Container ID & Damage Inspection Patents: Top Companies 2026
- 40.3% sits with five filers. The top 5 assignees combined account for 250 of the 620 records in scope — a concentrated field for anyone weighing a freedom-to-operate check before filing.
- Filing kept climbing through 2024. Filings rose from 28 in 2021 to 35 in 2024, a 25% increase over that span, with 2023 the peak year so far at 63 records.
- Business-process claims outnumber vision claims. G06Q (business/commerce data processing) covers 45.2% of the 620 records, ahead of G06V image recognition at 19.0% — the gate-logic layer is more heavily claimed than the optics.
Filing growth compares 2021 (28 records) with 2024 (35) — 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 620 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this technology space covers
Container identification and damage inspection patents cover the systems that read a container’s identity at a terminal gate or crane and assess its physical condition before it moves further into the supply chain. That spans optical character recognition of container codes, portal camera rigs positioned at gates and rail crossings, seal verification logic, and damage classification models that flag dents, corrosion or breach before a container is accepted or released. The search set also picks up gate automation and false detection handling — the operational layer that decides what to do when a read fails or a damage flag fires.
The 620 records in scope span 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, with receiving offices concentrated in the United States, Europe and the WIPO PCT track. Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend understate real filing activity — read 2025 and 2026 as still filling in, not as a slowdown.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 620 records: how filing activity moved year over year, and how the underlying technology claims break down by IPC subclass.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Annual filings moved from 60 in 2017 to a peak of 63 in 2023, with 2021's 28 climbing to 35 by 2024 — a 25% rise over that three-year window. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete due to publication lag and should not be read as a decline.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
G06Q (business, commerce and admin data processing) leads at 45.2% of the 620 records, followed by G06F general digital processing at 30.2% and G06V image/video recognition at 19.0%. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, these shares add up to more than 100% of the record total — that overlap is expected, not an error.
Shares are the percentage of the 620 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Container Identification and Damage Inspection with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about container identification and damage inspection and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative filing and the most-cited prior art
Smart terminal facility and method suitable for the handling of cargo containers (US11507913B2)
A system and method for operating a terminal facility handling containers may comprise: a sensor set sensing containers entering and/or exiting the facility for providing container identification data and location data to a relational database; and container handling equipment having a sensor set for providing container identification data and location data to the database when a container is grasped and/or released. Sensors may sense when the equipment grasps and/or releases a container for storing a record thereof in the database, and/or geo-tagged identification data and location data relating to carriers that are to pick up and/or to deliver a container is received and stored as records.Filed by Avante International Technology, granted 2022-11-22.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20050046584A1 | Asset system control arrangement and method | 1,779 |
| 2 | US20060208169A1 | Vehicular restraint system control system and method using multiple optical imagers | 935 |
| 3 | US20030135388A1 | Medication delivery system | 775 |
| 4 | US6985870B2 | Medication delivery system | 726 |
| 5 | US7164117B2 | Vehicular restraint system control system and method using multiple optical imagers | 586 |
| 6 | US7663502B2 | Asset system control arrangement and method | 547 |
| 7 | US6707381B1 | Object tracking method and system with object identification and verification | 518 |
| 8 | US20230123322A1 | Predictive Model Data Stream Prioritization | 336 |
| 9 | US5664112A | Integrated hazardous substances management unit | 249 |
| 10 | US20040104271A1 | Medication delivery system | 231 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings by construction — treat them as a signal of influence on later work, not as a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the filing pattern signals
Three read-throughs from the concentration, growth and technology-mix figures above, aimed at where to file and where not to bother.
A small group holds the gate
The top 5 assignees combined account for 250 of the 620 records in scope, with the leader alone holding 112. That level of concentration means a new entrant's freedom-to-operate work should start with the leading filers' claim scope, not a broad landscape scan.
Steady growth through the last complete year
Filings rose from 28 in 2021 to 35 in 2024, a documented 25% increase over that span, with the field's peak year so far at 63 filings in 2023. Because publication lags filing by about 18 months, 2025 and 2026 totals will keep rising as more records post.
Logic and workflow claims outweigh vision claims
G06Q business-process claims cover 45.2% of the 620 records versus 19.0% for G06V image recognition and 16.3% for G06K data recognition. That gap suggests the gate-decision and workflow layer is more densely claimed than the camera and recognition hardware itself.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to container identification and damage inspection, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Vista Medical, Inc. | REGLA PETER | 4 |
| Vista Medical, Inc. | MALLETT SCOTT R | 4 |
| Vista Medical, Inc. | DAVIDNER ALAN A | 4 |
| Vista Medical, Inc. | DANTA RANDALL C | 4 |
| Vista Medical, Inc. | COREY ALAN D | 4 |
| Vista Medical, Inc. | BENSON JAMES R | 2 |
| De La Rue International Ltd | PLUMRIDGE TIMOTHY EDWARD | 2 |
| De La Rue International Ltd | BRINDLEY EDWARD JOHN | 2 |
The dataset records 10 co-assignee pairs, concentrated among a small number of recurring inventor-assignee combinations rather than broad cross-company collaboration — most filers in this space are prosecuting solo.
Leading assignees and where momentum has stalled
The ranked leaders account for a majority of filings, but recent-year momentum data shows several of the largest historical filers have gone quiet in the latest tracked year.
One filer well ahead of the pack
The top-ranked assignee holds 112 of the 620 records in scope, more than double the fifth-place filer's 24. That gap is wide enough that a competitive read of this space has to start with the leader's claim family before looking anywhere else.
A tighter cluster below the leader
Filings drop off from the leader to a cluster running from 24 records at fifth place down to 19 at tenth. Together the top 10 account for 356 records, 57.4% of the 620 in scope — leaving over 40% spread across a long tail of smaller filers.
Historical leaders have gone quiet recently
Several of the assignees with the largest historical filing counts show zero filings in the latest tracked year, with year-on-year drops of -100% for at least two of them. That does not necessarily mean exit — publication lag means recent filings may simply not have posted yet — but it is worth checking directly before assuming continued activity.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Strong Force VCN Portfolio 2019 LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Vista Medical, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Paceco Corp | 0 | — |
| Rapiscan Systems, Inc. | 0 | — |
| EagleRail Container Logistics LLC | 0 | -100% |
| SICPA Holding SA | 0 | — |
| Decision Sciences International Corp | 0 | — |
| De La Rue International Ltd | 0 | — |
Where to take this from here
The figures above set the boundaries of the field; the next step is usually claim-level work inside a specific sub-area.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leader
With 112 of 620 records held by a single assignee, any new filing in gate-based identification should map against that portfolio's independent claims before drafting.
Run a claim comparison in Eureka →Probe the under-claimed branches
Seal-tamper verification and multi-sensor damage fusion show thinner coverage than core OCR claims — a targeted claim chart can confirm how open they really are.
Explore white space in Eureka →Common questions on this landscape
One assignee leads with 112 of the 620 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place filer's 24. The top 5 assignees combined hold 250 records, 40.3% of the total, so the field is concentrated rather than evenly spread. Anyone assessing competitive risk in this space should start with that leading filer's claim scope rather than treating the field as fragmented.
Filings rose from 28 in 2021 to 35 in 2024, a 25% increase over that three-year span, with the field's peak year so far at 63 filings in 2023. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look lower only because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months and those years are still filling in. Based on the last complete years of data, the trend through 2024 is upward, not declining.
Business, commerce and admin data processing (IPC class G06Q) covers 45.2% of the 620 records, the largest single category, followed by general digital processing (G06F) at 30.2% and image/video recognition (G06V) at 19.0%. That means gate logic, workflow and decision automation are more heavily claimed than the camera and recognition hardware itself. A record can carry more than one class, so these shares overlap rather than summing to 100%.
Sub-areas like seal-tamper verification logic, false-detection override workflows and multi-sensor damage fusion show comparatively thin coverage against the dense core of OCR and gate-automation claims. AI-model-based damage classification, tracked under IPC class G06N, sits at 10.0% of the 620 records, notably lower than the broader recognition classes. These pockets are worth a targeted claim search before assuming they are already occupied.
US11507913B2, granted to Avante International Technology in November 2022, claims a terminal facility system that senses containers entering and exiting a site and logs container identification and location data to a relational database, including data captured when handling equipment grasps or releases a container. The scope is tied to that sensor-to-database data flow around container handling equipment rather than to any single recognition method. Anyone building gate or crane sensing systems that log container identity and location this way should review its claims directly rather than relying on the abstract alone.
Research Container Identification and Damage Inspection in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole container identification and damage inspection corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.