most protected ground covers detection and transmission of conditions, leaving model-level and materials-level claims comparatively open.
Influence clusters around early smart-home filings
The most-cited records in this landscape are dominated by early smart-sensored home security and environmental sensing filings, with citation counts that reflect their age and reach within the corpus rather than current commercial relevance.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to smart water & utility infrastructure patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and how the field is gated
A single leader holds close to half the field's ranked volume, with a small set of co-filing relationships and a long tail of narrower entrants — municipal water tech, insurance-linked monitoring, and campus or academic filers among them.
A dominant single filer
The top-ranked assignee holds 187 of 388 records, roughly half the entire field on its own. That scale of filing typically reflects a platform strategy covering sensing, alarm and connected-home claims across many continuation filings rather than a single product line.
A sharp drop after the leader
Filing volume falls quickly outside the top ranks: fifth place holds 9 records and tenth place holds 4. The top ten combined still reach 67.0% of all 388 records, meaning most of the remaining ranked companies file in the single digits.
Co-filing is narrow and named-inventor driven
Only nine co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest links repeating the same lead inventor across different co-filers. This points to individual inventor teams moving between related filings rather than broad cross-company joint development.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Google LLC | 0 | — |
| Nest Labs, Inc. | 0 | — |
| State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company | 0 | -100% |
| ALARM COM INC | 0 | — |
| Transactive Grid Inc. | 0 | — |
| LO3 Energy Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| ALEXANIAN GEORGE | 0 | — |
| KETOS INC | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The ranking and trend data point to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio benchmarking, or spotting an entry point.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leader's claim set
With one assignee holding roughly half the field, any new filing in sensing, alarm or connected-monitoring claims should be checked against that portfolio specifically, not just the general art.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaExplore the under-claimed branches directly
AI-based anomaly modelling and material-analysis sensing carry noticeably lower filing density than alarm and transmission claims, which is where a first-mover claim is more likely to land clean.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack the co-filing network for early signals
The nine identified co-assignee pairs cluster around a small group of named inventors, which can be an early indicator of where a spin-out or new filer is about to emerge.
Monitor assignee activity in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
One assignee leads with 187 of the 388 records in this dataset, and the top five filers combined account for 59.5% of all records in scope. Filing volume drops sharply after that: fifth place holds 9 records and tenth place holds only 4. This pattern — one dominant filer, then a long tail — matters for freedom-to-operate work, since most of the risk sits with a single portfolio rather than being spread evenly across many competitors.
Yes, based on the complete-year data: filings rose 55% from 11 in 2021 to 17 in 2024, the last year the dataset treats as fully settled. Later years (2025's peak of 64 and 2026's partial count of 37) look larger but should be read cautiously, because publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months. Treat 2024 as the most reliable recent benchmark rather than the most recent calendar year shown.
Signalling and alarm systems (IPC class G08B) appear in 35.8% of the 388 records, and digital information transmission (H04L) appears in 33.2%, making these the two most heavily claimed areas. Business and admin data processing (G06Q) and control systems (G05B) follow at 25.8% and 21.9%. AI-based computing (G06N) and materials/radiation sensing classes (G01N, G01J) are all under 12%, suggesting comparatively lighter claim coverage there relative to detection and transmission.
US20180017526A1, filed by KETOS INC. and published in January 2018, describes a fluid testing system that measures contaminant levels using anodic stripping voltammetry or a related chemical or electrochemical process, with wire electrodes fed into test chambers between tests to keep readings reliable. It sits squarely in the water-quality monitoring branch of this landscape rather than the structural or building-control side. Anyone building an electrode-based water contaminant sensor with an automated electrode-refresh mechanism should review its specific claim language before designing a similar system.
The clearest gaps sit in branches with comparatively low filing density against the dataset's dominant classes: AI-based anomaly modelling for utility sensor data, deformation sensor calibration for aging infrastructure, and material-analysis sensing tied to structural load all show thinner coverage than the alarm and transmission classes that dominate the field. These are not proven-empty areas, but they carry materially less claim density than G08B or H04L, which is where new entrants typically find more room to stake a distinct claim.
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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.