Capsule Endoscopy Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The five leading assignees hold 68.7% of all 1,508 records in scope, and the leading ten hold 81.8% — this is a field with a short list of gatekeepers, not a long tail of equal competitors.
- Filing has cooled from its 2018 peak. Filings ran from 148 in 2018 down to 27 in 2024 (a -70% swing from 2021's 91), though 2025–2026 figures are still filling in as publication catches up with filing.
- Claims cluster in diagnosis and imaging, not communication. A61B (diagnosis & surgery) covers 68.2% of records and H04N (pictorial communication) 30.2%, while healthcare informatics (G16H) sits at just 6.0% — a comparatively open branch given how much clinical data these devices generate.
Filing growth compares 2021 (91 records) with 2024 (27) — 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 1,508 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the capsule endoscopy patent record shows
Capsule endoscopy sits at the intersection of miniaturised imaging, wireless transmission and diagnostic software, and the patent record reflects that mix. Claims split heavily toward diagnosis and surgery hardware (A61B) and image transmission (H04N), with a meaningful secondary cluster in image data processing (G06T) that covers lesion detection and frame analysis. The search scope used here restricts to records that explicitly address battery capacity, image transmission, magnetic manoeuvring, retention risk, frame rate or lesion detection — so this is a filtered view of the mechanical and imaging engineering problems specific to swallowable devices, not the full universe of endoscopy patents.
Filing activity peaked in 2018 and has declined since, a pattern consistent with an early wave of foundational hardware claims giving way to narrower refinements. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the softness visible in 2025 and 2026 understates whatever filing is actually happening in those years rather than confirming a slowdown.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,508-record set: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings ran from 132 in 2017 to a peak of 148 in 2018, then declined to 27 by 2024 — a -70% move from 2021's 91. The 2025–2026 figures are partial due to publication lag and should not be read as a continuing collapse.
IPC subclass composition
A61B (diagnosis & surgery) appears in 68.2% of the 1,508 records and H04N (pictorial communication) in 30.2%. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these percentages sum to well over 100% — G06T (image processing), H01L (semiconductors) and the smaller informatics and recognition classes layer on top of the core hardware claims rather than replacing them.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,508 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Capsule Endoscopy with Eureka
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Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative recent filing
Capsule endoscope system, automatic frame rate adjustment method thereof and computer readable storage medium
Filed by Ankon Technologies, this record describes adjusting a capsule endoscope's frame rate automatically by comparing acceleration data sensed inside the capsule against acceleration data sensed by an external tracking device, deriving a relative motion amplitude and using it to govern image capture rate.Abstract condensed from the original filing text.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20050208095A1 | Polymer compositions and methods for their use | 391 |
| 2 | US20050175703A1 | Polymer compositions and methods for their use | 376 |
| 3 | US20050175665A1 | Polymer compositions and methods for their use | 352 |
| 4 | US7530948B2 | Tethered capsule endoscope for Barrett's Esophagus screening | 350 |
| 5 | US20100283842A1 | Imaging system and method for use in monitoring a field of regard | 323 |
| 6 | US20080262312A1 | Shadowing pipe mosaicing algorithms with application to esophageal endoscopy | 314 |
| 7 | US20020198439A1 | Capsule type endoscope | 280 |
| 8 | US20050196421A1 | Polymer compositions and methods for their use | 252 |
| 9 | US20060195014A1 | Tethered capsule endoscope for Barrett's Esophagus screening | 222 |
| 10 | US20050043634A1 | Communication system for capsule type medical apparatus capsule type medical apparatus, and information recei… | 207 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside the searched corpus — treat this table as a map of foundational influence, not current filing activity.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three read-throughs from the assignee concentration, the IPC mix and the receiving-office spread.
A short list controls the core claims
With five assignees holding 68.7% of all records and ten holding 81.8%, this is not a fragmented field. A new entrant is filing into territory already claimed densely by a small group, which raises the bar for freedom-to-operate work on core capsule hardware.
Volume has cooled from its 2018 peak
Annual filings fell from 91 in 2021 to 27 in 2024. Several of the largest historical filers show zero or sharply reduced activity in the most recent complete year, consistent with a maturing hardware base rather than an abandoned technology.
Informatics claims lag behind imaging hardware
A61B and H04N dominate the class distribution, but G16H (healthcare informatics) sits at only 6.0% of records and G06V (image/video recognition) at 3.4%. Given how much diagnostic image data these devices generate, the informatics layer is comparatively thin.
Filing strategy centres on the US and Europe
The United States leads with 781 records, ahead of the EPO at 400 and WIPO PCT filings at 79. China's 44 is comparatively small given the manufacturing base there, suggesting domestic filing may route through other tracking or be concentrated with fewer assignees.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to capsule endoscopy, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claims, and where activity has cooled
The ranking spans 100 assignees, but activity is heavily front-loaded: a handful of legacy medical-device and imaging firms hold most of the record count, and several show no filings at all in the most recent year.
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The leading assignee's 516 records dwarf the fifth-place count of 88 and the tenth-place count of 26 — a gap that signals a long-running, deliberately built portfolio rather than opportunistic filing.
Legacy leaders have gone quiet recently
Multiple assignees that built large historical portfolios show zero filings, or year-over-year declines of -50% to -100%, in the latest tracked year. That is consistent with the broader post-2018 filing decline rather than any single company's retreat.
Co-assignment is limited and mostly intra-group
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest links pair a parent company with its own medical-systems subsidiary rather than cross-company collaboration — this field is largely filed solo.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| NEC Corporation | 2 | -50% |
| Olympus Corporation | 0 | — |
| Olympus Medical Systems Corp. | 0 | — |
| Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| Fujifilm Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| CapsoVision, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Sony Group Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| WANG KANG HUAI | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a small set of entrenched holders and a cooling filing rate — the next step is testing a specific claim idea against that terrain.
Check freedom-to-operate before drafting
With 68.7% of records held by five assignees, a new filing in core capsule hardware needs a claim chart against their portfolios before drafting starts, not after.
Run a freedom-to-operate checkTarget the thinner informatics layer
G16H and G06V shares are comparatively low relative to the imaging and hardware classes, which is where a differentiated claim is less likely to collide with existing filings.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions on capsule endoscopy patents
The assignee ranking in this dataset of 1,508 records is led by one company with 516 records, far ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 88. The top five assignees together hold 68.7% of all records, and the top ten hold 81.8%, so the field is concentrated among a small number of medical-device and imaging companies rather than spread evenly across many filers. Anyone assessing competitive risk in this space should start with that short list rather than the full 100-company ranking.
Filing peaked in 2018 at 148 records and has declined since, falling from 91 in 2021 to 27 in 2024 — a -70% drop over that span. However, publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the lower counts seen in 2025 and 2026 in the raw data reflect incomplete publication rather than a confirmed continuation of the decline. The safest complete-year comparison point is 2024.
The dataset spans diagnosis and surgery hardware (A61B, 68.2% of records), image transmission (H04N, 30.2%), image data processing (G06T, 17.8%), semiconductor components (H01L, 10.7%), optics (G02B, 7.4%), data recognition (G06K, 6.1%), healthcare informatics (G16H, 6.0%) and image/video recognition (G06V, 3.4%). Because a single patent can carry multiple IPC codes, these figures sum to more than 100% of the record total, and the pattern shows imaging and hardware claims dominating over informatics and software recognition layers.
The IPC composition shows healthcare informatics (G16H, 6.0% of records) and image/video recognition (G06V, 3.4%) sitting well below the dominant hardware and imaging classes, suggesting comparatively less claim density there relative to the clinical and commercial importance of on-device diagnostic software. Specific sub-areas worth checking include adaptive frame-rate control tied to motion sensing, retention-risk sensing with release triggers, and magnetic manoeuvring control loops — all named explicitly in the search scope but not dominating the class distribution. A proper freedom-to-operate search against the leading assignees' portfolios is still the necessary next step before relying on this as a filing strategy.
The United States leads as a receiving office with 781 filings, followed by the European Patent Office at 400, Germany at 77 filed nationally, and WIPO PCT applications at 79. China shows 44 filings in this scope, which is modest relative to its manufacturing footprint in medical devices and may reflect how domestic Chinese filings are tracked separately from this search's receiving-office classification. Anyone building a global filing strategy in this field should weight US and European coverage most heavily based on this distribution.
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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.