Design for Test and Built In Self Test Patents
52.2% of all 2,540 records sit with just five assignees, and 65.8% with ten — this field is unusually concentrated at the top for a testing sub-domain. Annual filings ran from 61 in 2017 to a peak of 70 in 2018, and the 2021-to-2024 span shows a 38% increase (24 to 33 records). Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as a slowdown.
- 1MEMJET TECH LTD483
- 2GOOGLE LLC265
- 3SILVERBROOK RESEARCH PTY LTD244
- 4SIEMENS INDUSTRY SOFTWARE INC197
- 5MENTOR GRAPHICS CORP136
See the full design for test and built in self test analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on DFT and BIST patents
Who holds the most patents in design for test and built-in self test?
The ranked assignee table for this dataset covers 100 companies across 2,540 records, and it is heavily top-weighted: the leading assignee alone holds 483 records, compared with 136 at fifth place and 46 at tenth. Combined, the top five assignees hold 52.2% of all records in scope, and the top ten hold 65.8%. That means a small number of portfolios control most of the claim space, while a long tail of assignees hold only a handful of records each, often tied to a single product line's test architecture.
Is the design for test and BIST patent field growing or slowing down?
Filing activity climbed from 24 records in 2021 to 33 in 2024, a 38% increase over that span, which is the most recent period that can be read as complete. Publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the lower counts visible in 2025 and 2026 reflect that lag rather than a genuine drop in activity. Historical peak filing was 70 records in 2018, and the field has held a broadly steady pace since, punctuated by individual large filers going quiet in recent years.
What technology areas within DFT and BIST are most heavily claimed?
Electric digital data processing (G06F) appears in 58.7% of the 2,540 records, making it the dominant class, followed by printer/typewriter mechanisms (B41J) at 39.8% and electric/magnetic measurement (G01R) at 34.5%. Video and imaging (H04N) and data recognition (G06K) both sit above 28%, reflecting how much DFT technique development has historically come out of imaging and printing hardware. Memory BIST (G11C, 26.7%) and coin-freed apparatus adjacencies (G07F, 15.2%) are comparatively thinner, since records can carry multiple classes these shares naturally overlap and sum to more than 100%.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Design for Test and Built In Self Test covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.