CPC technology class · H04

H04Q - Selecting

Selecting. 10,225 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

10,225
US patents granted: #8/12
in H04: 1.0%
H04 class share: -18%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Selecting ranks #168 of 670 CPC technology areas - 10,225 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 18% over five years.

#168
of 670 CPC technology areas: 10,225
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Huawei
leading assignee (404): -18%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How H04Q's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, H04Q recorded 4,274 grants versus 5,206 in 2015–2019 (-18% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 1,224 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 720 (+70% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. holds 4.0% of the class ; the top three share 7.8%.

Leaderboard read

H04Q concentration, lead at 4.0%

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. leads this historical grant record at 4.0% of H04Q - us corporation assignees hold 62% of class grants (3,617 of 5,803). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 4.0%
Top three share: 7.8%
Lead over #2: 187

Where H04Q sits inside H04

Among 12 subclasses in H04 (Electric Communication Technique), H04Q ranks #8 and holds 1.0% 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 H04J 16,888 H04S 7,918

Rising assignees active in H04Q

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 Chengdu Qinchuan IOT Technology Co., Ltd. 20x 9 → 179 company-wide · 11 in H04Q
#2 Frontier Communications Holdings, LLC 15x 2 → 29 company-wide · 34 in H04Q
#3 Inhandplus Inc. 8.00x 0 → 8 company-wide · 7 in H04Q
#4 IP Holding Company LLC 7.00x 1 → 7 company-wide · 10 in H04Q
#5 Copper Labs, Inc. 6.00x 1 → 6 company-wide · 7 in H04Q

H04Q grants by year, peak 2019 (1,224)

US utility-patent grants per year in H04Q, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 18% versus 2015–2019.

Huawei

404
Commscope

217
Ciena

179
At&T Intellectual…

172
Telefonaktiebolaget…

163
Fujitsu

145
Nippon Telegraph And…

141
Zte

133
Cisco Technology

116
Juniper Networks

105
Futurewei

91
Alcatel Lucent

82

What this shows Huawei is the most active filer in H04Q, holding 404 of the 10,225 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 H04Q
Rank	Company	Patents in H04Q
#1	Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.	404
#2	Commscope Technologies LLC	217
#3	Ciena Corporation	179
#4	AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.	172
#5	Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ)	163
#6	Fujitsu Limited	145
#7	Nippon Telegraph AND Telephone Corporation	141
#8	ZTE Corporation	133
#9	Cisco Technology, Inc.	116
#10	Juniper Networks, Inc.	105
#11	Futurewei Technologies, Inc.	91
#12	Alcatel Lucent	82
#13	Infinera Corp.	82
#14	Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016, LLC	63
#15	Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP	62
#16	Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.	60
#17	Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.	56
#18	Level 3 Communications, LLC	54
#19	Dexcom, Inc.	46
#20	CommScope Connectivity Belgium Bvba	44

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading H04Q 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 H04Q assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in H04Q. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near H04Q's 10,225-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for H04Q (#168 of 670 by volume ; lead share 4.0%) - not the H04 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

B64U 10,226 F28F 10,136 F28D 10,118 F16F 10,113

Nearest by lead-assignee share

H05F 3.9% F05C 4.0% A63C 3.9% F21K 3.9%

Questions about H04Q

Which company holds the most patents in H04Q?

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. leads H04Q with 404 patents (4.0% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 62% of class grants.

Which H04Q assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in H04Q, Chengdu Qinchuan IOT Technology Co., Ltd. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (20x: 9 grants in 2019–2021 → 179 in 2022–2024) while holding 11 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does H04Q compare inside parent class H04?

Inside H04 (Electric Communication Technique), H04Q ranks #8 of 12 subclasses by grant volume and holds 1.0% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is H04L (373,517 grants).

What to do with this data

H04Q in context - here's where to go next.

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. leads H04Q with 404 grants in this class. See full portfolio
H04Q ranks #168 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 - H04Q figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (10,225 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.