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CPC technology class · H04

H04N - Pictorial Communication

Pictorial communication, e.g. television. 191,323 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

191,323
US patents granted
H04
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+14%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Pictorial Communication ranks #4 of 670 CPC technology areas - 191,323 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 14% over five years.

#4
of 670 CPC technology areas
191,323
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Canon
leading assignee (12,328)
+14%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (12,328 patents)

CPC subclass H04N - PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - covers 191,323 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class H04 (ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in H04N is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha leads with 12,328 patents, followed by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. at 8,676 grants and SONY Group Corporation at 6,729.

Filing activity in H04N is up 14% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a relatively steady filing pace. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is H04N innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in H04N, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 14% versus 2015–2019.

10,00012,00014,00016,00018,00020,000 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 12,199

Who leads H04N?

The 12 most active assignees in PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Canon is the most active filer in H04N, holding 12,328 of the 191,323 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
View data table
Top patent holders in CPC subclass H04N
Rank Company Patents in H04N
#1 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha 12,328
#2 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 8,676
#3 SONY Group Corporation 6,729
#4 LG Electronics Inc. 4,055
#5 Google Llc 3,454
#6 Ricoh Company, Ltd. 2,723
#7 Apple Inc. 2,614
#8 Qualcomm Incorporated 2,587
#9 Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc 2,258
#10 Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. 2,146
#11 Seiko Epson Corporation 2,058
#12 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. 1,820
#13 Kyocera Document Solutions Inc. 1,791
#14 AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.p. 1,737
#15 Amazon Technologies, Inc. 1,729
#16 Intel Corporation 1,684
#17 Fujifilm Corporation 1,639
#18 SONY Semiconductor Solutions Corporation 1,595
#19 Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha 1,569
#20 Olympus Corporation 1,567

About This Class

CPC subclass H04N belongs to class H04.

191,323 patents were granted in this class between 2015 and 2025.

20 companies actively patent in this space.

Classification System

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical patent classification system used by the USPTO and EPO.

← All Technology Classes Technology Rankings →

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading H04N 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 H04N assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in H04N. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 H04N assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in H04N. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 5101520253035 050001000015000 Patents in H04N Avg claims / patent (company-wide) CanonSamsungSony GroupLgGoogleRicohAppleQualcomm IncorporatedMicrosoft Technology…Panasonic Intellectua…Seiko EpsonHuaweiKyocera Document Solu…At&T Intellectual Pro…
Top 14 H04N assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in H04N. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class H04N?
CPC subclass H04N covers PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION. It belongs to CPC class H04 (ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE), with 191,323 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in H04N?
191,323 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass H04N between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in H04N?
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha leads H04N with 12,328 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for H04N collected?
Patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It covers all US granted utility patents and assigns CPC codes based on the technology described in each patent.
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
A CPC class (e.g., H04) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like H04N provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

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

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

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.