TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
• Standards with essentiality reviewed
• Undeclared patents
• Standards based on declaration data only
• Counts per technology type
• Updates frequency

Introduction

This article describes the current coverage (in technologies and time) you may find by subscribing the SEP paid module. 
If you are looking for coverage of the Standard Filter (/STDN field) and standards organizations declarations monitored by Questel, offered to all our clients (Essential plan and above),you can refer to the article Searching For SEP* for more insights.

Standards with essentiality reviewed

The following technologies are available based on standards organizations declarations (ETSI for cellular networks, IEEE for Wi-Fi), with patent essentiality reviewed by our partner ("declared essential" and "declared non-essential"). 

• 4G
  • LTE
  • LTE Advanced
  • LTE Advanced Pro, 4.5G
• 5G
  • 5G NR
  • 5G NR-Advanced
  • 5G NR-Advanced Pro, 5.5G
• Wi-Fi
  • Wi-Fi 3, IEEE 802.11g
  • Wi-Fi 4, IEEE 802.11n
  • Wi-Fi 5, IEEE 802.11ac
  • Wi-Fi 6, IEEE 802.11ax

The above listed technologies include also declaration data as stated by the relevant organization.

Undeclared patents

An undeclared patent refers to a Blanket Declaration in the context of Wi-Fi standards (IEEE). A Blanket Declaration refers to a statement made by a company to the standardization organization, namely IEEE in this context, indicating that it holds patents that may be essential to the implementation of a particular standard. 

Unlike specific declarations, which plainly declare and list individual patent numbers, a blanket declaration does not specify the exact patents. Assessing patents that may be potential Blanket Declarations have been reviewed by our partner and were labeled "candidate for declaration".

This data is specific to Wi-Fi technologies:

• Wi-Fi 3, IEEE 802.11g
• Wi-Fi 4, IEEE 802.11n
• Wi-Fi 5, IEEE 802.11ac
• Wi-Fi 6, IEEE 802.11ax

Standards based on declaration data only

The following technologies are available with declaration data only, based on standardization organizations declarations, with no essentiality analysis performed.

• 2G
  • GSM
  • GPRS
  • EDGE
• 3G
  • UMTS
  • HSPA
    
  • HSPA(+) - HSPA Evolution

Counts per technology type

For cellular communication related technologies (Last count Wed, Jan 8 2025)

• 99,552 Declared families (2G, 3G, 4G and/or 5G)
• 28,495 Assessed families (4G and/or 5G)

For Wifi related technologies (Last count Thu, Jan 9 2025):

• 6,900 Declared families 
• 869 Assessed families (Wi-Fi 6)

Updates frequency

Declarations providing patent numbers are updated every 2 months. Only definitive standards declarations are monitored, thus drafts and pre-release equivalent are not included and monitored.

The essentiality assessment is updated biyearly (every 6 months).