Infrared Sensor Patent Landscape 2026
Infrared Sensor Patent Landscape in 2026
The infrared sensor patent field spans 9,860 patent families and is moderately concentrated, with Samsung Electronics holding the largest individual position and radar/positioning technology dominating the technical mix. Activity peaked in 2020 and has since eased, placing the field in a post-peak phase with selective pockets of growth among defense and automotive-sensing players.
Samsung leads a moderately concentrated field with clear tier gaps
Samsung Electronics holds the top position with 485 patent families, followed by GM Cruise Holdings at 286 and Baidu USA at 227 — a ranking that reflects the convergence of consumer electronics, autonomous vehicle, and defense interests in infrared sensing.
The top five filers account for 20% of the combined total across the hundred largest filers, indicating moderate rather than extreme concentration. A visible tier gap separates the top four players from the remainder of the top ten, suggesting that mid-tier challengers face a meaningful catch-up distance.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 485 | |
| 2 | GM Cruise Holdings LLC | 286 | |
| 3 | Baidu USA LLC | 227 | |
| 4 | LG Electronics Inc | 222 | |
| 5 | Qualcomm Inc | 219 | |
| 6 | Raytheon Co | 196 | |
| 7 | Honeywell International Inc | 164 | |
| 8 | Robert Bosch GmbH | 139 | |
| 9 | Mitsubishi Electric Corp | 133 | |
| 10 | Lockheed Martin Corp | 116 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Vivo Mobile Communication Co., Ltd. | 108 | |
| 12 | Panasonic Holdings Corp | 102 | |
| 13 | Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corp | 97 | |
| 14 | Fluke Corp | 96 | |
| 15 | Hughes Aircraft Co | 95 | |
| 16 | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 92 | |
| 17 | The Boeing Co | 90 | |
| 18 | Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. | 89 | |
| 19 | Google LLC | 84 | |
| 20 | Ningkasai Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. | 83 |
The breadth of the leader set — spanning consumer electronics, autonomous driving, telecom, and defense — means no single application domain owns the field; entrants with a focused application thesis can carve defensible positions without directly confronting the full breadth of any single leader.
Filing counts for 2024–2026 understate true activity due to typical patent publication lag; apparent declines in those years should not be read as a real reduction in inventive output. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity peaked in 2020; radar/positioning and material analysis dominate the technology mix
The annual filing trend reveals a field that expanded from 2017 through a 2020 peak and has since contracted, while the IPC branch distribution shows heavy concentration in radar/positioning and material-analysis classes alongside a long tail of adjacent application areas.
Annual filing trend
Annual families rose from 1,216 in 2017 to a peak of 1,484 in 2020, then declined through 2022 and continued lower through 2023. Figures for 2024 onward are substantially under-counted due to publication lag and should be treated as provisional floors, not real trend values.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
Material analysis and testing (G01N) and radar, sonar and positioning (G01S) together account for the two largest IPC classes by record count, reflecting infrared sensing’s dual role in spectroscopic analysis and range-finding. Radiation and light measurement (G01J), pictorial communication (H04N), and diagnosis and surgery (A61B) form a meaningful secondary tier, illustrating how broadly infrared sensing has diffused into imaging, medical, and control applications.
↗ 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.
Methods, apparatus, and systems for processing a s…
Methods, apparatus, and systems for substrate processing are provided. Apparatus can include a controller; a processing chamber; a substrate supporting a substrate; and an infrared sensor assembly disposed adjacent the substrate support and comprising: a sample chamber one of made from or coated with nickel or nickel alloy and configured to collect… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Asset system control arrangement and method | 1,776 |
| 2 | Implantable sensor and system for in vivo measurem… | 1,621 |
| 3 | High temperature continuous viscometry coupled wit… | 1,274 |
| 4 | Accident avoidance system | 1,258 |
| 5 | Method and device for predicting physiological val… | 1,144 |
| 6 | Noninvasive measurement of chemical substances | 1,097 |
| 7 | Optical and electrical methods and apparatus for m… | 1,030 |
| 8 | Method for determining the compositional distribut… | 962 |
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.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of a post-peak filing rate, moderate concentration, and a diverse application mix creates distinct strategic signals for teams deciding where to allocate sensing R&D budgets.
Post-peak field with selective pockets of momentum
The lifecycle evidence classifies the field as in decline, with annual filings easing back from their 2020 peak. The multi-year window still reflects a large accumulated body of prior art, meaning new entrants must differentiate on application specificity or sub-technology depth. Raytheon’s momentum profile — flagged as a new entrant in recent filings — illustrates that defense-oriented sub-segments can still attract fresh commitment even as aggregate volume contracts.
Post-peak · 2020 apexModerate top-tier concentration with a long active tail
The top five filers hold 20% of the combined volume of the hundred largest filers, a level that is notable but not monopolistic. A significant gap separates the four-strong leading tier (Samsung, GM Cruise, Baidu, LG) from the next cohort, meaning second-tier players need either a differentiated application focus or partnership scale to close the distance. The breadth of the top-20 list — spanning automotive, defense, telecom, and life sciences — confirms that the field remains contestable across verticals.
Moderate concentrationNo co-applicant signals detected in this dataset
The collaboration evidence is pending for this topic; no co-filing pairs were returned in the evidence set. The absence of visible co-applicant activity among the leading filers suggests that the dominant players are filing independently rather than through formal research consortia. Teams targeting partnership or licensing plays should conduct direct outreach rather than relying on observed co-filing patterns.
Evidence pendingUS-centric filing with meaningful EPO and PCT coverage
The United States is the primary filing jurisdiction by a wide margin, followed by Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT). Canada, China, Australia, and Japan form a secondary tier. South Korea appears further down the list despite being home to the top applicant, Samsung, indicating that international protection strategies for this technology weight North America and Europe heavily. Teams seeking freedom-to-operate or licensing leverage should prioritize US and EPO searches.
US-dominant · EPO secondaryGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Samsung and GM Cruise lead on radar/positioning; Qualcomm is the only top-eight filer with a rising trajectory
The two dominant players share a heavy focus on radar, sonar, and positioning sub-classes, but differ in trajectory: Samsung is contracting while GM Cruise is declining more slowly. Among the broader top eight, Qualcomm is the only filer showing recent growth.
Samsung Electronics
Samsung holds 485 patent families, the largest position in the corpus. Its technical emphasis concentrates on radar, sonar, and positioning sub-classes G01S 13, G01S 7, and G01S 17 — all three sub-classes in its top three. Recent-period filings show a downward trend of –29%, suggesting the company is selectively consolidating its infrared-sensing portfolio rather than expanding it.
families: 485Qualcomm
Qualcomm holds 219 patent families and is the only player among the top eight exhibiting recent growth, with a +10% uptick in recent-period filings. Its technical focus mirrors the field’s dominant positioning theme — G01S 13, G01S 7, and G01S 5 — but its telecom heritage differentiates it from pure-sensing incumbents, positioning it as a cross-domain challenger worth monitoring.
families: 219| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 115 | ▼ -29% |
| GM Cruise Holdings LLC | 130 | ▼ -9% |
| LG Electronics Inc | 7 | ▼ -89% |
| Baidu USA LLC | 13 | ▼ -90% |
| Qualcomm Inc | 65 | ▲ +10% |
| Raytheon Co | 13 | ▲ new entrant |
| Honeywell International Inc | 17 | ▼ -15% |
| Robert Bosch GmbH | 10 | ▼ -62% |
Radiation measurement, medical diagnosis, and image processing are under-served relative to field scale
Compared with the dominant radar/positioning and material-analysis classes, several adjacent IPC branches show materially lower filing shares despite plausible technical value and established application demand.
G01J · Radiation & light measurement
This class holds a 4% share of IPC records relative to the corpus, well below G01N and G01S, even though precise infrared radiation measurement underpins pyrometry, gas sensing, and non-contact temperature monitoring. The relative sparsity may reflect fragmentation across assignee types rather than low commercial demand. An entrant with a novel detector architecture or calibration method could find less-crowded claim space here compared with the radar-dominated core.
Search this in Eureka →A61B · Diagnosis & surgery
Medical diagnosis and surgery applications account for a 3% share of IPC records, despite the well-established use of near-infrared spectroscopy in non-invasive diagnostics, surgical guidance, and patient monitoring. Several highly-cited patents in the corpus cover non-invasive chemical measurement and physiological prediction, suggesting foundational prior art exists but the competitive filing density remains lower than in automotive or defense. A team targeting clinical-grade infrared sensing — particularly in wearable or point-of-care form factors — faces a less-saturated IPC branch.
Search this in Eureka →How the leading filers differ by IPC sub-class emphasis
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | G01N 21 · Material analysis & testing | G01N 33 · Material analysis & testing | G01S 17 · Radar, sonar & positioning | G01S 13 · Radar, sonar & positioning | G01S 7 · Radar, sonar & positioning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM Cruise Holdings LLC | Absent | Absent | Strong · 131 | Strong · 146 | Strong · 186 |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Moderate · 37 | Absent | Strong · 104 | Strong · 136 | Strong · 108 |
| Baidu USA LLC | Absent | Absent | Strong · 147 | Moderate · 53 | Strong · 103 |
| Digital Global Systems Inc | Absent | Absent | Strong · 67 | Strong · 67 | Strong · 68 |
| LG Electronics Inc | Absent | Absent | Strong · 96 | Moderate · 47 | Moderate · 37 |
| Qualcomm Inc | Absent | Absent | Absent | Strong · 82 | Strong · 74 |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 9,860 patent families in scope for infrared sensor technology.
Samsung Electronics holds the top position with 485 patent families, ahead of GM Cruise Holdings at 286 and Baidu USA at 227.
Annual filing volume reached its highest point in 2020 at 1,484 families and has declined since. Figures for 2024 and later are understated due to publication lag and should not be read as the full picture of recent activity.
Material analysis and testing (G01N) and radar, sonar, and positioning (G01S) are the two largest IPC classes by record count. Radiation and light measurement (G01J), pictorial communication (H04N), and medical diagnosis (A61B) form a substantial secondary tier.
The United States is the leading jurisdiction by a wide margin, followed by Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT). Canada, China, Australia, and Japan form a secondary tier of protection.
Among the top eight applicants tracked for momentum, Qualcomm is the only filer with a positive recent trend, showing a +10% increase in its recent filing period. Raytheon is flagged as a new entrant in the recent period, though this reflects activity from a small prior base.
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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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