Endoscope Camera Module Patents: Leaders, Trends & Gaps 2026
- 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.
- Growth is real but recent. Filings rose from 3 in 2021 to 7 in 2024, a +133% increase over three years, even as 2025-2026 figures are still understated by publication lag.
- Optics and video dominate, surgery trails. G02B and H04N each cover roughly half of all records, while A61B (diagnosis & surgery) sits at 21.4% — most of the claim activity is in the imaging stack, not the clinical application.
Filing growth compares 2021 (3 records) with 2024 (7) — 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 103 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families at the intersection of endoscope camera modules and wafer-level camera construction — sensor pixel size, lens stack design, illumination fiber routing, signal cable and heat dissipation, and distortion correction. It spans 103 published records from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off, drawn from filings at the USPTO, EPO, WIPO and several national offices. The scope sits at the junction of consumer/mobile imaging hardware and surgical instrument engineering, which explains why optical and video-communication classes outnumber diagnosis-and-surgery classes in the composition.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend chart will always look lower than the true filing rate. Treat 2024 as the last year that can be read as a complete signal; 2025 and 2026 are still filling in.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 103-record dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how records distribute across IPC subclasses. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, the composition shares add up to more than 100%.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
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.
IPC subclass composition
G02B (optical elements & systems) and H04N (pictorial communication) each anchor over half of all 103 records, confirming this is primarily an optics-and-imaging patent set. A61B (diagnosis & surgery) covers 21.4%, and smaller shares sit in testing (G01M), semiconductor devices (H01L), laminates (B32B), photographic apparatus (G03B) and digital data processing (G06F).
Shares are the percentage of the 103 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Endoscope Camera Modules and Image Sensors with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about endoscope camera modules and image sensors and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this space
Micro endoscope camera module and micro endoscope having same
Describes a micro endoscope camera module built from a first tube body housing one or more objective lenses and a second tube body that supports it, with the image-capturing means placed adjacent to the rear of the objective lens inside the second tube body — positioning the sensor at the distal tip rather than routing optics back through a fiber bundle.Filed by Haesung Optics, published 2021-04-01 as US20210093174A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20140166759A1 | Package-on-package based integrated circuit chip imager | 738 |
| 2 | US8556807B2 | Hermetically sealed distal sensor endoscope | 287 |
| 3 | US20100261961A1 | Hermetically sealed distal sensor endoscope | 230 |
| 4 | WO2011008443A2 | Wafer level camera module with active optical element | 157 |
| 5 | US20120140101A1 | Wafer level camera module with active optical element | 69 |
| 6 | US20120075519A1 | Wafer level optical system | 66 |
| 7 | US20110037886A1 | Wafer level camera module with molded housing and method of manufacturing | 55 |
| 8 | US9271633B2 | Stereo camera for hermetically sealed endoscope | 40 |
| 9 | US20100053423A1 | Small form factor modules using wafer level optics with bottom cavity and flip-chip assembly | 38 |
| 10 | US9005113B2 | Hermetically sealed endoscope | 37 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate references within the searched corpus — read them as a measure of influence on later filings, not as a signal of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the ranking, trend and IPC data are read together: where the claim space is crowded, where growth is concentrated, and how citation influence is distributed.
Filing is already consolidated
The five leading assignees hold 69 of 103 records in scope, and the top 10 extend that to 84.5%. A new entrant is filing into a space where the dominant claim territory around lens stack and sensor packaging is already staked out by a small group.
Recent momentum is real, not historical
The 2017 peak of 7 filings sat in a different filing wave; the +133% rise from 3 filings in 2021 to 7 in 2024 shows renewed interest that is more recent and, given publication lag, likely still understated in the 2025-2026 counts.
Package-level imaging claims anchor the field
The most-cited record concerns package-on-package integrated circuit chip imaging, and two of the next most-cited records cover hermetically sealed distal sensor endoscopes — signalling that sensor packaging and hermetic sealing, not lens optics alone, are the claims other filers build on.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to endoscope camera modules and image sensors, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is still open
The ranked leaders account for most of the volume, but the co-assignee pairs and IPC gaps point to where the field has not yet been claimed densely.
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 17 of 103 records, more than double the fifth-place count of 8 and well above the tenth-place count of 3 — a steep drop-off that marks this as a leader-and-long-tail structure rather than an even spread.
A long tail of single- and low-count filers
Beyond the top 10 (84.5% of records), the remaining assignees each hold small counts, typical of a field where component suppliers, optics specialists and surgical device makers all file occasionally without building large portfolios.
Co-assignment clusters around a small group
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest links repeating around the same handful of individual and corporate co-filers — a sign of joint development work rather than broad industry-wide collaboration.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Qualcomm Inc. | 0 | — |
| Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. | 0 | — |
| OmniVision Technologies, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Tobii Technology AB | 0 | — |
| SINGH HARPUNEET | 0 | — |
| Digital Optics Corporation | 0 | — |
| HAESUNG OPTICS | 0 | — |
| Tessera Technologies Hungary Kft. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a consolidated core and a thinner set of adjacent branches. The next steps depend on whether the goal is defensive clearance or a new filing strategy.
Map claim scope against the top 5
Before drafting in lens stack, sensor packaging or hermetic sealing, check granted claim language from the leading assignees identified in the ranking — this is where 67.0% of the field's records already sit.
Explore assignee claim scope in EurekaTest the under-claimed branches
Illumination fiber routing, heat dissipation and signal cable design show thinner coverage than the core optics classes. Run a freedom-to-operate check on these before assuming the space is open.
Run a white space search in EurekaWatch for the 2025-2026 correction
Because of the roughly 18-month publication lag, the true 2025 and 2026 filing volumes are not yet visible in this data. Re-check the trend in a future pull before concluding growth has slowed.
Set a filing alert in EurekaCommon questions about this patent landscape
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.
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.
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.
Based on the IPC composition, the core optics and video classes (G02B, H04N) are the most heavily claimed, while sub-areas like illumination fiber routing, heat dissipation for tip-mounted sensors, signal cable strain relief, and distortion correction for wafer-level lens stacks show comparatively lower density. These are not guaranteed-open areas — they simply carry fewer records relative to the core classes — so a freedom-to-operate search specific to the target claim is still necessary before filing or designing around them.
US20210093174A1, filed by Haesung Optics and published 2021-04-01, claims a micro endoscope camera module built from two tube bodies, with the image-capturing means placed adjacent to the rear of the objective lens inside the second tube body — effectively a distal-tip sensor placement architecture. It does not cover every distal-sensor endoscope design; the claims are specific to this two-tube-body structure and lens-to-sensor positioning. Designs using different tube arrangements or sensor placement relative to the objective lens would need a separate claim-by-claim comparison rather than assuming blanket coverage.
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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.