CPC technology class · H04

H04B - Transmission

Transmission. 101,407 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

101,407
US patents granted: #4/12
in H04: 9.9%
H04 class share: -1%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Transmission ranks #14 of 670 CPC technology areas - 101,407 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 1% over five years.

#14
of 670 CPC technology areas: 101,407
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Qualcomm Incorporated
leading assignee (6,670): -1%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How H04B's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, H04B recorded 46,207 grants versus 46,660 in 2015–2019 (-1% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 10,996 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 8,073 (+36% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Qualcomm Incorporated holds 6.6% of the class ; the top three share 14.7%.

Leaderboard read

H04B concentration, lead at 6.6%

Qualcomm Incorporated leads this historical grant record at 6.6% of H04B - us corporation assignees hold 50% of class grants (44,642 of 89,469). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 6.6%
Top three share: 14.7%
Lead over #2: 2,038

Where H04B sits inside H04

Among 12 subclasses in H04 (Electric Communication Technique), H04B ranks #4 and holds 9.9% of the parent class's 1,028,415 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

H04L 373,517 H04W 236,882 H04N 191,323 H04M 49,631 H04R 33,502 H04J 16,888 H04Q 10,225 H04S 7,918

Rising assignees active in H04B

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 Meta Platforms, Inc. 376x 2 → 751 company-wide · 27 in H04B
#2 Block, Inc. 345x 1 → 345 company-wide · 13 in H04B
#3 Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co., Ltd. 245x 0 → 245 company-wide · 10 in H04B
#4 Zhejiang LAB 115x 0 → 115 company-wide · 5 in H04B
#5 Ultralogic 6G, LLC 82x 0 → 82 company-wide · 30 in H04B

H04B grants by year, peak 2019 (10,996)

US utility-patent grants per year in H04B, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 1% versus 2015–2019.

Qualcomm Incorporated

6,670
Samsung

4,632
Lg

3,654
Huawei

3,555
Telefonaktiebolaget…

3,146
Apple

2,286
Intel

1,705
Sony Group

1,475
At&T Intellectual…

1,467
Fujitsu

1,181
Nec

1,103
Murata Manufacturing

1,007

What this shows Qualcomm Incorporated is the most active filer in H04B, holding 6,670 of the 101,407 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 H04B
Rank	Company	Patents in H04B
#1	Qualcomm Incorporated	6,670
#2	Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.	4,632
#3	LG Electronics Inc.	3,654
#4	Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.	3,555
#5	Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ)	3,146
#6	Apple Inc.	2,286
#7	Intel Corporation	1,705
#8	Sony Group Corporation	1,475
#9	AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.	1,467
#10	Fujitsu Limited	1,181
#11	NEC Corporation	1,103
#12	Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.	1,007
#13	Skyworks Solutions, Inc.	990
#14	Korea Advanced Institute OF Science AND Technology	795
#15	ZTE Corporation	776
#16	Texas Instruments Incorporated	702
#17	Cisco Technology, Inc.	653
#18	Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America	615
#19	Nokia Technologies OY	609
#20	Intel IP Corporation	603

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading H04B 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 H04B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in H04B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near H04B's 101,407-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for H04B (#14 of 670 by volume ; lead share 6.6%) - not the H04 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

Y10T 97,850 H10D 96,746 G06V 95,291 G06N 88,089

Nearest by lead-assignee share

A63B 6.6% H02B 6.6% A44C 6.5% B41P 6.5%

Questions about H04B

Which company holds the most patents in H04B?

Qualcomm Incorporated leads H04B with 6,670 patents (6.6% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 50% of class grants.

Which H04B assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in H04B, Meta Platforms, Inc. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (376x: 2 grants in 2019–2021 → 751 in 2022–2024) while holding 27 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does H04B compare inside parent class H04?

Inside H04 (Electric Communication Technique), H04B ranks #4 of 12 subclasses by grant volume and holds 9.9% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is H04L (373,517 grants).

What to do with this data

H04B in context - here's where to go next.

Qualcomm Incorporated leads H04B with 6,670 grants in this class. See full portfolio
H04B ranks #14 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class H04, the largest sibling subclass is H04L with 373,517 grants. Explore H04L

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

Methodology - H04B figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (101,407 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.