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 grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

191,323
US patents granted: #3/12
in H04: 18.6%
H04 class share: +0%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Pictorial Communication ranks #4 of 670 CPC technology areas - 191,323 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 0% over five years.

#4
of 670 CPC technology areas: 191,323
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Canon
leading assignee (12,328): +0%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How H04N's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, H04N recorded 87,137 grants versus 86,775 in 2015–2019 (+0% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2020 at 19,538 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 16,400 (+19% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Canon Kabushiki Kaisha holds 6.4% of the class ; the top three share 14.5%.

Leaderboard read

H04N concentration, lead at 6.4%

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha leads this historical grant record at 6.4% of H04N - foreign corporation assignees hold 59% of class grants (102,616 of 175,021). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 6.4%
Top three share: 14.5%
Lead over #2: 3,652

Where H04N sits inside H04

Among 12 subclasses in H04 (Electric Communication Technique), H04N ranks #3 and holds 18.6% 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 H04B 101,407 H04M 49,631 H04R 33,502 H04J 16,888 H04Q 10,225 H04S 7,918

Rising assignees active in H04N

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 Technologies, LLC 1285x 0 → 1,285 company-wide · 247 in H04N
#2 Kyndryl, Inc. 478x 0 → 478 company-wide · 18 in H04N
#3 Meta Platforms, Inc. 376x 2 → 751 company-wide · 137 in H04N
#4 Block, Inc. 345x 1 → 345 company-wide · 17 in H04N
#5 Salesforce, Inc. 334x 3 → 1,001 company-wide · 13 in H04N

H04N grants by year, peak 2020 (19,538)

US utility-patent grants per year in H04N, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 0% versus 2015–2019.

Canon

12,328
Samsung

8,676
Sony Group

6,729
Lg

4,055
Google

3,454
Ricoh

2,723
Apple

2,614
Qualcomm Incorporated

2,587
Microsoft Technology…

2,258
Panasonic Intellectual…

2,146
Seiko Epson

2,058
Huawei

1,820

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.

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

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).

Classes near H04N's 191,323-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for H04N (#4 of 670 by volume ; lead share 6.4%) - not the H04 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

H01L 165,178 A61B 162,009 A61K 151,067 H04W 236,882

Nearest by lead-assignee share

B81B 6.4% G02C 6.5% B23Q 6.4% G16Y 6.4%

Questions about H04N

Which company holds the most patents in H04N?

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha leads H04N with 12,328 patents (6.4% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 59% of class grants.

Which H04N assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in H04N, Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (1285x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 1,285 in 2022–2024) while holding 247 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does H04N compare inside parent class H04?

Inside H04 (Electric Communication Technique), H04N ranks #3 of 12 subclasses by grant volume and holds 18.6% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is H04L (373,517 grants).

What to do with this data

H04N in context - here's where to go next.

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha leads H04N with 12,328 grants in this class. See full portfolio
H04N ranks #4 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 - H04N figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (191,323 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.