Fiber-Based Sensor Patent Snapshot 2026
The fiber-based sensor patent corpus is highly concentrated, with a small cohort of seven ranked filers dominating a narrow pool of families, and activity peaked around 2020 before easing back. PROPEL LLC holds the leading position, followed by a closely allied pair — Toray Industries and Nagase Chemtex — whose collaboration accounts for the only confirmed co-filing relationship in the dataset.
PROPEL LLC leads a highly concentrated, compact field
PROPEL LLC stands at the top of the applicant ranking with 3 patent records, followed by Toray Industries and Nagase Chemtex Corporation, each with 2 patent records. The remaining four filers — Myant Corp, Zhejiang Rouling Technology, Hefei Qiaoqi Intelligent Technology, and the Industrial Foundation of Chonnam National University — each hold 1 patent record.
The top five filers collectively account for 82% of the combined total among the ranked applicants visible in this query, a level of concentration that signals a field controlled by a very small number of active organizations. The gap between the leader and the second tier is modest in absolute terms but meaningful relative to a corpus of this size.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PROPEL LLC | 3 | |
| 2 | Toray Industries, Inc. | 2 | |
| 3 | Nagase ChemteX Corporation | 2 | |
| 4 | Myant Corp | 1 | |
| 5 | Zhejiang Rouling Technology Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 6 | Hefei Qiaoqi Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 7 | Industrial Foundation of Chonnam National University | 1 |
PROPEL LLC’s lead, built primarily on diagnostic and textile-yarn filings, positions it as the de facto standard-setter for this filing cohort. The Toray–Nagase Chemtex co-filing partnership reinforces a supply-chain logic: a fiber chemistry specialist and a materials processor aligning their IP around the same technical intersection of diagnosis and polymer-treated textiles.
Patent publication typically lags filing by 18–24 months, so any apparent activity in the most recent periods likely understates true filing volume and should be interpreted with caution. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A 2020 peak with post-peak easing; diagnosis dominates the technology mix
The filing trend and the IPC technology composition together reveal a field that surged briefly around 2020 and has since contracted, with medical diagnostics anchoring the bulk of technical activity.
Annual filing trend
Filings peaked in 2020 at 3 records, after earlier activity of 2 records in 2017. Subsequent years show lower volumes, and the most recent periods (2023–2026) should be read as incomplete due to publication lag rather than as a definitive continuation of decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
A61B (Diagnosis & surgery) is the visible IPC class with 8 records, far ahead of D02G (Yarn texturing & crimping) and D03D (Woven fabrics & weaving) at 3 each. Lower-frequency classes — C08L, D06M, H01B, B32B, C08G, D01F, D04B, and H05K — each appear 1–2 times, indicating that the sensor function is being developed almost entirely in the context of body-worn diagnostic textiles.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Conductive yarns with insulated coating and method…
A textile body and methods of producing textile bodies are disclosed. The textile body may include a first conductive yarn including: a conductive fiber; a hydrophobic layer coating the conductive fiber to form a composite conductive fiber; and a thermoplastic layer coating the composite conductive fiber. The textile body may include a second conductive… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Machine-knittable conductive hybrid yarns | 5 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
PROPEL LLC
PROPEL LLC holds 3 patent records, the largest share in the ranked cohort. Its technical focus spans A61B 5 (diagnosis and surgery), D02G 3 (yarn texturing and crimping), and D03D 15 (woven fabrics and weaving), indicating an integrated approach that covers both the sensing function and the textile substrate. No momentum data places it as a new entrant; it anchors the field as the established leader.
families: 3Toray Industries & Nagase Chemtex
Toray Industries and Nagase Chemtex Corporation each hold 2 patent records and are the only confirmed co-filers in the dataset, sharing 2 jointly filed records. Both focus on A61B 5 diagnosis, C08L 77 polymer compositions, and D06M 15 textile chemical treatment — a coherent materials-to-function chain. Their alliance effectively pools materials chemistry and fiber-processing expertise into a single IP position.
families: 2 eachFrequently asked questions
The analysis covers 9 patent families in scope, filed across multiple jurisdictions including China, Europe, the United States, WIPO, and South Korea.
PROPEL LLC is the leading filer with 3 patent records, ahead of Toray Industries and Nagase Chemtex Corporation, each with 2 patent records.
A61B (Diagnosis and surgery) is the visible IPC class with 8 patent records, indicating that the field is overwhelmingly oriented toward body-worn diagnostic textile sensors.
Yes. Nagase Chemtex Corporation and Toray Industries have co-filed 2 patent records together, making them the only confirmed co-filing pair in the dataset.
The field is in a decline stage, with annual filings easing back from a 2020 peak. The most recent filing periods appear low but should be interpreted cautiously due to standard publication lag.
H01B (Cables, conductors and insulators) and B32B (Layered products and laminates) are the most sparsely covered adjacent branches, with 2 and 1 patent records respectively, against 8 in the visible A61B class. C08G and the textile-treatment branches are also low-frequency observations worth monitoring.
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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.
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