Vibrotactile Actuator Array Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
A patent landscape for vibrotactile actuator array technology: filing trends since 2017, the concentration of the 103-record field among ranked leaders, IPC composition across G06F, G08B and G09B, and where claim space r
Filing growth = 2021 (2 records) → 2024 (0); 2024 is the last year we treat as complete. Top-5 share = the 5 largest assignees ÷ all 103 records in scope (CR5), not the ranked leaders only.
What the vibrotactile actuator array patent record shows
Vibrotactile actuator array patents cover devices that translate signals into spatial patterns of touch — grids or lines of tactors on a wearable, handheld, or wall-mounted surface. The 103 records in scope span 2015 through the 2026 cut-off and cluster heavily around digital-processing implementations, with smaller but persistent branches in alarm signalling, education, surgery, and vehicle interfaces. Family counts, not raw document counts, are used for the assignee ranking, which neutralises continuation filings and multi-jurisdiction duplicates.
Filing activity rose through the late 2010s, peaked in 2022, and the ranked leaders account for a majority of the total — a pattern more consistent with a small set of established players defending broad early claims than with an open field still being staked out.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 103-record set: publication activity by year, and the IPC subclasses those records fall into. Because a single record can carry more than one classification, the class shares below sum to more than 100% of the record total.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Annual counts rose from 1 record in 2017 to a peak of 8 in 2022. The 2021-to-2024 span shows a -100% change, but 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months — treat the most recent two years as a floor, not a ceiling.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in. Growth rates on this page therefore end at 2024; running them to the last bar would understate the field.
IPC subclass composition
G06F (electric digital data processing) covers 68.0% of the 103 records, by far the dominant class. G08B (signalling and alarms) and G09B (educational and demonstration aids) follow at 18.4% and 12.6%. Surgical (A61B), physical therapy (A61H), vehicle (B60K), control mechanisms (G05G) and electrophonic instruments (G10H) each sit under 7%, marking narrower but still active branches.
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 Haptics & Tactile Interfaces: Vibrotactile Actuator Array Patent Landscape with Eureka
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Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
Assistive sleeve to encode relevant spatial information for blind navigation in a tactile format (US20230252866A1)
An assistive feedback device includes an array of vibrotactile actuators and thermal units affixed on a flexible casing worn around the forearm. The vibrotactile actuators handle obstacle detection through a customizable encoding format, while thermal units provide directional navigation cues in a separate customizable format.Filed by Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University, published 2023-08-10.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20120268412A1 | Electro-vibrotactile display | 348 |
| 2 | US6582380B2 | System and method of monitoring and modifying human activity-based behavior | 199 |
| 3 | US5619180A | Apparatus for providing vibrotactile sensory substitution of force feedback | 165 |
| 4 | US20140320393A1 | Haptic feedback for interactions with foldable-bendable displays | 130 |
| 5 | US9448713B2 | Electro-vibrotactile display | 127 |
| 6 | US20070139167A1 | Electromagnetic field tactile display interface and biosensor | 80 |
| 7 | WO2004051451A2 | Graphic user interface having touch detectability | 80 |
| 8 | US20060046031A1 | Graphic user interface having touch detectability | 79 |
| 9 | US20150294597A1 | Somatosensory feedback wearable object | 69 |
| 10 | US20010029319A1 | System and method of monitoring and modifying human activity-based behavior | 62 |
Citation counts reflect influence inside the searched corpus and favour older records; they are not a measure of current commercial importance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the concentration and composition mean for a filing decision
The numbers point to a field where broad early claims are already occupied in the dominant IPC class, while several adjacent branches remain thin.
Claim space is held by a small group
Just five assignees account for 51.5% of the 103 records in scope, and the top ten hold 67.0%. New entrants filing broad vibrotactile-array claims are filing into territory the leader (28 records) and the next four have already mapped.
Digital processing dominates, physical branches thin out
G06F carries more than two-thirds of records, but A61H (physical therapy), B60K (vehicle) and G05G (control mechanisms) each sit near or under 5% — narrower branches with far less prior art density per claim.
Activity peaked, then the record thins toward the present
Filings rose from 1 in 2017 to a peak of 8 in 2022. The 2021-to-2024 comparison shows a -100% change, but the last two years are still filling in given the typical 18-month lag between filing and publication.
Filing is concentrated in the US, EPO and PCT route
The United States (31), EPO (19) and WIPO/PCT (14) together account for most receiving-office activity, ahead of India (12), China (8) and the UK (4) — a filing footprint weighted toward US and European enforcement.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to haptics & tactile interfaces: vibrotactile actuator array patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific questions worth running deeper before committing a filing strategy or an R&D roadmap.
Map the white space inside G06F
Digital-processing claims dominate at 68.0% of records, but that class is broad — pull the sub-groupings to find where actual claim density is thin versus merely labelled G06F.
Explore in EurekaTrack the leader's claim scope directly
With 28 records, the top assignee sets the boundary the rest of the field files around. Reading its independent claims first tells you where the safe adjacent space actually starts.
Explore in EurekaWatch the thin branches for movement
A61H, B60K and G05G each sit under 5% of records. A single new filer in any of these could shift the competitive picture faster than in the crowded G06F space.
Explore in EurekaCommon questions about vibrotactile actuator array patents
The assignee ranking for this dataset covers 48 companies across the 103 records in scope, which is the complete ranking the underlying data endpoint returns rather than a top-50 or top-100 cut. The leader alone accounts for 28 records, and filing concentration is heavy: the top five hold 51.5% of all records and the top ten hold 67.0%. That leaves a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants, so most named organisations in the ranking appear with only one or two records each.
Filings rose from 1 record in 2017 to a peak of 8 in 2022, and the 2021-to-2024 comparison in this dataset shows a -100% change over that span. However, publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 counts in any such dataset are understated and should not be read as a real slowdown. The safest reading is that activity peaked around 2022 and the most recent two years are simply incomplete, not necessarily declining.
The dominant classification is G06F, electric digital data processing, covering 68.0% of the 103 records in scope, reflecting how much of this technology is implemented as a digital feedback or control system rather than a purely mechanical device. Signalling and alarm systems (G08B, 18.4%) and educational or demonstration aids (G09B, 12.6%) are the next largest groupings. Smaller but active branches include surgical and diagnostic applications (A61B), physical therapy (A61H), vehicle interfaces (B60K), control mechanisms (G05G), and electrophonic musical instruments (G10H), each under 7% of records.
The United States receives the most filings in this dataset at 31, followed by the European Patent Office at 19 and the WIPO/PCT route at 14. India (12), China (8) and the United Kingdom (4) follow at lower volumes. This distribution suggests that applicants filing in this space prioritise US and European enforcement first, using the PCT route to preserve broader international options before committing to national phase filings elsewhere.
US20230252866A1 describes an assistive sleeve, filed by Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University and published in 2023, that combines a vibrotactile actuator array with thermal units on a flexible forearm casing for blind navigation. It uses the actuators specifically for obstacle detection via a customizable encoding format, keeping directional cues on a separate thermal channel. That split between tactile and thermal encoding for different information types is a useful reference point for anyone drafting claims around multi-modal wearable feedback, since it shows one way applicants are already dividing function within a single array-based device.
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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.