CPC technology class · H04

H04J - Multiplex Communication

Multiplex communication. 16,888 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

16,888
US patents granted: #7/12
in H04: 1.6%
H04 class share: -22%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Multiplex Communication ranks #112 of 670 CPC technology areas - 16,888 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 22% over five years.

#112
of 670 CPC technology areas: 16,888
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Huawei
leading assignee (1,042): -22%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How H04J's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, H04J recorded 6,922 grants versus 8,910 in 2015–2019 (-22% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 1,858 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 1,134 (+64% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. holds 6.2% of the class ; the top three share 17.5%.

Leaderboard read

H04J concentration, lead at 6.2%

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. leads this historical grant record at 6.2% of H04J - foreign corporation assignees hold 55% of class grants (6,790 of 12,422). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 6.2%
Top three share: 17.5%
Lead over #2: 42

Where H04J sits inside H04

Among 12 subclasses in H04 (Electric Communication Technique), H04J ranks #7 and holds 1.6% 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 H04B 101,407 H04M 49,631 H04R 33,502 H04Q 10,225 H04S 7,918

Rising assignees active in H04J

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 · 7 in H04J
#2 Attochron, LLC 26x 1 → 26 company-wide · 5 in H04J
#3 JIO Platforms Limited 25x 2 → 50 company-wide · 5 in H04J
#4 T-Mobile Innovations LLC 16x 32 → 522 company-wide · 6 in H04J
#5 Vivo Mobile Communication Co., Ltd. 14x 70 → 969 company-wide · 14 in H04J

H04J grants by year, peak 2019 (1,858)

US utility-patent grants per year in H04J, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 22% versus 2015–2019.

Huawei

1,042
Lg

1,000
Qualcomm Incorporated

920
Telefonaktiebolaget…

679
Fujitsu

518
Nec

354
Ciena

289
Zte

249
Korea Advanced…

242
Cisco Technology

230
Nippon Telegraph And…

226
Panasonic Intellectual…

214

What this shows Huawei is the most active filer in H04J, holding 1,042 of the 16,888 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 H04J
Rank	Company	Patents in H04J
#1	Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.	1,042
#2	LG Electronics Inc.	1,000
#3	Qualcomm Incorporated	920
#4	Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ)	679
#5	Fujitsu Limited	518
#6	NEC Corporation	354
#7	Ciena Corporation	289
#8	ZTE Corporation	249
#9	Korea Advanced Institute OF Science AND Technology	242
#10	Cisco Technology, Inc.	230
#11	Nippon Telegraph AND Telephone Corporation	226
#12	Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America	214
#13	Infinera Corp.	200
#14	Sun Patent Trust	177
#15	Alcatel Lucent	172
#16	NTT Docomo, Inc.	170
#17	AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.	163
#18	Futurewei Technologies, Inc.	159
#19	Intel IP Corporation	159
#20	Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha	158

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading H04J 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 H04J assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in H04J. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near H04J's 16,888-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for H04J (#112 of 670 by volume ; lead share 6.2%) - not the H04 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

F02D 16,949 F16L 16,791 B64C 17,186 C12Y 17,214

Nearest by lead-assignee share

A47K 6.2% E04D 6.2% B67B 6.1% H10N 6.1%

Questions about H04J

Which company holds the most patents in H04J?

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. leads H04J with 1,042 patents (6.2% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 55% of class grants.

Which H04J assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in H04J, Meta Platforms, Inc. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (376x: 2 grants in 2019–2021 → 751 in 2022–2024) while holding 7 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does H04J compare inside parent class H04?

Inside H04 (Electric Communication Technique), H04J ranks #7 of 12 subclasses by grant volume and holds 1.6% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is H04L (373,517 grants).

What to do with this data

H04J in context - here's where to go next.

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. leads H04J with 1,042 grants in this class. See full portfolio
H04J ranks #112 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 - H04J figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (16,888 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.