Circuits

Introduced: September 1968

Last revised: January 2006

Full Title

Details of transmission systems, not covered by a single one of groups; Details of transmission systems not characterised by the medium used for transmission > Receivers > Circuits

Classification Context

Section:: ELECTRICITY
Class:: ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
Subclass:: TRANSMISSION

Filing statistics

IPC H04B 1/16 belongs to the parent subclass H04B, which recorded 440,404 patent applications worldwide between 2013 and 2023. Annual filings grew from 35,964 in 2013 to 39,968 in 2023 (+11%), peaking at 45,523 applications in 2020. The most active applicants in class H04 are QUALCOMM (97,396 applications), HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES COMPANY (96,502 applications) and SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS COMPANY (86,981 applications).

Source: EPO PATSTAT, worldwide filings

5 direct subcodes

Child Classifications

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H04B 1/18 Input circuits, e.g. for coupling to an antenna or a transmission line
H04B 1/2 for coupling gramophone pick-up, recorder output, or microphone to receiver
H04B 1/22 for receivers in which no local oscillation is generated
H04B 1/26 for superheterodyne receivers
H04B 1/3 for homodyne or synchrodyne receivers

Top Applicants

Top 10 applicants by patent filingsfor class H04, 2013–2023, worldwide · Source: EPO PATSTAT

QUALCOMM US 97,396
HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES COMPANY CN 96,502
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS COMPANY KR 86,981
TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL) SE 55,869
HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES COMPANY 55,349
LG ELECTRONICS KR 53,649
CANON 33,341
SONY CORPORATION JP 32,761
ZTE CORPORATION CN 32,274
GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION 28,327