Laser Human-Centric Lighting Patent Snapshot 2026
The laser human-centric lighting patent space is small and sharply concentrated, with Signify Holding BV holding a commanding position among a total of 13 patent families in scope. Annual volume peaked in 2021 and has since eased, signalling a field that remains niche but structurally defined by a handful of lighting-industry majors.
Signify dominates a tightly held, nascent patent space
Signify Holding BV holds 8 patent families, by far the largest position in this corpus. The next-ranked filers — Guangzhou Unionlux Electronics Tech and Kyocera SLD Laser — each hold 2 patent families, less than a quarter of the leader’s count.
The top five filers collectively account for 93% of the combined output of the ranked applicants visible in this query, an unusually high concentration that reflects the early, specialist nature of this application area. There is a pronounced tier gap between Signify and every other participant.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Signify Holding BV | 8 | |
| 2 | Guangzhou Unionlux Electronics Tech Co Ltd | 2 | |
| 3 | Kyocera SLD Laser Inc | 2 | |
| 4 | Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences | 1 | |
| 5 | Lumileds Holding BV | 1 | |
| 6 | Koninklijke Philips NV | 1 |
Signify’s dominance across lighting device components (F21V) and light-source classifications (F21K, F21Y) implies that the foundational architecture for laser-based human-centric luminaires is already substantially claimed. New entrants would need to differentiate at the system integration or application layer to avoid the core IP.
Filing counts for the most recent 12–24 months are subject to publication lag and may understate current activity; the apparent absence of filings in 2026 should not be read as a cessation of R&D. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Irregular filing cadence with an F21K-dominant technology mix
The annual trend chart and the IPC composition chart together reveal a field that has grown in bursts rather than steadily, dominated by luminaire-oriented classifications rather than core laser physics.
Annual filing trend
Activity was sparse from 2017 to 2019, rose to a per-year peak in 2021, then dropped to zero visible filings in 2022–2023. Apparent filings re-appear in 2024, with the 2025–2026 data subject to publication lag. Read the post-2021 trough as a combination of genuine moderation and incomplete publication, not a definitive withdrawal of activity.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
F21K (light sources, non-electric and LED) is the most represented IPC class, followed by F21V (lighting device components) and F21Y (light-source form index). H01S (lasers and stimulated emission), G01S (radar, sonar and positioning), G02B (optical elements), and G03B (photographic apparatus) each appear at the margins, indicating that the corpus skews toward luminaire-level engineering rather than laser-source or sensing fundamentals.
↗ 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.
New configuration for eye-safe laser lighting usin…
The invention provides a light generating system (1000) comprising a first light generating device (110), a first depolarizing diffuser (410), a first polarizing beam splitter (PBS1), a first dichroic beam splitter (DBS1), a luminescent material (200), and a light exit (1090); wherein: (A) the first light generating device (110) is configured to provide… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Integrated laser lighting and lidar system | 44 |
| 2 | Integrated laser lighting and LIDAR system | 22 |
| 3 | Laser based lighting system and method | 7 |
| 4 | Eye safe laser lighting system using built in safety | 5 |
| 5 | 一种色温可调的激光照明系统 | 2 |
| 6 | Eye safe laser lighting system using built in safety | 1 |
| 7 | 一种色温可调的激光照明系统 | 1 |
| 8 | 高显色指数及色温可调的高光通量白光激光照明装置 | 1 |
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.
Signify Holding BV
Signify holds 8 patent families, the largest position in the corpus. Their technology focus spans F21K 9 (light sources), F21V 9, and F21V 7 (lighting device components), indicating a luminaire-architecture strategy that covers both the light-generation and optical-assembly layers. Applicant momentum data marks them as a new entrant in the most recent filing window, suggesting renewed or recently initiated activity after earlier filings.
Families: 8Kyocera SLD Laser Inc
Kyocera SLD Laser holds 2 patent families and is the only ranked applicant with meaningful coverage in G01S 17 (radar, sonar and positioning), alongside F21K 9 and F21V 29. This profile — combining laser lighting with LiDAR-adjacent positioning technology — is consistent with the most-cited patents in the corpus (integrated laser lighting and LiDAR systems) and positions Kyocera SLD as a specialist at the sensing-lighting convergence boundary rather than a broad luminaire player.
Families: 2Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 13 patent families in scope globally. This is a small, specialist corpus reflecting the early and niche status of laser-based human-centric lighting as a distinct application category.
Signify Holding BV leads with 8 patent families, more than all other ranked applicants combined. The next-ranked filers — Guangzhou Unionlux Electronics Tech and Kyocera SLD Laser — each hold 2 patent families.
The United States is the lead filing jurisdiction with 6 patent records, followed by WIPO PCT routes (4 records), China (3 records), and the European Patent Office (2 records).
The field is assessed as being in a decline phase, with annual filings easing back from the 2021 peak. Note that the most recent 12–24 months of data may be under-counted due to publication lag.
F21K (light sources, non-electric and LED) is the most represented branch, followed by F21V (lighting device components) and F21Y (light-source form index). H01S (lasers and stimulated emission), G01S, G02B, G03B, and F21S each appear at low levels — 2 patent records each — and represent the least-covered adjacent branches.
No co-applicant filing relationships are recorded in the evidence for this corpus. All identified applicants appear to have filed independently, which may reflect the proprietary nature of the technology or the small size of the active filer community.
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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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