Where does Nicor, Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Nicor, Inc. ranks #14,163 of 50,000 assignees by granted-patent volume, the same sort as the companies listing and top-holders ranking. See /methodology/#corpus-placement.

How many patents does Nicor, Inc. hold?

Nicor, Inc. holds 21 US utility patents granted between 2019 and 2025, spanning 23 technology areas.

What is Nicor, Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Nicor, Inc. has an Innovation Score of 41.9 out of 100 (top 32% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is Nicor, Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Nicor, Inc.'s recent grant velocity is +433% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). This indicates accelerating grant output.

What does claim depth mean for Nicor, Inc.'s patents?

Nicor, Inc.'s patents average 15.8 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 Nicor, Inc. 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

Nicor, Inc.

Q: What technology areas does Nicor, Inc. focus on?

Nicor, Inc.'s top technology area is F21Y (INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES F21K, F21L, F21S and F21V, RELATING TO THE FORM OR THE KIND OF THE LIGHT SOURCES OR OF THE COLOUR OF THE LIGHT EMITTED) with 10 patents. Grants appear in 23 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 21 granted patents across 23 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2019–2025. 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: F21Y (INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES F21K, F21L, F21S and F21V, RELATING TO THE FORM OR THE KIND OF THE LIGHT SOURCES OR OF THE COLOUR OF THE LIGHT EMITTED).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Nicor ranks #14,163 of 50,000 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 21 patents across 23 technology areas.

#14,163
of 50,000 US assignees by volume: Top 32%
by Innovation Score (41.9/100): 15.8
avg claims per patent: +433%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R14163 · US Corporation #14,163 · 21 grants

GRANTS-SMALL · MID-PACK · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-SURGE · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-SMALL 21 grants
MID-PACK #14,163/50,000
PHOTO-FINISH NATIONAL MACHINE
CPC-FOCUS F21Y · 23 areas
INNOV-PAR 41.9/100
CLAIMS-RICH 15.8 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-SURGE +433% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: National Machine Company (±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.

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Nicor · this assignee

42
3D Lighting Innovati… · lowest

7

What this shows Nicor, Inc. stamps GRANTS-SMALL, MID-PACK, PHOTO-FINISH, CPC-FOCUS, INNOV-PAR, CLAIMS-RICH, TYPE-USCORP, VEL-SURGE, BOOK-FULL. Volume places it #14,163 of 50,000; Innovation Score 41.9/100 sits in the top 32% of the PatentsView-derived corpus. Closest grant-volume peer on this plate is National Machine Company (±0 grants).

Portfolio overview

Nicor, Inc. has been granted 21 US utility patents between 2019 and 2025, placing Nicor, Inc. at #14,163 of 50,000 across all assignees tracked by PlainPatent. This portfolio spans 23 distinct Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) subclasses, averaging 15.8 claims per patent with primary concentration in F21Y (INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES F21K, F21L, F21S and F21V, RELATING TO THE FORM OR THE KIND OF THE LIGHT SOURCES OR OF THE COLOUR OF THE LIGHT EMITTED). As a US Corporation, Nicor, Inc. is one of the more focused assignees in the PatentsView dataset. By volume, Nicor sits between National Machine Company (21 patents, rank #14,153) and Nisco Co., Ltd (21 patents, rank #14,161) - the closest US assignees by grant volume. The composite Innovation Score of 41.9/100 blends portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth into a single comparable measure drawn directly from USPTO PatentsView records.

Grant cadence records the difference between two grant-year windows. Between 2020 and 2024 the company received 16 grants, compared with 3 in the 2015–2019 window, a +433% shift in five-year grant velocity. Both windows cover five complete grant years; the latest PatentsView year is a partial release and is excluded from this comparison, though it still appears in the yearly table and chart below. Grant timing can lag the related application by years, so this comparison does not establish current R&D spending, strategic intent, or a company’s application activity. The US Corporation classification provides context for the assignee record, not a conclusion about its business strategy.

Claim depth and technology breadth describe this aggregate record. Nicor, Inc.'s 15.8 average claims per patent is an average count, not a measure of claim scope, legal strength, enforceability, or design-around risk. The record spans 23 CPC subclasses. Combined with portfolio volume, these figures let readers compare the documented grant records of assignees in similar technology classes.

National Machine

21
NB Ventures

21
NCC NANO

21
Newvoicemedia

21
NIKO Semiconductor

21
NINE Stars Group…

21
Ningbo Ucome Ligh…

21
Nisco

21
Nicor ◀

21

What this shows Nicor holds 21 patents at rank #14,157, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Nicor

By rank, the assignees closest to #14,157 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in F21Y (Indexing Scheme Associated WITH Subclasses F21K)

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

Nicor's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

42 Top 32% higher than 68% of 50,000 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 · 2019–2025

Grants by year

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

View data table

Nicor, Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2019	3	14.3%
2020	4	19.0%
2021	4	19.0%
2023	4	19.0%
2024	4	19.0%
2025partial year	2	9.5%

Which technologies does Nicor, Inc. patent most?

F21Y - INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES F21K, F21L, F21S and F21V, RELATING TO THE FORM OR THE KIND OF THE LIGHT SOURCES OR OF THE COLOUR OF THE LIGHT EMITTED 10

F21V - FUNCTIONAL FEATURES OR DETAILS OF LIGHTING DEVICES OR SYSTEMS THEREOF; STRUCTURAL COMBINATIONS OF LIGHTING DEVICES WITH OTHER ARTICLES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR 10

F21S - NON-PORTABLE LIGHTING DEVICES; SYSTEMS THEREOF; VEHICLE LIGHTING DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR VEHICLE EXTERIORS 7

H05B - ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES, IN GENERAL 5

G06F - ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING 4

G05B - CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS 4

H02J - CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY 4

H04B - TRANSMISSION 3

H04L - TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION 2

G08B - SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS 2

E04G - SCAFFOLDING; FORMS; SHUTTERING; BUILDING IMPLEMENTS OR AIDS, OR THEIR USE; HANDLING BUILDING MATERIALS ON THE SITE; REPAIRING, BREAKING-UP OR OTHER WORK ON EXISTING BUILDINGS 1

F16B - DEVICES FOR FASTENING OR SECURING CONSTRUCTIONAL ELEMENTS OR MACHINE PARTS TOGETHER, e.g. NAILS, BOLTS, CIRCLIPS, CLAMPS, CLIPS OR WEDGES; JOINTS OR JOINTING 1

E04C - STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS; BUILDING MATERIALS 1

F21W - INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES F21K, F21L, F21S and F21V, RELATING TO USES OR APPLICATIONS OF LIGHTING DEVICES OR SYSTEMS 1

Y04S - SYSTEMS INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO POWER NETWORK OPERATION, COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION, TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, MANAGEMENT OR USAGE, i.e. SMART GRIDS 1

Top 15 of 23 technology areas

Where it ranks

Overall rank by patents

#14,163

of 50,000 tracked assignees

Innovation Score

41.9 out of 100

View all rankings →

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

How is Innovation Score calculated?

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.