Capsule Endoscope Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing activity peaked in 2021 at 55 families and has since declined — the 2022 midpoint of 25 confirms a flattening trend rather than a temporary dip, though the most recent years are undercounted due to publication lag.
- Imaging and localization dominate the claim language with A61B present in nearly every one of the 468 families, while AI-based image processing (G06N, 14 records) remains a comparatively thin layer on top.
- Filing is split almost evenly across three offices the United States (126), China (111) and South Korea (110) each host similar volumes, meaning no single jurisdiction is a clear safe harbor for freedom-to-operate.
What the capsule endoscope patent record shows
Capsule endoscopy sits at the intersection of miniaturized imaging, wireless data transmission and in-body localization. The search corpus behind this page covers 468 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026, built around ingestible imaging capsules, wireless image transmission, capsule localization and magnetically steered capsule systems. Almost every record touches A61B (diagnosis and surgery), but a meaningful minority also reach into G06T image processing, H04N pictorial communication and G16H healthcare informatics — evidence that the field has moved from pure hardware toward image pipelines and data handling.
Filing rose steadily through the late 2010s, peaked in 2021, and has trended down since. That pattern, combined with an even three-way split of receiving offices between the US, China and South Korea, points to a technology area that is well past its first land-grab phase but still actively contested on specific claim elements rather than broad concepts.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 468-family dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how the underlying technology splits across IPC subclasses.
A decade of filing activity, now past its peak
Filings grew from 13 in 2017 to a peak of 55 in 2021, then declined toward the 2022 midpoint of 25 and lower still since. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the final one to two years in this chart understate real activity — but the downward slope from 2021 predates that lag window and reflects a genuine cooling in new filing.
Imaging and connectivity layered on a hardware core
A61B anchors nearly the entire dataset as the physical capsule and diagnostic core, while G06T, H04N and G16H mark where applicants are adding image processing, transmission and informatics claims. G06N (AI models) and H04W (wireless networks) are present but comparatively small at 14 and 7 records respectively, suggesting these layers are still being claimed narrowly rather than as core inventive ground.
Shares are the percentage of the 468 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Capsule Endoscope Technology Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about capsule endoscope technology landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaKey patents shaping the field
Capsule endoscopy image review and quality control system and control method thereof
Filed by Ankon Technologies, this application describes a capsule endoscopy data acquisition system paired with a local server for image review and quality control. The system combines a capsule endoscope, an external magnetic field device for steering the capsule, and a controller, with the local server running a digestive tract position identification module to match and organize captured images by location.Published 2020-02-06 · US20200043613A1
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US7039453B2 | Miniature ingestible capsule | 504 |
| 2 | US20030191430A1 | Method of using, and determining location of, an ingestible capsule | 224 |
| 3 | US20050192478A1 | System and method for endoscopic optical constrast imaging using an endo-robot | 192 |
| 4 | US7797033B2 | Method of using, and determining location of, an ingestible capsule | 155 |
| 5 | US20120253200A1 | Low-cost image-guided navigation and intervention systems using cooperative sets of local sensors | 151 |
| 6 | WO2011063266A2 | Low-cost image-guided navigation and intervention systems using cooperative sets of local sensors | 135 |
| 7 | CN107730489A | 无线胶囊内窥镜小肠病变计算机辅助检测系统及检测方法 | 97 |
| 8 | US20060178557A1 | Self-stabilizing encapsulated imaging system | 88 |
| 9 | US20130158344A1 | Receiving apparatus and capsule endoscope system | 84 |
| 10 | US20080242931A1 | Capsule endoscopic system and operation control method of capsule endoscope | 67 |
Citation counts are drawn from a searched corpus and favor older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations; treat them as a measure of influence on subsequent filings, not of current commercial relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three read-throughs from the trend and composition data that matter more than the raw counts.
The land-grab phase has passed
A peak in 2021 followed by a decline through the 2022 midpoint indicates that the core hardware and localization concepts were staked out earlier in the decade. New filers now compete on narrower refinements rather than foundational architecture.
AI layers remain thin
Nearly every family touches the core diagnostic/surgical classification, but AI-based image processing appears in a small fraction of records. That gap is either an opportunity or a sign the industry has not yet found a defensible AI claim structure for capsule imagery.
No single safe filing jurisdiction
The near-even split across the three largest receiving offices means freedom-to-operate analysis has to clear all three markets rather than one dominant one. Europe and India show meaningfully lower filing density, which may reflect either later market entry or lighter local enforcement pressure.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to capsule endoscope technology landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and who has slowed down
Ownership in this dataset shows clustering among a handful of medical device groups, with co-assignee links pointing to internal group filings rather than external partnerships.
Group-internal co-filing is the norm
The strongest co-assignee link in the dataset sits between two entities under the same corporate group, and the next two strongest pairs also connect a parent and its regional subsidiary. This points to internal filing structure rather than cross-company joint development.
Recent-year activity has gone flat across leaders
Every assignee tracked for recent-year momentum, including groups with long filing histories, shows zero filings in the latest year, with one showing a full year-over-year drop. Given publication lag, some of this is an artifact of the data cut-off rather than a genuine stop in R&D — but the breadth of the pattern across multiple leaders is notable.
Ownership is concentrated, but not to one player
The dataset supports a ranking table (rendered separately) that shows filing concentrated among a small set of established medical device and imaging companies, with a long tail of academic and single-filing entrants behind them.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| IntroMedic Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Shanghai Ankon Medical Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Olympus Medical Systems Corp. | 0 | — |
| Olympus Corporation | 0 | — |
| Neptune Medical, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| ANX IP HOLDING PTE LTD | 0 | — |
| Ankon Technologies Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Given Imaging Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, white space identification, or competitive tracking.
Run a freedom-to-operate check across all three lead offices
With the US, China and South Korea holding near-equal filing volume, a clearance search limited to one jurisdiction will miss meaningful prior art held in the other two.
Explore FTO workflows in EurekaMap the AI-imaging gap before committing claim language
G06N appears in only 14 of 468 families despite heavy imaging activity elsewhere in the dataset, suggesting the AI-assisted diagnosis layer is still open to a well-drafted first claim.
Model white space in EurekaTrack assignee momentum past this data cut-off
Every leading assignee shows zero filings in the most recent tracked year, which is partly a publication-lag artifact; a rolling watch will clarify whether this is a real slowdown or a reporting gap.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaCommon questions on capsule endoscope patents
Filing in this dataset is concentrated among a handful of established medical device and endoscopy imaging groups, several of which appear multiple times in the co-assignee data because of internal parent-subsidiary filing structures. The full ranking of all 468 families is available in the assignee table on this page rather than as a fixed list, since rankings shift as new publications are added. In general, expect the leaders to be companies with a long-running hardware platform (the capsule itself) rather than pure software or AI entrants.
No — filing peaked in 2021 at 55 families and has declined since, with the 2022 midpoint at 25 already below peak. Some of the apparent drop in the very latest years is due to normal publication lag of roughly 18 months, so the final one or two years will always look lower than they eventually turn out to be. Even accounting for that lag, the decline starting from 2021 suggests the field has moved past its fastest growth phase into a more mature, refinement-driven stage.
The core classification is A61B (diagnosis and surgery), which appears in nearly all 468 families in this dataset. Secondary classifications include G06T for image data processing, H04N for pictorial/video communication, G16H for healthcare informatics, and H04B and H04W for wireless transmission — reflecting that a modern capsule endoscope filing typically combines a physical device claim with data and connectivity claims layered on top.
AI-assisted image analysis (G06N) appears in only 14 of 468 families despite the field's heavy reliance on image capture and transmission, which is a comparatively thin claim layer relative to the volume of imaging-related filings overall. Closed-loop magnetic steering control, on-capsule power management, and non-magnetic localization methods also show lighter claim density than the core imaging and hardware claims. These branches are worth a focused prior-art search before drafting, since light density does not guarantee an easy grant but does suggest less blocking art.
The most-cited record in this dataset is US7039453B2, a foundational filing on the miniature ingestible capsule itself, followed by other early filings on capsule localization and endoscopic imaging methods. High citation counts in a searched corpus tend to favor older patents simply because they have had more years to accumulate citations, so these figures are better read as a measure of foundational influence on later filings than as a signal of which patents matter most commercially today.
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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.