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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/cpap-and-sleep-apnea-therapy-devices-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Medical EquipmentCPAP and Sleep Apnea Therapy Device Patents: Concentration, Trends and Filing Gaps
- 78.6% of the field sits with five companies. 276 of 351 records in scope belong to the top five assignees — this is a concentrated field, not a fragmented one.
- Filing peaked in 2021 at 24 records and has declined since. the 2022 midpoint of 11 confirms the trend is flat-to-down, not a temporary dip.
- Humidification and sterilising classes trail the core A61M class by a wide margin. A61L sterilising claims cover just 15.7% of records, leaving room below the dominant A61M devices class.
351
Published Records
79%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-83%
3-Yr Growth (lag-adjusted)
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What the CPAP patent record shows
The dataset covers 351 published records filed between 2015 and 2026 across the intersection of CPAP devices, auto-titration algorithms, mask leak compensation, humidification and adherence-data claims. Filing activity is concentrated: five companies account for 78.6% of all records, and the top ten hold 87.7%. This is a field where the core claim space around positive airway pressure delivery and humidification hardware is largely occupied by a small set of long-standing filers, while adjacent classes — water treatment, filtration, pipe fittings — show far lighter activity.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in the trend line understate real filing activity; the decline from the 2021 peak is still directionally real even after allowing for that lag.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on CPAP and Sleep Apnea Therapy Devices covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Data
Filing trend and technology composition
The trend line and IPC breakdown below are drawn directly from the 351 records in scope. Class shares are calculated against the full record total, not against each other, since a single record can carry several IPC classes.
A peak-and-decline filing pattern
Filings rose from 10 in 2017 to a peak of 24 in 2021, then eased back toward the 2022 midpoint of 11. The most recent years are undercounted due to publication lag, but the shape of the curve — rise, peak, retreat — is consistent with a field where the dominant claim space has already been staked out by the leading assignees.
A61M dominates; sterilising and diagnosis trail
A61M (devices for body fluids) appears in 99.4% of records, confirming this is fundamentally a device-hardware field. A61L sterilising and disinfecting claims (15.7%), A61B diagnosis and surgery (7.4%) and A62B rescue and life-saving (7.1%) form a second tier. Water treatment, mixing and filtration classes (B01F, C02F, F16L, B01D) each sit at or below 3.4%, marking them as comparatively lightly claimed relative to the core hardware classes.
Shares are the percentage of the 351 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on CPAP and Sleep Apnea Therapy Devices covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on CPAP and Sleep Apnea Therapy Devices with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about cpap and sleep apnea therapy devices and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
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Most-cited records and a representative filing
Representative Filing
US20120097156A1 — Positive airway pressure therapy mask humidification systems and methods
SOMNETICS INTERNATIONAL, INC.
The present inventions provide positive airway pressure therapy apparatus to humidify the pressurized air delivered to a user during various positive airway pressure therapies and corresponding methods. The apparatus may be configured to administer CPAP, BPAP, autoPAP, PPAP, and other positive airway pressure therapies.Filed by Somnetics International, this filing sits squarely in the humidification-plus-delivery claim space that dominates the dataset's A61M classification.
Highest-citation records in the corpus
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6718974B1 | CPAP humidifier having sliding access drawer | 404 |
| 2 | US5231979A | Humidifier for CPAP device | 348 |
| 3 | US20060096596A1 | Wearable system for positive airway pressure therapy | 214 |
| 4 | US20110180068A1 | Breathable gas apparatus with humidifier | 173 |
| 5 | WO2007019625A1 | Humidifier and/or flow generator for CPAP device | 143 |
| 6 | US20020020930A1 | CPAP humidifier | 140 |
| 7 | US20090194106A1 | Humidifier and/or flow generator for CPAP device | 134 |
| 8 | US7478635B2 | Breathing assistance apparatus | 131 |
| 9 | US20080257346A1 | Acoustic attenuation chamber | 123 |
| 10 | US20100154796A1 | Humidifier tub for CPAP device | 122 |
Citation counts favour older records inside any searched corpus and should be read as a signal of influence on later filings, not as a marker of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on CPAP and Sleep Apnea Therapy Devices covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns stand out once concentration, timing and technology composition are read together.
Concentration
78.6% of 351 records
held by top 5 assignees
The core claim space is already staked out
With five assignees holding 276 of 351 records, new entrants filing on core CPAP delivery and humidification hardware are filing into dense, well-cited prior art. The leader alone holds 128 records — well ahead of the fifth-place assignee at 10.
Concentration figures are counted in records, not families.
Timing
Peak 2021 at 24, easing since
filing trend 2017-2026
Filing momentum has cooled from its 2021 high
The climb from 10 filings in 2017 to 24 in 2021 was followed by a pullback toward 11 at the 2022 midpoint. Recent-year momentum data shows several leading assignees at zero filings in the latest year, though publication lag means 2025-2026 counts are still incomplete.
Read the final one to two years as a floor, not a ceiling.
Technology mix
A61L at 15.7% vs A61M at 99.4%
share of 351 records
Sterilising and diagnosis claims are a distant second tier
Almost every record touches core A61M device hardware, but sterilising/disinfecting (A61L), diagnosis (A61B) and rescue equipment (A62B) each cover well under a fifth of records. Water treatment and filtration classes sit lower still, near 3%.
Shares add up past 100% because records carry multiple IPC classes.
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Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to cpap and sleep apnea therapy devices, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on CPAP and Sleep Apnea Therapy Devices covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who holds the claim space, and where it thins out
The assignee ranking covers 89 companies drawn from the full record set. The gap between the leader and the field is wide, and the lighter-claimed IPC branches point to where a new filer has more room to work.
Leader
128 records
top assignee
A single filer dominates the ranking
The leading assignee holds 128 of 351 records — more than the combined total of the second through fifth-place holders. Co-assignee pairs tied to this leader recur with named individual inventors, suggesting a stable internal R&D team rather than shifting external partnerships.
Fifth place sits at 10 records, a steep drop from the leader.
Mid-field
10 to 4 records
fifth to tenth place
A tight second tier, then a long tail
Fifth place holds 10 records and tenth place holds 4, a gentle slope compared with the cliff below the leader. Below tenth place the ranking spreads across many single- and low-digit filers.
308 of 351 records — 87.7% — sit with the top ten alone.
Momentum
0 filings, -100% YoY
several leading assignees, latest year
Leading filers show zero recent-year activity
Several of the most active historical assignees, including the top two ranked filers, show zero filings in the latest year and a -100% year-on-year change. This is consistent with the broader post-2021 decline, though publication lag means some of this is reporting delay rather than a genuine stop.
Treat the final year of any assignee's trend as provisional.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| ResMed Pty Ltd | 0 | -100% |
| Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd | 0 | -100% |
| SoClean Inc | 0 | — |
| Inceptus Inc | 0 | — |
| SIERRA MEDICAL TECH | 0 | — |
| Somnetics International Inc | 0 | — |
| Fresca Medical Inc | 0 | — |
| Human Design Medical LLC | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on CPAP and Sleep Apnea Therapy Devices covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio strategy or identifying a filing gap.
Check freedom-to-operate against the top assignees
With 78.6% of records held by five companies, any new humidification or delivery-hardware filing should be checked against the leader's claim set first, then against the fifth-to-tenth tier.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in Eureka →Map the lightly-claimed IPC branches in detail
Water treatment, filtration and pipe-fitting classes each sit near 3% of records — worth a closer claim-by-claim read before assuming the space is genuinely open.
Explore white space in Eureka →Watch for renewed filing after the 2021-2022 pullback
Several leading assignees show zero recent-year filings; publication lag means this could reverse. Track the next 12-18 months for a rebound.
Set up monitoring in Eureka →Source: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on CPAP and Sleep Apnea Therapy Devices covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about CPAP patent activity
One assignee leads the ranked field with 128 of the 351 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 10 records. The top five assignees combined account for 276 records, or 78.6% of the field, meaning most core CPAP delivery and humidification hardware claims sit with a small number of long-standing filers. Anyone assessing this space should treat that leader's portfolio as the first freedom-to-operate check.
Filing activity peaked at 24 records in 2021 and has eased since, with the 2022 midpoint at 11 records. Several leading assignees show zero filings in the most recent year, a -100% year-on-year change for at least two of the top filers. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the last one to two years in any such trend should be read as an incomplete floor rather than a confirmed drop to zero.
Humidification and related sterilising claims mostly fall under A61L, which covers 15.7% of the 351 records in scope, alongside the dominant A61M class covering devices for body fluids at 99.4% of records. Diagnosis-related claims (A61B) and rescue/life-saving equipment (A62B) each sit near 7%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should not be summed into a single total.
The lighter-claimed branches sit in classes adjacent to the dominant A61M hardware space: water and wastewater treatment (C02F), mixing and stirring (B01F), pipe fittings (F16L) and separation/filtration processes (B01D) each cover 3.4% or less of the 351 records. These branches touch real CPAP sub-systems — reservoir water treatment, airflow filtration, tubing connectors — but carry far less claim density than the core delivery and humidification hardware, making them a more open starting point for a new filing.
US20120097156A1, filed by Somnetics International, covers positive airway pressure therapy apparatus configured to humidify pressurized air across CPAP, BPAP, autoPAP and PPAP therapy modes. It sits within the same crowded A61M humidification-and-delivery claim space that the dataset's most-cited records occupy, so any new filing on integrated humidification-plus-delivery hardware needs a claim-by-claim comparison against it. It does not, on its own, cover adjacent areas like adherence-data telemetry or filtration media, which show lighter filing density in this dataset.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on CPAP and Sleep Apnea Therapy Devices covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.