Where does Black Hills Media, LLC rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Black Hills Media, LLC ranks #20,840 of 49,997 assignees by granted-patent volume, the same sort as the companies listing and top-holders ranking. See /methodology/#corpus-placement.

How many patents does Black Hills Media, LLC hold?

Black Hills Media, LLC holds 13 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2018, spanning 11 technology areas.

What is Black Hills Media, LLC's Innovation Score?

Black Hills Media, LLC has an Innovation Score of 35.8 out of 100 (top 48% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Black Hills Media, LLC focus on?

Black Hills Media, LLC's top technology area is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication) with 13 patents, ranking #1,946 of 8,956 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 11 CPC subclasses total.

Is Black Hills Media, LLC's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Black Hills Media, LLC's recent grant velocity is -100% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). Grant activity has slowed relative to earlier years.

What does claim depth mean for Black Hills Media, LLC's patents?

Black Hills Media, LLC's patents average 29.9 claims each. This is an aggregate descriptive count from the grant record; it does not establish claim scope, legal strength, enforceability, or design-around risk.

How is the Black Hills Media, LLC patent data sourced?

All patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering US granted utility patents from 2015 to 2025.

USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView US Corporation

Black Hills Media, LLC

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 13 granted patents across 11 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2018. Grant-trend analysis is cross-referenced to USPTO Patent Public Search; it does not measure application filings, current R&D, or legal strength. Primary class: H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Black ranks #20,840 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 13 patents across 11 technology areas.

#20,840
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 48%
by Innovation Score (35.8/100): 29.9
avg claims per patent: -100%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R20840 · US Corporation #20,840 · 13 grants

GRANTS-MICRO · MID-PACK · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-THIN · CLAIMS-DENSE · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MICRO 13 grants
MID-PACK #20,840/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Biomason
CPC-FOCUS H04L · 11 areas
INNOV-THIN 35.8/100
CLAIMS-DENSE 29.9 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -100% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Biomason Inc. (±0 grants)

Instrument codes from this assignee’s USPTO PatentsView grant sheet: volume band, corpus rank, photo-finish peer, lead CPC, Innovation Score, claim depth, assignee type, velocity, and book completeness. Not a USPTO rating of patent strength.

How Black’s 35.8 Innovation Score adds up

The same four weighted components behind every Innovation Score on PlainPatent: portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth.

Volume 9.1 pts (25%) Velocity 0.0 pts (0%) Breadth 11.7 pts (33%) Claim depth 15.0 pts (42%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Black Hills Media · this assignee

36
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Black's Innovation Score is 35.8/100 (top 48% of the PatentsView-derived corpus). The chart places that score against the nearest Innovation Score peers plus corpus poles, not a reprint of the volume ranking.

Does more volume mean deeper claims for Black?

Each dot is one of Black’s 8 nearest volume peers (same corpus rank neighbourhood as the chart above), placed by total granted patents (horizontal) against average claims per patent (vertical). Black’s own 29.9 claims/patent is ABOVE the 15.1 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

Black vs its 8 nearest volume peers: granted patents vs average claims per patent. Source: USPTO PatentsView.

Where Black's grants concentrate

Black Hills Media, LLC is a focused PatentsView assignee: 11 CPC subclasses with 100% of grants classified under H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication). Peak complete grant year is 2016 (5 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2015. By volume, Black sits between Biomason Inc. and Bleckmann GmbH & Co. KG.

Biomason

13
Biomatrica

13
Biopep Solutions

13
Biorez

13
Black Mountain In…

13
Blackhawk Special…

13
Blanqi

13
Bleckmann & KG

13
Black Hills Media ◀

13

What this shows Black holds 13 patents at rank #20,857, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Black

By rank, the assignees closest to #20,857 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information)

Other assignees with the most granted patents in Black's primary technology class.

Black's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

Composite of portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth (0–100)

36 Top 48% higher than 52% of 49,997 US assignees

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US assignees. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USPTO PatentsView, PlainPatent Innovation Score · 2015–2025

USPTO utility patent grants by year · 2015–2018

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2015–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

Black Hills Media, LLC patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	1	7.7%
2016	5	38.5%
2017	5	38.5%
2018	2	15.4%

Which technologies does Black Hills Media, LLC patent most?

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 13

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 9

G06Q - Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory PURPOSES; Systems OR Methods Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory Purposes, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 9

H04M - Telephonic Communication 8

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 7

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 6

H04H - Broadcast Communication 6

H03G - Control OF Amplification 6

H04R - Loudspeakers, Microphones, Gramophone Pick-ups OR Like Acoustic Electromechanical TRANSDUCERS; Deaf-aid SETS; Public Address Systems 6

H04B - Transmission 6

G08C - Transmission Systems FOR Measured Values, Control OR Similar Signals 2

Top 11 of 11 technology areas

More on this record

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

View all rankings → How is Innovation Score calculated?

What to do with this data

Black Hills Media, LLC's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Black Hills Media, LLC's lead technology class is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication), 100% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore H04L
Ranked #20,840 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Black Hills Media, LLC against Biomason Inc., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 35.8/100 blends volume, velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth. How it's calculated

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through May 2026; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the USPTO PatentsView database. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sources used on this page

USPTO PatentsView - the disambiguated bulk patent-grant, assignee, and CPC data this page's figures are derived from. patentsview.org
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) - the joint USPTO/EPO classification scheme used to group patents by technology area. cooperativepatentclassification.org
USPTO Patent Public Search - the official interface to verify the status of any individual patent. ppubs.uspto.gov

Compiled by PlainPatent, US Patent Intelligence Editorial Process · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2026.