Endoscope Camera Module Patents: Leaders, Trends & Gaps 2026
Endoscope Camera Module and Image Sensor Patents
67.0% concentration. The top 5 of 44 ranked assignees account for 69 of the 103 records in scope — filing here is already consolidated, not fragmented. Filings peaked so far at 7 in 2017, dipped through the early 2020s, then climbed from 3 in 2021 to 7 in 2024 — a +133% rise over that span. The 2025-2026 counts are not yet complete because of publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown.
- 1QUALCOMM INC17
- 2OMNIVISION TECHNOLOGIES INC16
- 3INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS INC16
- 4NANCHANG O FILM OPTICAL ELECTRONICS TECH CO LTD12
- 5TOBII TECH AB8
See the full endoscope camera modules and image sensors 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 about this patent landscape
Who holds the most patents on endoscope camera modules?
The ranking in this dataset covers 44 assignees across 103 records, with a single leader holding 17 records — more than double the fifth-place count of 8. The top 5 assignees together account for 67.0% of all records in scope, and the top 10 extend that to 84.5%. This is a leader-and-long-tail structure: a small group holds most of the volume, and the remaining assignees each file in smaller numbers, often around specific components like lens stacks or sensor packaging.
Is the endoscope camera module patent field growing or slowing down?
Filings rose from 3 in 2021 to 7 in 2024, a +133% increase over that three-year span, which is the clearest recent growth signal in this dataset. The 2017 peak of 7 filings belongs to an earlier filing wave and should not be read together with the recent rise as a continuous trend. Because publication lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 counts are still incomplete, so any apparent decline in those years is an artifact of lag, not a real slowdown.
What technology areas do these patents actually cover?
Most records sit in optics (G02B, 53.4% of the 103 records) and pictorial communication or video (H04N, 52.4%), reflecting that the field is dominated by imaging hardware rather than surgical application claims. Diagnosis and surgery (A61B) covers 21.4% of records, and smaller shares appear in testing (G01M), semiconductor devices (H01L), laminates (B32B), photographic apparatus (G03B) and digital data processing (G06F). Because a record can carry more than one IPC code, these shares add up to more than 100% and should be read individually, not summed.
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 Endoscope Camera Modules and Image Sensors 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.