This landscape covers 512 published records filed or published between 2015 and the mid-2026 data cut-off, filtered to documents that also address process-engineering concerns such as fluence thresholds, fume extraction or scanning strategy. Annual filings rose from 3 in 2017 to a peak of 55 in 2022, and stood at 36 in 2024, the most recent year that can be treated as complete. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.

The ranking spans 100 assignees counted in records, with the leading filer holding 46 records against 20 at fifth place and 11 at tenth. The top 5 assignees combined account for 150 records, or 29.3% of all 512 records in scope, and the top 10 account for 43.2%. That leaves a long tail of assignees with only a handful of filings each, so most of the field is not held by a single dominant player outside that leading group.

Both terms are search inputs into the same 512-record set rather than separate categories with their own counts; the underlying claims frequently overlap because the same fluence-control and scanning-strategy techniques apply to rust, paint and general surface contamination removal. The clearer technical split in the data is by IPC subclass: B23K-tagged records (44.1%) tend toward surface preparation for welding or joining, while B08B-tagged records (28.7%) skew toward general cleaning applications. A given record can, and often does, sit in both.