CPC technology class · B64

B64B - Lighter-than Air Aircraft

Lighter-than air aircraft. 560 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

560
US patents granted: #6/6
in B64: 1.0%
B64 class share: +6%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Lighter-than Air Aircraft ranks #527 of 670 CPC technology areas - 560 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 6% over five years.

#527
of 670 CPC technology areas: 560
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Google
leading assignee (54): +6%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B64B's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B64B recorded 262 grants versus 248 in 2015–2019 (+6% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2017 at 67 grants and bottomed in 2018 at 28 (+139% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee X Development LLC holds 8.2% of the class ; the top three share 22.9%.

Leaderboard read

B64B concentration, lead at 8.2%

X Development LLC leads this historical grant record at 8.2% of B64B - us corporation assignees hold 89% of class grants (263 of 297). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 8.2%
Top three share: 22.9%
Lead over #2: 5

Where B64B sits inside B64

Among 6 subclasses in B64 (AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; Cosmonautics), B64B ranks #6 and holds 1.0% of the parent class's 58,451 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B64D 21,967 B64C 17,186 B64U 10,226 B64F 5,518 B64G 2,994

Rising assignees active in B64B

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

#1 Aerostar International LLC 8.75x 4 → 35 company-wide · 41 in B64B
#2 H2 Clipper, Inc. 7.00x 1 → 7 company-wide · 9 in B64B
#3 Urban SKY Theory Inc. 6.00x 0 → 6 company-wide · 6 in B64B
#4 Flying Whales 5.00x 1 → 5 company-wide · 8 in B64B
#5 LTA Research and Exploration, LLC 5.00x 1 → 5 company-wide · 7 in B64B

B64B grants by year, peak 2017 (67)

US utility-patent grants per year in B64B, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 6% versus 2015–2019.

X Development

46
Loon

41
Aerostar International

41
World View Enterprises

20
Ltag Systems

16
Space Data

15
Space Perspective

14
H2 Clipper

9
Stratospheric Airships

9
Raven Industries

8
Flying Whales

8
Lta Research and…

7

What this shows Google is the most active filer in B64B, holding 54 of the 560 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

View data table

Top patent holders in CPC subclass B64B
Rank	Company	Patents in B64B
#1	X Development LLC	46
#2	Loon LLC	41
#3	Aerostar International LLC	41
#4	World View Enterprises Inc.	20
#5	Ltag Systems LLC	16
#6	Space Data Corporation	15
#7	Space Perspective Inc.	14
#8	H2 Clipper, Inc.	9
#9	Stratospheric Airships, LLC	9
#10	Raven Industries, inc.	8
#11	Flying Whales	8
#12	LTA Research and Exploration, LLC	7
#13	Urban SKY Theory Inc.	6
#14	Altaeros Energies, Inc.	6
#15	Hyalta Aeronautics, Inc.	5
#16	Mores, Inc.	4
#17	Sceye SA	4
#18	Cohere Technologies, Inc.	3
#19	X-Control System Co., Ltd.	3
#20	Urban SKY	3

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B64B assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 B64B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B64B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B64B's 560-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B64B (#527 of 670 by volume ; lead share 9.6%) - not the B64 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

B60M 559 B63J 559 H05F 557 B41N 568

Nearest by lead-assignee share

F01B 9.7% F24C 9.6% D04H 9.7% H02N 9.7%

Questions about B64B

Which company holds the most patents in B64B?

Google LLC leads B64B with 54 patents (8.2% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 89% of class grants.

Which B64B assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B64B, Aerostar International LLC shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (8.75x: 4 grants in 2019–2021 → 35 in 2022–2024) while holding 41 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B64B compare inside parent class B64?

Inside B64 (AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; Cosmonautics), B64B ranks #6 of 6 subclasses by grant volume and holds 1.0% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B64D (21,967 grants).

What to do with this data

B64B in context - here's where to go next.

X Development LLC leads B64B with 46 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B64B ranks #527 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B64, the largest sibling subclass is B64D with 21,967 grants. Explore B64D

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - B64B figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (560 grants in the tracked window).

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.