Laser Lighting Phosphor Patent Snapshot 2026
The laser lighting phosphor field is a nascent, highly concentrated space where Signify Holding BV holds a dominant position across the twelve patent families in scope. The field is still expanding on a multi-year basis, with annual volume having eased from its 2021 peak, making this an early-stage arena with meaningful room for new entrants.
Signify dominates a nascent, highly concentrated field
Signify Holding BV leads the laser lighting phosphor ranking with 9 patent families, followed at a significant distance by Kyocera SLD Laser Inc with 2 patent families, and three organizations — Xiamen University, IDEC Corp, and Nitto Denko Corp — each holding 1 patent family.
The top five filers collectively account for the entire combined total of the ranked applicants visible in this query, indicating extreme concentration. The tier gap between Signify and the rest of the field is wide: the nearest challenger holds fewer than a quarter of Signify’s count.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Signify Holding BV | 9 | |
| 2 | Kyocera SLD Laser Inc | 2 | |
| 3 | Xiamen University | 1 | |
| 4 | IDEC Corporation | 1 | |
| 5 | Nitto Denko Corporation | 1 |
Signify’s dominance, concentrated in lighting device components and LED-adjacent light source classes, suggests that any entrant must either differentiate by technology route or jurisdiction to avoid direct conflict with an established blocking portfolio.
Filing counts for the most recent 18–24 months are likely understated due to standard patent publication lag; the apparent quiet in 2023–2026 should not be read as a loss of activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity peaked in 2021 and the technology mix is dominated by lighting device components
Two charts capture the pace and composition of the field: the annual filing trend reveals the growth trajectory, while the IPC branch breakdown shows where technical effort is concentrated and where gaps remain.
Annual filing trend
Filings were negligible before 2018, surged to a local peak in 2021 with 4 families, and have continued at a moderate pace in subsequent years. The field is still expanding on a multi-year basis — recent-window growth is up roughly 50% versus the prior window — though annual volume has eased from its 2021 peak. Years from 2024 onward are further understated by publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
F21V (lighting device components) accounts for the largest share of records, followed by F21K (light sources including LED) and F21Y (light-source form index). Semiconductor device classes (H01L) and laser/stimulated-emission classes (H01S) each appear at lower frequency, reflecting the intersection of photonics and solid-state device engineering. Materials (C09K), positioning/sensing (G01S), and non-portable lighting structures (F21S) are the least-represented branches, flagging potential adjacent white space.
↗ 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.
A laser lighting device
A laser light source comprises a laser source and a ceramic phosphor tile having a light entry face for receiving laser light from the laser source for laser pumping by the laser light. A reflective coating is formed over a face opposite the light entry face. A metal layer is provided between a heat sink and the ceramic phosphor tile, wherein the metal… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Light-source apparatus and lighting apparatus | 76 |
| 2 | Integrated laser lighting and lidar system | 44 |
| 3 | Integrated laser lighting and LIDAR system | 22 |
| 4 | Eye safe laser lighting system using built in safety | 5 |
| 5 | 一种面向激光照明应用的低色温高显色指数的封装方法 | 1 |
| 6 | Eye safe laser lighting system using built in safety | 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 9 patent families, the large majority of the corpus, concentrated in F21V (lighting device components), F21K (light sources), and F21V25 (auxiliary components). Its applicant momentum is flagged as a new entrant trend, suggesting this portfolio was assembled in a recent burst rather than through decades of incremental filing — consistent with the field’s post-2020 activity spike. The breadth of its IPC coverage within lighting system architecture makes it the de facto standard-setter in this niche.
families: 9Kyocera SLD Laser Inc
Kyocera SLD Laser holds 2 patent families and distinguishes itself by combining F21K (light sources) and F21V29 (thermal management components) with G01S17 (LiDAR/positioning), directly echoing the top-cited patent theme of integrated laser lighting and LiDAR systems. This dual-use positioning — solid-state lighting plus sensing — represents a technically distinct route from Signify’s pure-lighting focus and aligns with automotive and autonomous-system applications.
families: 2Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 12 patent families in scope across all jurisdictions reviewed.
Signify Holding BV leads with 9 patent families, representing the large majority of the corpus. The next-largest filer, Kyocera SLD Laser Inc, holds 2 patent families.
The United States leads with 6 records, followed by EPO with 3, WIPO (PCT) with 2, and China and Japan with 1 each. Asian jurisdictions are notably thin relative to the presence of major phosphor manufacturers in that region.
The field is classified as Growth: recent three-year filing volume sits approximately 50% above the prior three-year window. Annual volume eased from a 2021 peak, but the multi-year trend remains upward; recent-year counts are also understated by publication lag.
F21V (lighting device components) is the most represented branch. The least-covered branches are F21S (non-portable lighting devices) with 1 record, G01S (radar/positioning) with 2, and C09K (materials for misc. applications) with 3 — all potential areas of relative sparsity.
Collaboration is minimal. The only documented co-filing relationship is between Nitto Denko Corp and IDEC Corp, sharing 1 jointly filed patent family. No broader multi-party consortium activity is evident in the current corpus.
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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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