Substation Automation Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Concentrated at the top. the five most active filers account for 60.0% of all 50 records in scope, and the top ten reach 84.0%.
- Filing has cooled from its peak. activity peaked at 8 filings in 2021 and fell to 0 by 2024, a -100% swing that predates the recent-year reporting lag.
- Communications claims dominate the class mix. H04L (digital information transmission) appears in 60.0% of records, well ahead of grid-systems class H02J at 18.0%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (8 records) with 2024 (0) — 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 50 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent activity where substation automation and IEC 61850 configuration, data modelling and interoperability intersect with the practical engineering problems of deploying and maintaining them: engineering tool chains, configuration file version migration, conformance testing and cross-vendor interoperability. The scope spans 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off and holds 50 published records across 50 patent families, so families and documents track closely in this set.
Filings here sit at the boundary of two worlds: telecom-style digital transmission protocols and traditional power-grid equipment claims, which is why the technology composition below shows heavy overlap between communications and grid-systems classes rather than a single dominant class.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 50 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
A sharp rise and an equally sharp pullback
Filings climbed from 0 in 2017 to a peak of 8 in 2021, then declined to 0 by 2024 — a -100% move over that three-year span. Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete and should not be read as a continued decline.
Communications and data-processing classes lead
H04L (digital information transmission) covers 60.0% of the 50 records and G06F (electric digital data processing) covers 42.0%, ahead of the traditional grid-equipment class H02J at 18.0%. Because records can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares sum to well over 100% and should be read individually against the 50-record total, not against each other.
Shares are the percentage of the 50 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Substation Automation and IEC Standards with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about substation automation and iec standards and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited records
EP1850142B2 — System-level testing for substation automation systems
The filing addresses system-level testing of IEC 61850 compliant substation automation systems where several Protection, Control and Measurement Intelligent Electronic Devices interact. Rather than requiring every IED to be physically present, the approach simulates at least one IED with a dedicated testing device, so the behaviour of an extended system with many configurations can be exercised without deploying the full physical device count.Filed by ABB Research Ltd; the mechanism it protects is the simulated-IED test rig used to validate multi-vendor SA system behaviour before commissioning.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20150281278A1 | System For Securing Electric Power Grid Operations From Cyber-Attack | 120 |
| 2 | US20120323381A1 | Security Measures for the Smart Grid | 57 |
| 3 | US20140282021A1 | Visualization of Communication Between Devices in an Electric Power System | 45 |
| 4 | US20150341207A1 | Configuration information auto-management method based on intelligent substation | 45 |
| 5 | CN103516541A | 基于智能化变电站的配置信息自动管理方法 | 35 |
| 6 | WO2015131463A1 | 基于MAC地址匹配的智能变电站网络设备拓扑动态识别方法 | 25 |
| 7 | CN106372040A | 智能变电站配置文件差异性比较系统 | 20 |
| 8 | CN103593568A | 基于IEC 61850的在线监测数据模型映射方法 | 15 |
| 9 | CN103166316A | 一种基于防误闭锁的智能化变电站配置文件管理方法及系统 | 15 |
| 10 | US20120105074A1 | Method and system for interoperability testing | 12 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings; treat them as a signal of influence on later work, not as a measure of current commercial relevance.
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 patterns stand out once the ranking, trend and class data are read together.
A short list of filers controls most of the field
The five most active assignees hold 60.0% of all 50 records in scope, and the ten most active hold 84.0%. That leaves a long tail of single- or double-filing entrants competing for the remaining share, which is a narrow gap for a new entrant to work with on core configuration and interoperability claims.
Activity has pulled back sharply from its 2021 peak
Filing volume rose from nothing in 2017 to a peak of 8 in 2021, then fell to 0 by 2024, a -100% move over that span. Recent-year assignee momentum data shows several leading filers, including Cisco, State Grid, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Hitachi Energy and Korea Electric Power Corp, all recorded at 0 in the latest year — consistent with the broader cooldown rather than one firm exiting alone.
Claims skew toward communications, not grid hardware
H04L and G06F together cover the majority of records, while H02J — the class most associated with physical grid equipment — appears in only 18.0%. Filers are largely protecting data modelling, configuration and communication mechanisms rather than the substation hardware itself.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to substation automation and iec standards, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is still open
The ranked leaders span grid operators, protection and automation vendors and networking suppliers, with State Grid-affiliated entities and established SA vendors both represented near the top.
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 8 of the 50 records in scope, notably ahead of the fifth-place filer at 3 and the tenth-place filer at 2. That gap suggests an early, sustained filing programme rather than a recent surge.
A cluster of active but smaller programmes
From roughly fifth place down, filing counts drop to single digits per company, with tenth place at 2 records. This is a workable range for a new entrant to match with a focused filing programme rather than trying to out-file the leader.
Co-filing is limited and mostly intra-group
The strongest co-assignee links pair a corporate applicant with named individual inventors, or link a parent grid operator with a regional subsidiary, rather than showing cross-company joint filings. That points to internal R&D structures rather than industry-wide collaboration on these claims.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco Technology, Inc. | 0 | — |
| State Grid Corporation of China | 0 | — |
| Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Hitachi Energy Ltd | 0 | — |
| Korea Electric Power Corporation | 0 | — |
| Longyuan Shenzhen Relay Protection Automation Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Hitachi Energy Switzerland AG | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a concentrated top tier and a cooling filing rate, but the detail below the top-line numbers — specific claim language, exact overlap between filers — needs a closer read.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leaders
Before drafting claims on configuration file migration or conformance testing, review the granted claims held by the top-ranked assignees directly, since they account for the majority of records in this space.
Explore assignee claims in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches
Data model mapping for legacy IEDs and conformance test automation show up in the search terms but not in a concentrated set of filings, which is where new claim scope may still be available.
Run a white space search in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The ranking in this dataset covers 29 companies, with the leading assignee holding 8 of the 50 records in scope. The field is concentrated: the five most active filers together account for 60.0% of all records, and the ten most active account for 84.0%. That leaves a long tail of companies with only one or two filings each, so a new entrant is competing against a small group of established filers rather than a fragmented field.
Filing activity rose from 0 in 2017 to a peak of 8 in 2021, then fell to 0 by 2024, a -100% change over that three-year span. Because patent publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as evidence of continued decline. The safest statement supported by complete-year data is that activity has pulled back sharply from its 2021 peak.
IEC 61850 defines the data models and configuration description language used across substation automation systems, and patent claims in this space typically protect specific implementations around that standard rather than the standard itself: how configuration files are versioned, how engineering tool chains map data models, and how conformance testing or vendor interoperability is verified. In this dataset, communications-related IPC classes such as H04L appear in 60.0% of records, more than grid-hardware class H02J at 18.0%, which reflects that emphasis on data and communication mechanisms.
Based on the class and citation mix in this dataset, areas such as configuration file version migration, cross-vendor conformance test automation, and data model mapping for legacy intelligent electronic devices appear in the search scope but are not covered by a concentrated set of filings from the top assignees. These are reasonable areas to search for freedom-to-operate before drafting new claims, though a full clearance search should go beyond this dataset's 50 records.
Ownership is concentrated by assignee — 84.0% of all 50 records sit with the ten most active filers — but the underlying technology classes are spread across communications, data processing and grid systems, since a single record often carries multiple IPC codes. H04L and G06F together cover the bulk of records, while H02J, the class most tied to physical substation equipment, covers only 18.0%. That combination means a small number of companies hold claims across a fairly wide technical footprint rather than one narrow class.
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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.