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How Japanese corporate IP departments are reinventing themselves

Celebrating (or not) five years of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board

The challenges facing IP leaders in the financial technology industry

Why researchers at Japan’s biggest bank learned to love IP big data

A deep dive into key patent issues facing the auto sector

We reveal the individuals who are driving the world’s rapidly changing IP market

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areas which are related to but not directly connected to vehicles, such as logistics, have not been included.

Ecosystem changesThe merging of the mechanical and digital worlds has resulted in a slew of new technologies and players entering the sector. It has also led to new business models driven by connectivity. Some of these are touched on below.

Vehicle ownership and on-demand business modelsCompulsory car ownership is now less of a given with the availability of smart mobility services such as ride-hailing and sharing, on-demand goods transportation and peer-to-peer car rentals.

Access to vehicle dataMost vehicles today come with an onboard diagnostic system to give owners and technicians access to real-time data on the various sub-systems. This helps in identifying and fixing malfunctions. Various third-party dongles are now available which connect to this system’s communication port and ensure that the vehicle is IoT ready. This makes it possible to deliver diverse services to vehicles via apps, driven in large part by the access to vehicle data. Drivers in turn are used to receiving information relating to the vehicle’s performance and real-time traffic updates, as well as entertainment.

Vehicles as software platformsThe automotive ecosystem increasingly resembles the one for smartphones. New features and functions can be delivered to vehicles by over-the-air updates, circumventing the need to buy a new model or replace parts as vehicles become the platform where functionality and features can be enhanced with software updates and installing apps. With connected cars and application programming interfaces, developers can create apps and deliver services.

Push towards fully autonomous vehiclesThe goal of having fully autonomous vehicle systems has thrown up a host of challenges which are currently being worked on. These include the technological challenges involved with integrating multiple technologies, as well as the need to solve issues around reliability, safety and network security. Another key is to understand the limitations of sensor systems and networks. Compliance with testing and regulatory

“The Model S is not a car but a ‘sophisticated computer on wheels’” – Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla

Given the level of technology – which includes a 17-inch tablet in the dashboard of the Tesla Model S – Musk’s comment, made in March 2015, is not too far from the truth. Above all, it is emblematic of the changes occurring in the automotive sector.

Since its advent, the automobile has been the preserve of an array of mechanical technologies. More recently, electrical and electronic advances have found their way into this sector, although nothing compares to the present changes.

Automotive is one of many different sectors looking to improve its business processes and operations by tapping into the availability of ubiquitous connectivity, low-cost connected devices (eg, sensors, phones and tablets) and the increased power of cloud computing to process and analyse real-time streams of data. The aim is to help businesses to better manage, optimise and predict outcomes, leading to greater efficiency and enhanced profitability. This transformation has been dubbed as the Internet of Things (IoT). While the exact definition of ‘IoT’ is still fuzzy, its effect has been felt in multiple sectors where it has enabled services prompted by fresh-use cases and completely new business models.

The automotive sector has been an early adopter and beneficiary of the digital technologies, giving rise to what could be described as the ‘Internet of Automobiles’ (IoA).

This article focuses on the intellectual property, primarily the patents, behind the digital technologies being incorporated into the automotive sector – both within vehicles and into the ecosystem. The analysis is based on the patent assets filed in various jurisdictions, assignment transfer data provided by patent offices and corporate information available in the public domain.

Unless stated otherwise, the analysis is based on patent equivalents. A ‘patent equivalent’ refers to a set of patent filings representing a single invention, with the same priority documents. The same holds true for the numbers in the various figures and tables. The only departure from this is in the analysis and presentation of data related to patent filings in different geographies or jurisdictions. We use unique applications to indicate numbers in this case.

We have restricted our study to patents published in the last 10 years (starting in 2007). The patents address technologies and systems connected with vehicles, the movement of vehicles and the ecosystem. Overlapping

By Murari Venkataraman, Vijaya Krishna and George Koomullil

The auto sector and its underlying technology are changing rapidly. As the patent landscape also transforms, it is increasingly important to keep tabs on how the car giants, key suppliers and new entrants boost their IP portfolios

Is the Internet of Automobiles the next big thing?

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acquiring companies comprise semiconductor chip makers, incumbent auto behemoths, telecoms providers and enterprise software providers. The motivation for each of these players varies.

The market for chips for personal computers has reached the end of its life. While semiconductor companies have cashed in on the boom for smartphone chips, this market is now saturated. As a result, semiconductor companies are laying large bets on the auto sector to power their future growth by manufacturing automotive chips. For the incumbent auto companies, acquisitions are a way of adapting to the imminent changes in the value chain and ensuring that they are well positioned to grow their top and bottom lines.

Enterprise software providers see an opportunity in employing their core competence to actively participate in the auto sector. There are some must-haves to successfully providing digital services to vehicles, one of which is a software management platform. These are typically vertical agnostic. Early reports indicate that the connected car vertical is a significant sector for the providers of such platforms.

For telecoms players, acquisitions are a way of generating new revenue streams by providing services for the auto sector over their existing networks.

IoA taxonomy In order to analyse who owns the patented technologies related to the IoA, we organised them into a hierarchical taxonomy. The taxonomy and the technology categories

Company Acquisition Value ($) Date Description

Intel Mobileye 15.3 billion

June 2017 Digital vision for autonomous vehicles.Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) tools – surround vision, sensor fusion, mapping and driving policy products. Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) relationships – Honda, BMW and Volvo.

Itseez May 2016 Real-world computer imaging for embedded systems to be used in deep-learning-based computer vision applications, including autonomous driving.

Yogitech April 2016 ADAS, robotics and autonomous machines for automotive and industrial.

Arynga April 2016 Offers an over-the-air software update platform for vehicles.Acquired by Wind River (Intel subsidiary).

Samsung Harman International

8 billion November 2016

Connected car systems – such as embedded infotainment, telematics, audio and security.Harman aspires to move into ADAS.

Qualcomm NXP 46 billion October 2016

Largest chipmaker in the auto industry.This deal has not closed and uncertainties exist due to ongoing legal disputes.

Verizon Fleetmatics 2.4 billion

August 2016 Telematics SaaS.

Telogis June 2016 Cloud-based mobile enterprise software for fleet management and logistics.Multiple OEM relationships – Ford, Volvo, GM, Isuzu and Mack.

Hughes Telematics

June 2012 First telematics acquisition by Verizon 2012.

GM Cruise Automation

Over 1 billion

March 2016 Developer of autonomous vehicle technology.

Cisco Jasper 1.4 billion

February 2016

Internet of Things platform which serves different verticals including connected cars. Powers AT&T’s connected car platform.Allows car companies to offer (and monetise) third-party services and the data streams which come with them.

BMW, Daimler, Audi

HERE 3 billion August 2015 Mapping and location service (from Nokia).

TABLE 1. Acquisitions in the IoA space

Companies Date Description

Volvo Autoliv June 2017 Created a combined venture (Zenuity) to develop self-driving software to run on Nvidia’s processing units.

Toyota Nvidia May 2017 Toyota will use Nvidia's processing units to power autonomous car systems.

Microsoft March 2017 Patent licensing agreement.

Lyft NuTonomy June 2017 Pilot in Boston where NuTonomy's driverless cars may be hailed using the Lyft app.

Jaguar Land Rover June 2017 JLR will provide vehicles and $25 million investment.

Waymo May 2017

GM January 2016 Joint venture and $500 million investment.

Fiat Chrysler

Waymo December 2016

Waymo will fit Pacifica minivans with autonomous technology.

Volkswagen LG July 2016 Will jointly work on a new connected car service platform.

TABLE 2. Partnerships in the IoA space

frameworks is another requirement. Finally, a better understanding of how humans interact with such autonomous systems is necessary.

Shift in value chainThis technological shift is not without economic costs to incumbent business models. A PwC study estimates that revenues from connected cars will increase from $52.5 billion in 2017 to $155.9 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate of 24.3%. Overall for the auto industry between 2015 and 2030, it is estimated that (shared mobility + digital services + suppliers of new

tech/software) – which corresponds to the technologies we are looking at – will have the following shares of revenues and profits.

Revenues were 3% (approximately $5 trillion) in 2015 and are predicted to increase to 19% (approximately $7.8 trillion) in 2030. Meanwhile, profits were 4% (approximately $400 billion) in 2015 and are predicted to rise to 36% (approximately $600 billion) by 2030.

M&A and partnershipsSome notable acquisitions and partnerships related to the IoA are listed in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively. The

November/December 2017

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acquiring companies comprise semiconductor chip makers, incumbent auto behemoths, telecoms providers and enterprise software providers. The motivation for each of these players varies.

The market for chips for personal computers has reached the end of its life. While semiconductor companies have cashed in on the boom for smartphone chips, this market is now saturated. As a result, semiconductor companies are laying large bets on the auto sector to power their future growth by manufacturing automotive chips. For the incumbent auto companies, acquisitions are a way of adapting to the imminent changes in the value chain and ensuring that they are well positioned to grow their top and bottom lines.

Enterprise software providers see an opportunity in employing their core competence to actively participate in the auto sector. There are some must-haves to successfully providing digital services to vehicles, one of which is a software management platform. These are typically vertical agnostic. Early reports indicate that the connected car vertical is a significant sector for the providers of such platforms.

For telecoms players, acquisitions are a way of generating new revenue streams by providing services for the auto sector over their existing networks.

IoA taxonomy In order to analyse who owns the patented technologies related to the IoA, we organised them into a hierarchical taxonomy. The taxonomy and the technology categories

Company Acquisition Value ($) Date Description

Intel Mobileye 15.3 billion

June 2017 Digital vision for autonomous vehicles.Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) tools – surround vision, sensor fusion, mapping and driving policy products. Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) relationships – Honda, BMW and Volvo.

Itseez May 2016 Real-world computer imaging for embedded systems to be used in deep-learning-based computer vision applications, including autonomous driving.

Yogitech April 2016 ADAS, robotics and autonomous machines for automotive and industrial.

Arynga April 2016 Offers an over-the-air software update platform for vehicles.Acquired by Wind River (Intel subsidiary).

Samsung Harman International

8 billion November 2016

Connected car systems – such as embedded infotainment, telematics, audio and security.Harman aspires to move into ADAS.

Qualcomm NXP 46 billion October 2016

Largest chipmaker in the auto industry.This deal has not closed and uncertainties exist due to ongoing legal disputes.

Verizon Fleetmatics 2.4 billion

August 2016 Telematics SaaS.

Telogis June 2016 Cloud-based mobile enterprise software for fleet management and logistics.Multiple OEM relationships – Ford, Volvo, GM, Isuzu and Mack.

Hughes Telematics

June 2012 First telematics acquisition by Verizon 2012.

GM Cruise Automation

Over 1 billion

March 2016 Developer of autonomous vehicle technology.

Cisco Jasper 1.4 billion

February 2016

Internet of Things platform which serves different verticals including connected cars. Powers AT&T’s connected car platform.Allows car companies to offer (and monetise) third-party services and the data streams which come with them.

BMW, Daimler, Audi

HERE 3 billion August 2015 Mapping and location service (from Nokia).

TABLE 1. Acquisitions in the IoA space

Companies Date Description

Volvo Autoliv June 2017 Created a combined venture (Zenuity) to develop self-driving software to run on Nvidia’s processing units.

Toyota Nvidia May 2017 Toyota will use Nvidia's processing units to power autonomous car systems.

Microsoft March 2017 Patent licensing agreement.

Lyft NuTonomy June 2017 Pilot in Boston where NuTonomy's driverless cars may be hailed using the Lyft app.

Jaguar Land Rover June 2017 JLR will provide vehicles and $25 million investment.

Waymo May 2017

GM January 2016 Joint venture and $500 million investment.

Fiat Chrysler

Waymo December 2016

Waymo will fit Pacifica minivans with autonomous technology.

Volkswagen LG July 2016 Will jointly work on a new connected car service platform.

TABLE 2. Partnerships in the IoA space

November/December 2017

are laid out in Figure 1. The categories themselves are specified using different patent parameters, combined to form queries like those used in patent searches. We mapped the patents published in the last 10 years to this taxonomy. The numbers indicated are the patent equivalents which matched each of the nodes or categories in the taxonomy.

Using a taxonomy helps to provide a structured view of the patents addressing the different technologies in the IoA. It also enables easy drill-down to provide a closer look at specific subcategories. Since a patent document may address multiple technologies, it is possible that it could be present in multiple categories. The hierarchical relationship is always maintained, with all the patents in each of the child nodes being necessarily present in the parent.

We identified a fairly large set of 99,254 patent equivalents related to the IoA. These further propagate through the taxonomy categorisation, as shown in Figure 1.

Patent qualityAt various points in this article, we refer to ‘patent quality’ and so-called ‘high-quality’ patents. A quick note about what each term means. We have devised a patent rating that ranks each patent out of five, which we call the ‘patent quality rating’ or ‘star rating’.

It is a composite metric based on studies to determine the characteristics of valuable patents. These studies examine a set of litigated patents and have correlated the factors that make them successful at withstanding legal challenges.

Autonomous

21,746

Connected tech

35,730

Network security

11,180

Parking assistance

2,664

Tra�ic management

10,684

IoA

99,254

Telematics

29,775

Braking

1,573

Driving

876

Routing & naviga...

5,162

Accident avoidance

2,914

Cameras

2,051

Lidar

882

Radar

764

Infotainment

9,872

Navigation

9,992

Tra�ic information

3,227

Driver assistance

16,041

Emergency services

5,225

Fleet management

740

On-board diagnos...

1,826

Predictive maint...

873

Vision

3,073

FIGURE 1. Taxonomy showing hierarchical technology categories – numbers indicate total patent equivalents published in the last 10 years


Top patent holdersThe top patent holders in each technology category are shown in Figure 2, with their individual holdings in the category.

The top 20 patent holders are listed in Table 3. The heat map representation indicates the patent holders’ relative ranking in each technology category (greens = higher; reds = lower). Additional findings from Table 3 indicate that the portfolios of incumbent auto companies emphasise telematics patents. A significant portion of

IoA (99,254)

Denso (2,874)Toyota (2,659)

Hyundai (2,355)

Autonomous (21,746)

Samsung (275)Toyota (274)

Hyundai (246)

Connected tech (35,730)

Denso (108)Hyundai (749)Toyota (720)

Network security (11,180)

Hyundai (288)Denso (275)

GM (244)

Parking assistance (2,664)

Bosch (221)Hyundai (81)Toyota (71)

Telematics (29,775)

Toyota (1,162)Bosch (1,141)Hyundai (900)

Tra�ic management (10,684)

Aisin (386)Toyota (356)Denso (293)

Braking (1,573)GM (64)

Ford (55)Waymo LLC (42)

Camera (2,051)

Waymo LLC (143)Toyota (68)

GM (48)

Lidar (882)


Ford (32)

Radar (764)

Waymo LLC (47)GM (21)

Ford (19)

Routing and navigation (5,162)Waymo LLC (167)

Bosch (89)Toyota (88)

Vision (3,073)Waymo LLC (143)

Toyota (88)Bosch (84)

Accident avoidance (2,914)Denso (210)Toyota (185)

Mitsubishi (78)

Infotainment (9,872)Hyundai (271)

LG (177)Denso (176)

Navigation (9,992)Hyundai (225)

Denso (198)GM (123)

Tra�ic information (3,227)Toyota (113)

Denso (81)Continental (59)

Driver assistance (16,041)Bosch (865)Toyota (820)

Hyundai (642)

Emergency services (5,225)Hyundai (142)

Denso (104)GM (89)

Fleet management (740)United Parcel Service (32)

GE (15)Boeing (12)

Crown Equip Corp (12)

Onboard diagnostics (1,826)Bosch (68)

GM (49)Hyundai (42)

Predictive maintenance (873)Toyota (64)Bosch (57)Scania (56)

Driving (876)GM (79)


FIGURE 2. Top patent holders in each technology category

Patents which score three or more based on this ranking are deemed to be of high quality. Notwithstanding the fact that there are differing views on what constitutes an ideal rating system for patents, our rating formula gives us a basis to compare patents and portfolios.

Of the 99,254 patent equivalents identified addressing the IoA, 5,309 are deemed high quality (quality rating three or more) based on our rating.

The rating we use incoroporates the findings of these studies. Some of the factors included in our patent quality metric include the number of forward citations, number of backward citations, number of years for expiry, prosecution time, number of claims, length of the specification, number of family members and geographical coverage. We have rationalised the weights used for each of these factors to reduce the effect of anomalies.



BMW’s portfolio addresses telematics. Bosch holds a greater number of patents in parking assistance compared to other players, while its holdings in network security are the lowest among the leaders. Aisin is the number one holder of patents related to traffic management. Meanwhile Denso, though top-ranked overall, has comparitively few patents in autonomous technologies.

Table 4 summarises the leading companies in each of the top-level technology categories of the taxonomy. We list the top patent holders for each category, the highest

Patent holders Connected car technologies

Telematics Autonomous technologies

Network security

Traffic management

Parking assistance

Denso (2,873) 1,108 775 102 275 293 35

Toyota (2,567) 720 1,161 274 205 356 70

Hyundai (2,355) 749 900 246 288 199 81

Bosch (1,765) 246 1,142 199 87 261 221

GM (1,585) 542 829 164 244 165 51

LG (1,226) 409 288 104 119 182 19

Aisin (1,212) 119 304 18 30 386 45

Mitsubishi (1,211) 421 280 65 106 179 19

Continental (1,062) 300 694 67 182 193 47

Honda (1,009) 236 399 197 75 118 6

Panasonic (998) 240 221 98 75 110 21

Daimler (947) 135 629 180 67 135 63

Ford (914) 235 620 167 69 83 62

Nissan (888) 180 442 49 25 93 22

Alpine Electronics (881) 150 80 22 21 72 6

Samsung (865) 227 151 275 131 60 4

Pioneer (843) 64 135 6 34 129 13

Hitachi (807) 289 268 102 69 110 6

BMW (733) 165 489 48 66 99 50

Clarion (669) 107 113 18 21 71 11

TABLE 3. Top patent holders showing total assets held overall and in each technology category – the heat map also indicates the assignee’s relative ranking in each technology category (greens = higher; reds = lower)

Key technologies

Number of equivalents

Top patent holders Top cited companies Holders of high-quality patents

Connected car technologies

35,730 Denso, Hyundai, Toyota, GM, Mitsubishi, LG, Continental, Hitachi, Tokai Rika, Bosch

Toyota, Denso, GM, FORD, Hyundai, Honda, IBM, Bosch, Continental, Mitsubishi

Ford, GM, Toyota, IBM, Honda, Hyundai, Denso, Google, Samsung, Qualcomm

Telematics 29,775 Toyota, Bosch, Hyundai, GM, Denso, Continental, Daimler, Ford, BMW, Audi

Toyota, GM, Ford, Bosch, Denso, Hyundai, Honda, Continental, Audi, IBM

GM, Toyota, Ford, Magna International, Nissan, Autoconnect Holdings LLC, Waymo LLC, Denso, Honda, American Vehicular Sciences

Autonomous technologies

21,746 Samsung, Toyota, Hyundai, Waymo LLC, Bosch, Honda, Daimler, Seiko, Ford, GM

Toyota, Google, Ford, Samsung, Bosch, Hyundai, Honda, GM, IBM, Boeing

Waymo LLC, iRobot, GM, Symbotic LLC, Ford, Boeing, Samsung, Toyota, John Deere

Network security

11,180 Hyundai, Denso, GM, Toyota, Continental, Samsung, LG, Mitsubishi, Tokai Rika, Bosch

GM, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai, Denso, IBM, Samsung, Continental, Bosch, Honda

Autoconnect Holdings LLC, GM, AT&T, Elwha, Cisco, Sony, Magna International, Microsoft, Samsung, Toyota

Traffic management

10,684 Aisin, Toyota, Denso, Bosch, Hyundai, Continental, LG, Mitsubishi, GM, Daimler

Toyota, Denso, IBM, Bosch, GM, Honda, Ford, Aisin, Continental, Google

Autoconnect Holdings LLC, Muddy River Series 97 of Allied Security Trust I, Toyota, Magna International, GM, Waymo LLC, Aisin, Inrix Inc, Microsoft, Here Global BV

Parking assistance

2,664 Bosch, Hyundai, Toyota, Valeo, Audi, Daimler, Ford, GM, Volkswagen, BMW

Bosch, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, Audi, GM, Hyundai, BMW, Nissan, Denso

Autoconnect Holdings LLC, Toyota, Ford, Auto Director Technologies Inc, Bosch, Waymo LLC, Cloudparc Inc, Gamba Group Ltd, GM, Aisin

TABLE 4. IoA – quick facts on key players

Top patent holdersThe top patent holders in each technology category are shown in Figure 2, with their individual holdings in the category.

The top 20 patent holders are listed in Table 3. The heat map representation indicates the patent holders’ relative ranking in each technology category (greens = higher; reds = lower). Additional findings from Table 3 indicate that the portfolios of incumbent auto companies emphasise telematics patents. A significant portion of

IoA (99,254)

Denso (2,874)Toyota (2,659)

Hyundai (2,355)

Autonomous (21,746)

Samsung (275)Toyota (274)

Hyundai (246)


Denso (108)Hyundai (749)Toyota (720)

Network security (11,180)

Hyundai (288)Denso (275)

GM (244)

Parking assistance (2,664)

Bosch (221)Hyundai (81)Toyota (71)

Telematics (29,775)

Toyota (1,162)Bosch (1,141)Hyundai (900)

Tra�ic management (10,684)

Aisin (386)Toyota (356)Denso (293)

Braking (1,573)GM (64)

Ford (55)Waymo LLC (42)

Camera (2,051)


GM (48)

Lidar (882)


Ford (32)

Radar (764)

Waymo LLC (47)GM (21)

Ford (19)

Routing and navigation (5,162)Waymo LLC (167)

Bosch (89)Toyota (88)

Vision (3,073)Waymo LLC (143)

Toyota (88)Bosch (84)

Accident avoidance (2,914)Denso (210)Toyota (185)

Mitsubishi (78)

Infotainment (9,872)Hyundai (271)

LG (177)Denso (176)

Navigation (9,992)Hyundai (225)

Denso (198)GM (123)

Tra�ic information (3,227)Toyota (113)

Denso (81)Continental (59)

Driver assistance (16,041)Bosch (865)Toyota (820)

Hyundai (642)

Emergency services (5,225)Hyundai (142)

Denso (104)GM (89)


GE (15)Boeing (12)

Crown Equip Corp (12)

Onboard diagnostics (1,826)Bosch (68)

GM (49)Hyundai (42)

Predictive maintenance (873)Toyota (64)Bosch (57)Scania (56)



FIGURE 2. Top patent holders in each technology category



sharp increase in driver assistance patents.• The growth of patents in autonomous technologies is

largely due to patent activity in the sub-categories of routing and navigation, followed by vision.

The overall patent publishing trends for the top patent holders is shown in Figure 8. Surprisingly the trend

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013Publication year

Num

ber o

f equ

ival

ents

6,068 5,519

-9.05

5,763

4.425,358

-7.03

6,103

13.9

7,705

26.24

9,431

22.4

10,718

13.64

13,977

30.4

18,215

30.25

300%

200%

100%

-100%

% Percentage

0%

20,000

15,000

0

10,000

5,000

2014 2015 2016

Growth rate Number of applications

FIGURE 3. Patent publishing trends in the IoA space

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Publication year

Parking assistance Tra�ic management

Autonomous

Connected tech

Network security

Telematics

Nu

mb

er

of

pa

ten

t e

qu

iva

len

ts

0

7,000

6,000

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

2014 2015 2016

1,6591,492

1,6181,690

2,014

2,736

3,809

4,364

6,209

6,868

1,436

1,344 1,455

1,436

1,706

2,098

2,755

3,610

4,682

5,501

795 788 843969

1,195

1,524

1,963

2,546

3,693

4,782

741 658 713 689780 869

1,011

1,348

1,8222,079

656547 554 578 647

8681,048

1,195

1,602

1,537

95 77 82 88 129 149227 311

462

670

FIGURE 4. Patent publishing trends by top-level technology categories 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013Publication year

Navigation Infotainment

Accident avoidanceTra�ic information

Num

ber o

f pat

ent e

quiv

alen

ts

0

2,000

1,800

1,600

1,400

1,200

1,000

400

800

200

600

2014 2015 2016105 109

149 135 159 201271

338

476

574

155 146 161 161219 243

317369

574 594

446396 393

461 494

731

1,044

1,223

1,750

1,795

464402

468 504

606

863

1,135

1,239

1,8481,947

FIGURE 5. Patent publishing trends for connected car technologies – sub-categories


Driver assistance Emergency services

Predictive maintenanceOnboard diagnostics

Num

ber o

f pat

ent e

quiv

alen

ts

0

3,000

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

2014 2015 201623 14 12 20 23 50 64 85 142 12942 29 33 34 43 78

80 106169 213

85 60 63 67 90 109183

265346 389

300239 308

244 288382

511657

887 910

706 671 699 741

877

1,137

1,496

1,883

2,446

Fleet management

FIGURE 6. Patent publishing trends for telematics – sub-categories

companies with smaller portfolios but with high-quality patents are Cloudparc in parking assistance and Inrix in traffic management.

Patent publishing trendsThe patent publishing trends for the IoA is given in Figure 3. This has been broken out by the top-level technology categories as well as the sub-categories in Figures 4 through 7. Below is what we can glean from studying the various timelines:• The sharp upward trend in published patents in this

area began in 2011.

ranked companies with respect to being forward-cited by the patents in the category and finally the top companies in terms of high-quality patents held in each of the categories. Additional findings from Table 4 include that GM figures as a holder of high-quality patents across the different top-level technology categories. IBM appears in the list of holders of high-quality patents in connected car technologies – interestingly it is one of the top forward-cited companies by patents in four out of the five technology categories. Cisco holds high-quality patents related to network security in this area. Finally, a couple of



sharp increase in driver assistance patents.• The growth of patents in autonomous technologies is

largely due to patent activity in the sub-categories of routing and navigation, followed by vision.

The overall patent publishing trends for the top patent holders is shown in Figure 8. Surprisingly the trend


Num

ber o

f equ

ival

ents

6,068 5,519

-9.05

5,763

4.425,358

-7.03

6,103

13.9

7,705

26.24

9,431

22.4

10,718

13.64

13,977

30.4

18,215

30.25

300%

200%

100%

-100%

% Percentage

0%

20,000

15,000

0

10,000

5,000

2014 2015 2016

Growth rate Number of applications

FIGURE 3. Patent publishing trends in the IoA space

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Publication year

Parking assistance Tra�ic management

Autonomous

Connected tech

Network security

Telematics

Nu

mb

er

of

pa

ten

t e

qu

iva

len

ts

0

7,000

6,000

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

2014 2015 2016

1,6591,492

1,6181,690

2,014

2,736

3,809

4,364

6,209

6,868

1,436

1,344 1,455

1,436

1,706

2,098

2,755

3,610

4,682

5,501

795 788 843969

1,195

1,524

1,963

2,546

3,693

4,782

741 658 713 689780 869

1,011

1,348

1,8222,079

656547 554 578 647

8681,048

1,195

1,602

1,537

95 77 82 88 129 149227 311

462

670

FIGURE 4. Patent publishing trends by top-level technology categories 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013Publication year

Navigation Infotainment

Accident avoidanceTra�ic information

Num

ber o

f pat

ent e

quiv

alen

ts

0

2,000

1,800

1,600

1,400

1,200

1,000

400

800

200

600

2014 2015 2016105 109

149 135 159 201271

338

476

574

155 146 161 161219 243

317369

574 594

446396 393

461 494

731

1,044

1,223

1,750

1,795

464402

468 504

606

863

1,135

1,239

1,8481,947

FIGURE 5. Patent publishing trends for connected car technologies – sub-categories


Driver assistance Emergency services

Predictive maintenanceOnboard diagnostics

Num

ber o

f pat

ent e

quiv

alen

ts

0

3,000

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

2014 2015 201623 14 12 20 23 50 64 85 142 12942 29 33 34 43 78

80 106169 213

85 60 63 67 90 109183

265346 389

300239 308

244 288382

511657

887 910

706 671 699 741

877

1,137

1,496

1,883

2,446

Fleet management

FIGURE 6. Patent publishing trends for telematics – sub-categories

• The surge in the filing of patents in the IoA has been led by connected car technologies, followed by telematics and autonomous technologies.

• The increase in patents published in connected car technologies has been driven mainly by navigation and infotainment patents.

• The increase in telematics patents is primarily due to a



32% of the total, with the remainder 27,326 applications being for utility inventions.

Figure 10 shows the filing of the top patent owners by jurisdiction. Toyota, Denso, Bosch, Mitsubishi, Aisin and Continental are covered for technologies related to this area, with filings in multiple jurisdictions. Toyota and Bosch also have a significant number of Patent Cooperation Treaty filings. The two US companies on the list – GM and Ford – have relatively less worldwide coverage. Apart from the United States, they have filed in Germany and China.

China 39,981

United States 23,039

Japan 19,387

South Korea 13,034

Patent Cooperation Treaty filings 9,800

Germany 9,177

European Patent O�ice 8,144

Canada 1,447

France 1,094

Others 7,358

FIGURE 9. Patents published by geography – numbers indicated are unique applications

Jurisdiction

Assignees

Russia

France

United Kingdom

EuropeanPatent Oice

Toyota Denso Hyundai Bosch GM Ford Mitsubishi Aisin Continental LG

11 5 1 6 1 98 2 5 10 4

5 24 1 109 3 3 20

1 18 22 46 153 5 18

497 65 20 457 10 33 90 216 247 150

568 182 13 409 52 35 245 92 292 131

680 266 358 325 574 480 206 208 166 155

105 55 2,166 38 11 29 27 94 936

267 292 121 1,117 678 486 197 85 560 29

985 647 468 414 1,264 723 232 217 290 215

1,782 2,391 59 178 5 23 917 1,006 70 23

World IntellectualProperty Oice

China

Korea

Germany

United States

Japan

FIGURE 10. Patents published – top holders by jurisdiction

line for Denso, the top-ranked patent holder, is shown to be sharply down from 2009 onwards. The publishing trajectories for Hyundai, Toyota and Bosch trend upwards beginning in 2011.

Geographical spread of published patentsThe breakdown of patents published by jurisdiction is given in Figure 9, with the number shown referring to unique applications. With regard to the China filings – 12,655 of these are for utility models with a term of 10 years from the date of filing. This constitutes around

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Publication year

Vision Routing and navigation

BrakingDriving

Num

ber o

f pat

ent e

quiv

alen

ts

0

1,400

1,200

1,000

400

800

200

600

2014 2015 201621 30 24

17 42 39 101102

149197

54 56 61 5789 108

143164

280329

80 98 106 130 151186

287335

544

687

161 171 156183

220

314

460

573

900

1,211

FIGURE 7. Patent publishing trends for autonomous technologies – sub-categories

Pate

nt h

olde

r

Publication year

110 84 99 84 90 69 92 107 98 130 50

Num

ber o

f equ

ival

ents

Hyundai

Toyota

Denso

Honda

Continental

Aisin

GM

Mitsubishi

Bosch

LG

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

43 89 118 78 65 66 98 116 170 132 88

215 205 276180

68 48 47 39 50 67 16

125 139 142 110 79 77 88 123 138 124 68

213 170 122 96 71 78 81 70 101 148 79

93 98 119 114 140 191 182 191 201 17187

126 145 139 141 130 121 154 202 201 256148

25998 83 92 99

208 261360 331 439

127

209 267 310 237 186 163 230 229 274 315153

447 432 433252

163 169 192 210 233 233114

FIGURE 8. Patent publishing trends for the top holders



32% of the total, with the remainder 27,326 applications being for utility inventions.

Figure 10 shows the filing of the top patent owners by jurisdiction. Toyota, Denso, Bosch, Mitsubishi, Aisin and Continental are covered for technologies related to this area, with filings in multiple jurisdictions. Toyota and Bosch also have a significant number of Patent Cooperation Treaty filings. The two US companies on the list – GM and Ford – have relatively less worldwide coverage. Apart from the United States, they have filed in Germany and China.

China 39,981

United States 23,039

Japan 19,387

South Korea 13,034

Patent Cooperation Treaty filings 9,800

Germany 9,177

European Patent O�ice 8,144

Canada 1,447

France 1,094

Others 7,358

FIGURE 9. Patents published by geography – numbers indicated are unique applications

Jurisdiction

Assignees

Russia

France

United Kingdom

EuropeanPatent Oice

Toyota Denso Hyundai Bosch GM Ford Mitsubishi Aisin Continental LG

11 5 1 6 1 98 2 5 10 4

5 24 1 109 3 3 20

1 18 22 46 153 5 18

497 65 20 457 10 33 90 216 247 150

568 182 13 409 52 35 245 92 292 131

680 266 358 325 574 480 206 208 166 155

105 55 2,166 38 11 29 27 94 936

267 292 121 1,117 678 486 197 85 560 29

985 647 468 414 1,264 723 232 217 290 215

1,782 2,391 59 178 5 23 917 1,006 70 23

World IntellectualProperty Oice

China

Korea

Germany

United States

Japan

FIGURE 10. Patents published – top holders by jurisdiction

line for Denso, the top-ranked patent holder, is shown to be sharply down from 2009 onwards. The publishing trajectories for Hyundai, Toyota and Bosch trend upwards beginning in 2011.

Geographical spread of published patentsThe breakdown of patents published by jurisdiction is given in Figure 9, with the number shown referring to unique applications. With regard to the China filings – 12,655 of these are for utility models with a term of 10 years from the date of filing. This constitutes around

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Publication year

Vision Routing and navigation

BrakingDriving

Num

ber o

f pat

ent e

quiv

alen

ts

0

1,400

1,200

1,000

400

800

200

600

2014 2015 201621 30 24

17 42 39 101102

149197

54 56 61 5789 108

143164

280329

80 98 106 130 151186

287335

544

687

161 171 156183

220

314

460

573

900

1,211

FIGURE 7. Patent publishing trends for autonomous technologies – sub-categories

Pate

nt h

olde

r

Publication year

110 84 99 84 90 69 92 107 98 130 50

Num

ber o

f equ

ival

ents

Hyundai

Toyota

Denso

Honda

Continental

Aisin

GM

Mitsubishi

Bosch

LG

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

43 89 118 78 65 66 98 116 170 132 88

215 205 276180

68 48 47 39 50 67 16

125 139 142 110 79 77 88 123 138 124 68

213 170 122 96 71 78 81 70 101 148 79

93 98 119 114 140 191 182 191 201 17187

126 145 139 141 130 121 154 202 201 256148

25998 83 92 99

208 261360 331 439

127

209 267 310 237 186 163 230 229 274 315153

447 432 433252

163 169 192 210 233 233114

FIGURE 8. Patent publishing trends for the top holders

Assignees High-quality holdings

Total holdings

%age high- quality holdings

Denso 110 2,873 4%Toyota 196 2,567 8%Bosch 46 1,765 3%GM 225 1,585 14%LG 50 1,226 4%Aisin 47 1,212 4%Mitsubishi 31 1,211 3%Continental 42 1,062 4%Honda 77 1,009 8%Panasonic 34 998 3%Ford 126 914 14%Nissan 81 888 9%Alpine Electronics 22 881 2%Samsung 60 865 7%Hitachi 25 807 3%Clarion 20 669 3%Fujitsu 27 633 4%Sony 31 419 7%IBM 46 323 14%Qualcomm 73 290 25%GE 65 242 27%Waymo LLC 82 222 37%Boeing 37 221 17%Harman Intl 30 215 14%Here Global BV 45 202 22%

TABLE 5. Holders of high-quality patents across all technology categories


Total holdings


Google 31 190 16%Magna Intl 119 189 63%Microsoft 53 162 33%iRobot 42 150 28%Intel 27 145 19%Verizon 52 144 36%AT&T 54 140 39%Honeywell 22 104 21%Apple 32 91 35%John Deere 20 91 22%Autoconnect Holdings 57 90 63%United Parcel Service 39 89 44%Allstate 27 74 36%Elwha 44 70 63%Symbotic LLC 29 68 43%State Farm 24 63 38%Inrix 21 63 33%Telecommunication Systems 23 54 43%iRobot Defense Holdings 31 48 65%American Vehicular Sciences 42 47 89%Witricity 32 40 80%Emerging Automotive 26 39 67%Gogoro 20 39 51%Oshkosh 21 36 58%Muddy River Series 97 33 35 94%



to acquire patents from. Conversely, comparing the patent holdings of different companies working in a given technology area and comparing the relative strengths of their portfolios, may suggest companies to approach to either sell to or license out patents.

IoA (5,309)

GM (225)Toyota (196)

Ford (126)

Autonomous (919)

Waymo LLC (79)iRobot (57)

GM (36)


GM (74)Denso (49)

Magna Int (49)

Network security (864)

Autoconnect Holdings (54)GM (27)

AT&T (24)

Parking assistance (171)

Autoconnect Holdings (26)Toyota (12)

Ford (11)

Telematics (2,858)


Ford (90)

Tra�ic management (905)

Autoconnect Holdings (49)Muddy River Trust (33)

Toyota (30)

Braking (134)Waymo LLC (21)

GM (13)iRobot (11)

Camera (301)


GM (14)

Lidar (170)


GM (10)

Radar (138)


Honeywell (6)

Routing and navigation (502)Waymo LLC (73)

iRobot (41)GM (19)

Vision (336)


GM (17)

Accident avoidance (222)Autoconnect Holdings(30)

Magna Int (16)GM (15)

Infotainment (548)Magna Int (36)


Navigation (563)Magna Int (36)

GM (24)Autoconnect Holdings (14)

Tra�ic information (238)Autoconnect Holdings (26)

GM (15)American Vehicular Sciences (14)

Driver assistance (1,294)Toyota (88)


Emergency services (463)Autoconnect Holdings (56)

Magna Int (14)Ford (12)


Oshkosh (7)GE (5)

Onboard diagnostics (238)GM (12)

Innova Electronics Corp (12)Verizon (11)

Predictive maintenance (94)GM (6)

Scania (6)Ford (5)



High-quality patents in category

>15%

10%-15%

8%-10%

4%-7%

FIGURE 11. Percentage of high-quality patents in each category

Patent quality by company and technology categoriesIn the complete set of nearly 100,000 patent equivalents addressing the IoA, we identifed 5,309 high-quality patent equivalents (quality rating of three or more on a scale of five). By mapping these high-quality patents we can determine the number of such patents in each technology category, as well as the holders of these valuable patents. The results of this exercise are displayed in Figure 11. The colour coding indicates the percentage of high-value patents in each category to the total number in the category. Various sub-categories under

autonomous technologies have a large number of high-quality patents. Likewise, the patents in telematics and its sub-categories have a relatively large proportion of high-quality patents.

The overall list of the top high-quality patent holders is given in Table 5. There are more than a few companies on the list with modest patent portfolios addressing this area, but with a high percentage of high-quality patents.

Figure 11 and Table 5 point to one way in which patent ratings may be used to identify companies holding high-quality patents in technology areas of interest. This may be useful when looking for companies


Total holdings


Denso 110 2,873 4%Toyota 196 2,567 8%Bosch 46 1,765 3%GM 225 1,585 14%LG 50 1,226 4%Aisin 47 1,212 4%Mitsubishi 31 1,211 3%Continental 42 1,062 4%Honda 77 1,009 8%Panasonic 34 998 3%Ford 126 914 14%Nissan 81 888 9%Alpine Electronics 22 881 2%Samsung 60 865 7%Hitachi 25 807 3%Clarion 20 669 3%Fujitsu 27 633 4%Sony 31 419 7%IBM 46 323 14%Qualcomm 73 290 25%GE 65 242 27%Waymo LLC 82 222 37%Boeing 37 221 17%Harman Intl 30 215 14%Here Global BV 45 202 22%Google 31 190 16%Magna Intl 119 189 63%Microsoft 53 162 33%iRobot 42 150 28%Intel 27 145 19%Verizon 52 144 36%AT&T 54 140 39%Honeywell 22 104 21%Apple 32 91 35%John Deere 20 91 22%Autoconnect Holdings 57 90 63%United Parcel Service 39 89 44%Allstate 27 74 36%Elwha 44 70 63%Symbotic LLC 29 68 43%State Farm 24 63 38%Inrix 21 63 33%Telecommunication Systems 23 54 43%iRobot Defense Holdings 31 48 65%American Vehicular Sciences 42 47 89%Witricity 32 40 80%Emerging Automotive 26 39 67%Gogoro 20 39 51%Oshkosh 21 36 58%Muddy River Series 97 33 35 94%

TABLE 5. Holders of high-quality patents across all technology categories



A new approachAvanci, the IoT patent pool formed in 2016, has identified connected cars as a sector on which to focus. This points to a need and appetite for patent transactions in the sector. The partnership between Microsoft and Toyota announced earlier this year is essentially a patent licensing agreement (Table 2).

Companies such as Lyft which have been actively partnering with different players in the auto sector, see the need to develop their own intellectual property as well. It recently announced a new self-driving division to develop its own autonomous ride-hailing technology.

Acquisitions are sometimes driven by the need to access relevant patents for strategic reasons. For example HERE – acquired by BMW, Daimler and Audi from Nokia – has a large percentage of high-quality patents in its portfolio of mapping and location patents (Table 1, Table 5).

A survey of this data therefore suggests that patents acquire added significance in sectors which are undergoing rapid changes and where new technologies and business models are being introduced. For that reason, the IoA sector remains one to watch.

The proliferation of new technology in the auto sector is giving rise to the idea of an Internet of Automobiles. How original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers respond in IP terms to this new dynamic will help to determine whether they succeed in a rapidly changing industry: �� OEMs should consider partnerships

with technology companies or select acquisitions to understand and develop the new technologies in a reasonable timeframe.

�� This in turn will enable them to introduce advanced systems and features in their vehicles and subsequently to build capabilities to manufacture fully autonomous vehicles.

�� OEMs should also look to cross-license

or to acquire key intellectual property to complement their existing patent portfolios.

�� Rather than become providers of in-car services such as music and films, OEMs should connect their vehicles to a platform with the necessary application programming interfaces. These services can be provided by apps developed for the platform by third-party developers.

�� OEMs should take advantage of the connected platform and use the data gathered from their customers to provide them with needed apps and services.

�� Suppliers should adapt to the changes in the value chain to supply OEMs with necessary software and cloud services.

Action plan

Murari Venkataraman is director, technology, Vijaya Krishna is a senior IP analyst and George Koomullil is the founder and CEO at Relecura, San Francisco, United States

to acquire patents from. Conversely, comparing the patent holdings of different companies working in a given technology area and comparing the relative strengths of their portfolios, may suggest companies to approach to either sell to or license out patents.

IoA (5,309)


Ford (126)

Autonomous (919)


GM (36)


GM (74)Denso (49)

Magna Int (49)

Network security (864)


AT&T (24)

Parking assistance (171)

Autoconnect Holdings (26)Toyota (12)

Ford (11)

Telematics (2,858)


Ford (90)

Tra�ic management (905)

Autoconnect Holdings (49)Muddy River Trust (33)

Toyota (30)

Braking (134)Waymo LLC (21)

GM (13)iRobot (11)

Camera (301)


GM (14)

Lidar (170)


GM (10)

Radar (138)


Honeywell (6)

Routing and navigation (502)Waymo LLC (73)

iRobot (41)GM (19)

Vision (336)


GM (17)

Accident avoidance (222)Autoconnect Holdings(30)


Infotainment (548)Magna Int (36)


Navigation (563)Magna Int (36)

GM (24)Autoconnect Holdings (14)

Tra�ic information (238)Autoconnect Holdings (26)

GM (15)American Vehicular Sciences (14)

Driver assistance (1,294)Toyota (88)


Emergency services (463)Autoconnect Holdings (56)

Magna Int (14)Ford (12)


Oshkosh (7)GE (5)

Onboard diagnostics (238)GM (12)

Innova Electronics Corp (12)Verizon (11)

Predictive maintenance (94)GM (6)

Scania (6)Ford (5)



High-quality patents in category

>15%

10%-15%

8%-10%

4%-7%

FIGURE 11. Percentage of high-quality patents in each category


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