Cyber Creative Institute Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Hirohiko Sato), which conducts comprehensive research on ICT technologies including mobile and wireless, has been evaluating and analyzing the status of standardization activities, the holding number of SEPs, the holding number of 5G realized patents, focusing on declared 5G standard essential patents (5G-SEP) for 3GPP, companies, technologies, and services.
In this 4th edition of the research report, following the previous research, we conducted four types of research and analysis: 5G-SEP estimated number of holdings, 5G-SEP declaration patents, 5G implementation patents, and 5G standardization contributions.
The estimated number of 5G-SEP patents held by each company, which is based on the total number of 5G-SEP declared patents and the standard consistency rate of each company, was about 15,000 in this survey. It has increased about 2.3 times since the survey started in October 2020, but the growth from the previous survey (October 2021) has slowed down a little. The estimated number of 4G (LTE) -SEP holdings surveyed by our company in 2013 is about 2,000, and the estimated number of 5G-SEP holdings is about 7.5 times, which is noteworthy for the large number of SEPs that contribute to the standard.
Samsung is the top of the number of estimated 5G-SEP holdings, Qualcomm is the second, and LG is the third. Among the Japanese companies, NTT DOCOMO is in 4th place. By nationality of the top 10 companies, 2 Japanese companies (NTT DOCOMO, Sharp), 1 US company (Qualcomm), 2 European companies (Nokia, Ericsson), 3 Chinese companies (ZTE, Huawei, OPPO) and 2 South Korean companies (Samsung, LG) are competing. Among Japanese companies, Sony and NEC are also within the top 15 places.
5G implementation patents are a group of patents that collect and extract 5G-SEP and patents that include not SEP but are useful for implementing standards (implementation patents that perform realization processing in each device, etc.) as much as possible. It continues to show a large increase of about 1.7 times from the survey of one year ago, and the number of patent applications per year is about 13,000 in 2019, which is still a rapid increase (Fig. 3). It is thought that the reason why the growth is larger than other searches is that the publication of the patent application is delayed by about 1.5 years, and the information aggregation time is slightly delayed compared to other searches.
In this survey, there are some findings that I would like to pay attention to.
For example, the number of applications for 5G implementation patents for 5G-related services such as V2X (automobile), Ⅾ2D (IoT), and Unlicensed operation has increased significantly, and it shows an increasing tendency of the number of contributions for service architecture as Release 17 progresses.
In addition, in the comprehensive analysis, we are trying to classify companies into several types based on the estimated number of 5G-SEP holdings and the number of holdings of 5G implementation patents, which play a useful role in the realization of 5G.
Furthermore, in the analysis of contributions, we are analyzing changes in the number of proposals for each Release and each company, including Rel-17 and later (Other). This is an attempt to analyze the movement of companies that anticipate 6G (Beyond 5G).
Continuing from the previous edition, the 4th edition will also sell a list of patent groups that estimate various movements, in addition to selling search reports. We support the confirmation of targeted, efficient, and specific patent contents such as companies and technology categories.
[Points of survey results]
(1) Estimated number of 5G-SEP holdings
Each company can declare the SEP declaration at its own discretion. For this reason, the declared 5G-SEP is not necessarily the 5G-SEP that is essential for the realization of the 5G standard. In addition, there are two types of 5G-SEP selection: selection based on 5G judgment by ETSI including the LTE part, and selection based on the standard judged that 3GPP is a standard unique to 5G. Furthermore, the specifications of the 5G wireless system have been significantly expanded to realize new functions, such as ultra-low latency and connection to multiple terminals, compared to LTE.
In consideration of the above background, in this search, 2,376 patents declared by 3GPP as the 5G standard were extracted from the SEP declared patents of each company while maintaining fairness for each company, and the specifications and patents of the declared standard were extracted. The claims of the above were compared and evaluated, and the matching patents were designated as standard-consistent patents.
As a result, the 5G standard consistency rate of each company is shown in Fig. 1.
The company with the highest consistency rate is KT, which has 85%. The second place is Sony with 75%, and the third place is HCT with 73%.
The 34 companies in Fig. 1 are companies that have performed more than 10 consistency evaluations among the patents declared in the standards defined by 3GPP as 5G specifications.Approximately 10% of the patents registered in the SEP Declaration are randomly selected, the claims of the 5G standard and the patents are compared and evaluated, the patents that are the same are regarded as consistent patents, and the total number of patents for each company is calculated by the number of patents to be searched for each company. The divided value, consistent patents/total number, is the 5G standard consistency rate.
It is confirmed that the overall consistency rate is 33%, which was the same as the previous implementation (November 2021).
Figure 2 shows the estimated number of 5G-SEP holdings by multiplying the 5G standard consistency rate by the number of 5G-SEP declared patents to the standard set by 3GPP for each company. The result is as described above.
Fig.1 Standard consistency rate (company that has judged 10 or more patents)
Fig. 2 Estimated number of 5G-SEP holdings
(2) 5G implementation patent
The number of 5G implementation patents has steadily increased every year, and the number of patent applications has exceeded 13,000 in the year 2019 (Fig. 3). Compared to the previous survey, the other three surveys showed a 1.3-fold increase, while the number of 5G implementation patents showed a 1.7-fold increase. It is thought that this is because of delaying patent publication by about 1.5 years, and there is a possibility that the balance of the four searches will be balanced in future searches.
From the next section, we will introduce some research topics.
Fig. 3 5G implementation patent application transition
(3) Rapid increase in 5G implementation patents related to V2X
Figure 4 shows the application transitions and ratios of applicants for 5G implementation patents for the service of interest (V2X).
In 2019, there will be 750 patent applications, which is about twice the number of the previous year, and the intensive applications of the top companies will be particularly noteworthy. The expansion of the market share of the 1st place companies, the increase of patent applications of the companies within the 10th place, and the large share of the companies of the 11th place and below under this situation are the formulation and implementation for the realization of V2X related standards. It seems to suggest the need for detailed analysis such as the superiority and inferiority of patents.
Fig. 4 Application transition and ratio of 5G implementation patents of attention service (V2X) by companies
(4) The number of contributions that increase the number of service architecture proposals
Figure 5 shows the percentage of contributions by WG for each Release.
As Releases progress such as Rel-15, 16, 17, and Other (Rel-18 or later) , the number of contributions to RAN (wireless system) shows a declining trend, and in a way that compensates for this, SA (service architecture system) , The ratio of the number of proposals to CT (core network system) is high.
RAN focuses on proposals to achieve wireless-related performance goals, while SA proposes requirements such as new services and network system architectures that support them, and requirements for core network that extend wireless systems as the main focus.
In the report, the survey results of the proposer are shown for each WG and Rel, and the points of interest are introduced.

Fig. 5 Percentage of contributions by WG for each Release
※The table of contents of the survey report is shown below.
http://cybersoken.com/research/5G,5G-SEP.html
[Services provided]
In this 4th edition of the survey, we will provide the following services.
(1) Report: Overall trend survey, trend survey by technology category, application trend survey of noteworthy companies, etc.
(2) List of patent numbers of 5G realized patents: List of patents under specified conditions such as by technology category and by applicant (optionally, outline of patent, presence or absence of ETSI declaration, etc.)
(3) Evaluation list of 5G-SEP declared patents
(4) For other individual requirements, please contact us.
About Cyber Creative Institute
(1) Company name: Cyber Creative Institute Co., Ltd. (
http://www.cybersoken.com)
(2) Representative Director: Hirohiko Sato
(3) Address of head office: 5F Gotanda First Building, 2-8-1 Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa, Tokyo
(4) Company foundation: April 2001
(5) Main businesses: The following businesses related to information and telecommunications
1. Survey and research
2. Patent service
3. Engineering
4. Education and training
(6) Paid-in capital: 30 million yen
For inquiries to this release, please contact:
Cyber Creative Institute Co., Ltd.
Patent Search and Analysis Department 5G Essential Declared Patent Search Team
Attn: Kenji Nakanishi
Tel : +81-3-3490-3186
Email: IPR_contacts@cybersoken.com