Anesthesia Machines Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing peaked in 2020 at 68 records, then fell -75% from 2021 (48) to 2024 (12) — the last year the dataset treats as complete.
- The top 5 assignees hold 33.5% of all 994 records, and the top 10 hold 49.9% — concentrated, but with a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants beyond rank ten.
- A61M dominates at 78.4% of records, while G16H healthcare informatics (7.7%) and G06F digital processing (4.2%) mark where software-adjacent claims are still thin.
Filing growth compares 2021 (48 records) with 2024 (12) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 994 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Anesthesia machines and low-flow ventilation sit at the intersection of gas delivery hardware and safety-critical control logic: fresh gas flow regulation, vaporizer control, circuit compliance monitoring and alarm hierarchies. This landscape covers 994 published records filed against a search built on those exact mechanisms rather than the broad category of anesthesia equipment, so the dataset is weighted toward documents that make specific claims about flow control, gas monitoring and circuit behaviour rather than general device housings or disposables.
Filing in this space traces a clear arc: a run-up to a 2020 peak, then a sharp pullback. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any such trend will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be, and that effect alone explains part of the recent decline — the 2021-to-2024 drop is the figure to anchor on, not the tail beyond it.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 994 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
A 2020 peak followed by a sharp pullback
Annual filings rose from 33 in 2017 to a peak of 68 in 2020, then declined -75% from 48 in 2021 to 12 in 2024, the last year the dataset treats as complete. Years after 2024 are still filling in as publications catch up with filing dates and should not be read as a continuation of the decline.
Claim density concentrated in body-fluid devices
A61M (devices for body fluids) appears on 78.4% of the 994 records, far ahead of A61B diagnosis and surgery at 22.9%. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add to well over 100% and should be read as density per subclass, not as a partition of the field.
Shares are the percentage of the 994 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Anesthesia Machines and Low-Flow Ventilation with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about anesthesia machines and low-flow ventilation and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
US7717109B2 — Breathing systems with post-inspiratory valve fresh gas flow input
A system for providing anesthesia or assisted ventilation that has a post-inspiratory valve fresh gas flow input is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, a fresh gas flow diverter valve is provided to permit an operator to provide fresh gas flow proximally or distally of the inspiratory valve. Also disclosed is an adaptor and other breathing circuit components for forming a system of the present invention. A method of providing anesthesia or assisted ventilation using low flow fresh gas is disclosed.Filed by AMBU A/S, published 2010-05-18 — predates the 2017-2026 filing window covered by the trend chart but remains active prior art against fresh-gas-flow diverter claims filed since.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US4853521A | System for verifying and recording drug administration to a patient | 646 |
| 2 | US20160256221A1 | Anesthesia cover system | 589 |
| 3 | US6131571A | Ventilation apparatus and anesthesia delivery system | 536 |
| 4 | US6807965B1 | Apparatus and method for providing a conscious patient relief from pain and anxiety associated with medical o… | 419 |
| 5 | US7201734B2 | Apparatus for drug delivery in association with medical or surgical procedures | 276 |
| 6 | US6745764B2 | Apparatus and method for providing a conscious patient relief from pain and anxiety associated with medical o… | 268 |
| 7 | US6986347B2 | Apparatus and method for providing a conscious patient relief from pain and anxiety associated with medical o… | 264 |
| 8 | US4188946A | Controllable partial rebreathing anesthesia circuit and respiratory assist device | 262 |
| 9 | US7247154B2 | Method for drug delivery in association with medical or surgical procedures | 248 |
| 10 | US4784486A | Multi-channel molecular gas analysis by laser-activated Raman light scattering | 233 |
Citation counts favour older documents simply by virtue of having had longer to accumulate citations inside this corpus — treat them as a signal of influence on later filings, not as a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the data means for filing decisions
Three read-throughs from the concentration, composition and citation figures above.
A concentrated core, then a long tail
The top 5 assignees account for 33.5% of all 994 records and the top 10 for 49.9%, leaving roughly half the corpus spread across a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants among the 100 ranked companies. That pattern favours firms without an existing anesthesia-machine franchise: the field is not so tightly held that a well-targeted filing has nowhere to sit.
A pullback after 2020, not a collapse
Filing activity ran up to 68 records in 2020 and then fell -75% from 48 in 2021 to 12 in 2024. Recent-year momentum by assignee shows most of the historically active filers at zero or one filing in the latest year, which is consistent with a maturing claim base rather than a sudden exit — publication lag means the very latest years understate whatever filing is actually happening now.
Hardware claims dominate over software
A61M (body-fluid devices) sits on 78.4% of records, dwarfing G16H healthcare informatics at 7.7% and G06F digital data processing at 4.2%. That gap suggests the mechanical and pneumatic control space is heavily claimed while software-mediated gas monitoring, alarm-hierarchy logic and closed-loop vaporizer control remain comparatively open.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to anesthesia machines and low-flow ventilation, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the ground is uncontested
The ranked leader sits well ahead of the field at 92 records, with fifth place at 39 and tenth at 30 — a steep drop-off that leaves most of the ranking made up of smaller, more sporadic filers.
One clear leader, then a plateau
The top-ranked assignee holds 92 records against 39 at fifth place, a gap that signals sustained, systematic filing rather than a single large family. From fifth to tenth the counts flatten out (30 at tenth), suggesting a mid-tier of comparably active filers rather than a second dominant player.
Latest-year filings are thin across the board
Recent-year momentum shows most of the historically prominent assignees at zero or one filing in the latest year. Given the 18-month publication lag, this understates true recent activity, but it does confirm no single filer is currently pulling away from the pack.
Co-assignment is rare and mostly familial or corporate-subsidiary
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest ties linking closely related corporate entities and named individual inventors rather than arm's-length collaborations. Co-filing is not a major route into this field; most records carry a single assignee.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| TransMedics Inc | 1 | — |
| GE Precision Healthcare LLC | 1 | 0% |
| Maquet Critical Care | 0 | — |
| Scott Laboratories Inc | 0 | — |
| General Electric Co | 0 | — |
| Revolutionary Medical Devices Inc | 0 | — |
| Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co Ltd | 0 | — |
| Texas Tech University System | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The figures above set the boundaries of the field; the next step is usually a claim-level check against the specific mechanism you're designing around.
Check freedom-to-operate on a specific mechanism
Concentration figures describe the field as a whole, not any single claim. Run the fresh-gas-flow, vaporizer-control or alarm-hierarchy mechanism you're evaluating against the active families directly.
Open Eureka to search this mechanism →Track the assignees with plateaued mid-tier filing
The fifth-to-tenth ranked assignees file at comparable rates; watching their most recent applications can surface where the next wave of claims is likely to land.
Set up assignee tracking in Eureka →Draft around the highest-cited prior art
The most-cited records in this set predate the current filing window but still anchor examiner reasoning. Map a draft claim against them before committing to a filing strategy.
Compare claims in Eureka →Common questions on this landscape
The ranked leader in this dataset holds 92 records, well ahead of fifth place at 39 and tenth at 30, out of a ranking of 100 assignees covering all 994 records in scope. The gap between first and fifth place is steep, but from fifth to tenth the counts flatten into a mid-tier of comparably active filers. This is not a top-100 or top-50 list in the conventional sense — it is the complete assignee ranking the dataset returns, so smaller and single-filing entrants are included alongside the largest holders.
No — filing peaked at 68 records in 2020 and then fell -75% from 48 records in 2021 to 12 in 2024, the last year in this dataset that can be treated as complete. Years after 2024 show lower counts still, but publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those most recent years are understated rather than genuinely near zero. The honest read is a pullback after a 2020 peak, not a claim that the field has stopped attracting filings.
A61M, covering devices for administering body fluids, appears on 78.4% of the 994 records in scope, making it by far the dominant subclass. A61B (diagnosis and surgery) follows at 22.9%, with G16H healthcare informatics at 7.7% and G06F digital data processing at 4.2% trailing well behind. Because a record can carry more than one IPC class, these percentages add up to more than 100% and should be read as density within each subclass rather than a breakdown of shares that sum to a whole.
The composition data points toward software-adjacent branches as comparatively thin: G16H healthcare informatics sits at 7.7% of records and G06F digital data processing at 4.2%, both far behind the 78.4% claimed under A61M hardware and flow-control mechanisms. That suggests closed-loop vaporizer control, alarm-hierarchy decision logic and gas-monitoring data informatics carry lower claim density than the core pneumatic and mechanical mechanisms. A freedom-to-operate search on the specific mechanism is still the only reliable way to confirm open space, since IPC density is a proxy, not a guarantee.
US7717109B2, assigned to AMBU A/S and published 2010-05-18, discloses a breathing system with a post-inspiratory valve fresh gas flow input, including a diverter valve letting an operator route fresh gas proximally or distally of the inspiratory valve, along with related adaptor and circuit components. It is a specific mechanism claim, not a blanket claim over fresh-gas-flow control generally, so it constrains designs that route gas through a post-inspiratory diverter valve in the manner described rather than every low-flow anesthesia delivery approach. Anyone designing a fresh-gas-flow input mechanism should check this record's claim scope directly rather than assume it clears the whole approach.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.