China leads in 6G patent applications, satellite communication technology attracts attention

On April 26, the Intellectual Property Development Research Center of the State Intellectual Property Office held a series of theme activities for the 2021 National Intellectual Property Promotion Week and held a "6G Communication Industry Intellectual Property Research Results Promotion Conference". The "6G Communication Technology Patent Development Status Report" was released at the conference.

The report shows that the number of global patent applications in the field of 6G communications exceeds 38,000, of which 25,509 are in the field of satellite communication technology. The largest number of patent applications comes from our country, reaching 9,159, accounting for 31%.

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It is reported that the curtain has been raised on 6G research and development in my country and even the world, and all are vying to seize the strategic 6G technology high ground. For example, Nokia Finland previously released the world's first 6G white paper, and the United States also started 6G research in 2018 and took the lead in researching integrated air, space, sea and land communications.

my country has now fully launched 6G research and development. As early as November 2019, the Ministry of Science and Technology launched the 6G technology research and development IMT-2030 promotion group, which was participated by 37 industrial, academic and research institutions, and held a number of seminars.

In addition, the ITU and 3GPP, the standards organizations related to the communications field, have also given a timetable for the formulation of 6G-related standards. All this shows that 6G research and development is imminent. However, the report also pointed out that although my country's application contribution exceeded 30%, China's innovation entities did not occupy a dominant position.

In addition, the top ten applicants in the world include Japan's NEC Corporation, South Korea's Daewoo Communications Corporation, Japan's Mitsubishi Electronics Corporation, Korea Telecom Research Institute, South Korea's Samsung Electronics, the United States' Hughes Network Systems, Japan's NTT Corporation, the United States' Qualcomm and the United States' ViaSat. These are all professional communications manufacturers and research institutions, while only one university in my country, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, ranks eighth in global applications, and manufacturers, operators and research institutions are absent.

In other words, although my country has an absolute leading position in the number of patents, there is actually no enterprise-type innovation entity. However, the good news is that domestic universities and research institutions are leading the basic research and development innovation of 6G communication technology and have taken the lead in some areas.

Specifically, the report further analyzes the patent development status of the four key technologies of 6G communications, namely terahertz technology, integrated air, space and sea technology, deterministic network technology, and AI-based air interface technology.

Terahertz technology The total number of global patent applications involving terahertz technology is 7,737, of which the largest number comes from my country (3,118, or approximately 3,634, while the United States has only 1,585), accounting for 40% of the global total.

The important development direction of 6G communication is to build a global connection integrating ground communication network, satellite communication network and deep sea network to realize the integration of air, space, sea and land. Among them, the total number of global patent applications in the field of satellite communication technology is 25,509, and the number of patent applications from China is the largest, reaching 9,159, accounting for 31%.

Deterministic network technology with high reliability and low latency will mature and be widely used in the 6G era. The total number of patent applications in the field of deterministic networks is 1,034. The United States has obvious advantages in deterministic network technology, with the largest number of patent applications (573), accounting for 55% of the total number of global patent applications.

The report gives five suggestions for the current situation:

(I) Give full play to our own advantages and strengthen the creation and reserve of independent intellectual property rights

(II) Focus on foreign first-mover advantage technologies and tap into our own potential R&D capabilities

(III) Integrate domestic industry-university-research resources to promote the transformation of patent results

(IV) Promote international cooperation in the field of intellectual property and reduce technological dependence

(V) Combining patents and open source to create a good technological ecological environment

The editor would like to remind you that 6G research and development is currently in its early stages. The main purpose of the "Report" is to clarify the current situation and find the goal. Friends are welcome to discuss but please do not provoke or even attack domestic manufacturers. Our goal is to recognize the gap and catch up, and to demonstrate our position with practical actions, not just empty talk.