Machine Vision System Patent Landscape 2026
Machine Vision System Patent Landscape in 2026
The machine vision system patent space spans 1,093 patent families, with a moderate concentration among a small group of portfolio entities and industrial specialists. The field has plateaued near its 2019 peak, with the United States as the dominant filing jurisdiction and robotics-control integration as the core technology axis.
Portfolio aggregators lead, with industrial specialists forming a distinct second tier
Strong Force VCN Portfolio 2019 LLC holds the top position with 76 patent families, followed closely by Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016 LLC with 67 and Fastbrick IP Pty Ltd with 56. The top five applicants together account for 25% of the combined total among the hundred largest filers, signaling moderate rather than hyper-concentrated control.
A clear tier gap exists between the top three portfolio-oriented entities and the broader industrial players below them. Kimberly-Clark Worldwide (53 families) and. The Boeing Co (40 families) anchor a second tier of domain-specific filers, while names from rank six onward drop to 37 families or fewer.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strong Force VCN Portfolio 2019 LLC | 76 | |
| 2 | Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016 LLC | 67 | |
| 3 | Fastbrick IP Pty Ltd | 56 | |
| 4 | Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Inc | 53 | |
| 5 | The Boeing Company | 40 | |
| 6 | Outrider Technologies Inc | 37 | |
| 7 | Liberty Robotics Inc | 37 | |
| 8 | Procemex | 32 | |
| 9 | Cognex Corporation | 32 | |
| 10 | iRobot Corporation | 31 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Carnegie Mellon University | 26 | |
| 12 | MACDONALD DETTWILER & ASSOC INC | 24 | |
| 13 | ABB (Schweiz) AG | 23 | |
| 14 | Mitutoyo Corporation | 22 | |
| 15 | DP World UAE Region FZE | 20 | |
| 16 | Relativity Space Inc | 18 | |
| 17 | Ascend Robotics LLC | 17 | |
| 18 | Blackdot Inc | 16 | |
| 19 | Magna International Inc | 15 | |
| 20 | Makeblock Hong Kong Holding Ltd | 14 |
The leadership of two Strong Force portfolio vehicles suggests that a significant portion of the top-ranked IP is held for licensing or assertion purposes rather than direct commercialization, which has implications for freedom-to-operate and licensing risk assessments. Industrial practitioners such as Cognex Corp, iRobot Corp, and ABB (Schweiz) AG appear further down the ranking but represent operational deployment expertise.
Filing counts for 2024–2026 are likely under-reported due to typical patent publication delays of 18–24 months; conclusions about recent trends should be drawn cautiously for that window. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity peaked in 2019 and 2022, with robotics and control systems dominating the technology mix
The annual filing trend and the IPC technology composition together reveal a maturing field with a broad but robot-centric technical base. Reading them together helps identify where incremental investment is dense and where adjacent branches remain comparatively sparse.
Annual filing trend
Filings surged to a first peak of 188 families in 2019, fell back in 2020, then recovered to a second peak of 183 in 2022 before easing to 151 in 2023. Figures for 2024 onward reflect publication lag and should not be read as a sustained decline. The dual-peak pattern is consistent with a field that absorbed a broad set of industrial IoT and robotics claims across two waves of innovation.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
Manipulators and robots (B25J) and control and regulating systems (G05B) are by far the most densely populated branches, reflecting the tight coupling between machine vision and robotic guidance. Image data processing (G06T), business and administrative data processing (G06Q), and AI-model computing (G06N) form a secondary cluster, while conveying and material handling (B65G), dimensional measurement (G01B), and additive manufacturing (B33Y) show meaningful but lower volumes, indicating application-specific build-outs.
↗ 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.
Method and system for interactively developing a g…
A method and system are provided for interactively developing a graphical, control-flow structure and associated application software for use in a machine vision system using a computer system without the need for a user to write any code. Preferably, the method and system "marry" the ActiveX control standard and the Grafcet/IEC 1131 standard. The structure… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Methods and systems for data collection, learning,… | 960 |
| 2 | Platform for facilitating development of intellige… | 721 |
| 3 | Intelligent vibration digital twin systems and met… | 694 |
| 4 | System and method for monitoring and managing equi… | 517 |
| 5 | Methods and systems for data collection, learning,… | 506 |
| 6 | Robotic storage buffer system for substrate carrie… | 485 |
| 7 | System and method for servoing robots based upon w… | 381 |
| 8 | Industrial digital twin systems and methods with e… | 376 |
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
Four structural dimensions — maturity, concentration, collaboration, and geography — each carry distinct implications for teams deciding where to direct development effort and IP spend.
Field is at or near plateau, with annual volume eased from its 2019 peak
The lifecycle stage is assessed as Maturity, with annual filings having plateaued near their peak. Teams entering now face a dense prior-art landscape in the core robotics-guidance space. Differentiation requires moving into adjacent or application-specific branches rather than competing head-on in the saturated B25J and G05B classes.
Mature fieldModerate top-5 concentration, with a notable portfolio-holder overhang
The top five filers hold 25% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total. Two of those five are non-practicing portfolio entities, meaning a disproportionate share of high-ranked IP may be available for licensing or subject to assertion. Industrial filers — Boeing, Kimberly-Clark, Cognex, iRobot — cluster in the second and third tiers, leaving room for focused technical players to build defensible positions in under-served branches.
Moderate concentrationCo-filing activity is minimal; iRobot and Raytheon BBN Technologies are the sole identified co-filers
Evidence shows one recorded co-filing relationship: iRobot Corporation and Raytheon BBN Technologies, with a single jointly filed patent family. This near-absence of collaborative IP activity suggests the field is dominated by proprietary, siloed development rather than consortium or joint-venture approaches. Organizations seeking ecosystem partnerships may find relatively open ground for structuring formal R&D alliances.
Low collaborationUS-centric filing base, with Europe and PCT as secondary protection routes
The United States leads decisively as the primary filing jurisdiction. Europe via the EPO and WIPO PCT filings form the next tier, while China, Canada, and Australia each show meaningful but substantially lower coverage. The comparatively thin presence in China and Japan relative to the technology’s global deployment is a notable gap, suggesting that IP protection strategies in those markets may be under-resourced by current filers.
US-dominantGo 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.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| iRobot Corporation | Raytheon BBN Technologies | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Strong Force VCN leads by volume; Liberty Reach Inc is the sharpest new entrant by momentum
The ranking is shaped by two distinct player types: portfolio aggregators that hold large, cross-sector claim sets, and operationally focused companies with narrower but technically deep filing programs. Momentum data reveals diverging trajectories within the top tier.
Strong Force VCN Portfolio 2019 LLC
The top-ranked filer holds 76 patent families and shows a sharply rising trajectory, with recent filings running at 3.8× the level of the prior three-year period. Its technical emphasis spans business and administrative data processing (G06Q), manipulators and robots (B25J), and control systems (G05B), pointing to a broad industrial automation claim set oriented toward licensing across multiple verticals.
families: 76Liberty Reach Inc
Liberty Reach Inc enters as a new entrant with 25 patent families in the most recent period and no prior three-year baseline, making it the highest-momentum new filer in the corpus. Its technical focus is tightly concentrated on image data processing (G06T) and manipulators and robots (B25J), complemented by dimensional measurement (G01B), which reflects a core machine vision guidance and metrology positioning — a more operationally specific profile than the portfolio aggregators above it.
families: 25 (recent)| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Strong Force VCN Portfolio 2019 LLC | 60 | ▲ 3.8× vs prior 3-yr |
| Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016 LLC | 26 | ▼ -40% |
| Fastbrick IP Pty Ltd | 12 | ▼ -40% |
| Outrider Technologies Inc | 18 | ▲ +20% |
| Liberty Reach Inc | 25 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches adjacent to the dominant robotics core
Several IPC branches intersect technically with machine vision but carry materially lower filing counts relative to the dominant B25J and G05B classes. These are observations of relative sparsity; whether they represent actionable opportunities depends on technical fit and competitive context.
G06N · Computing based on AI models
With 162 patent records, AI-model computing is notably sparse relative to the volume of image processing and robotic control activity in the corpus. Given that deep-learning-based inference is now central to industrial visual inspection and defect detection, this gap suggests that machine-vision-specific AI model architectures, training pipelines, and edge-inference optimizations remain comparatively under-claimed. Teams with expertise in embedded or real-time neural inference have a plausible entry path by targeting application-specific AI model claims tied to visual quality control or robotic scene understanding.
Search this in Eureka →G06V · Image/video recognition
Image and video recognition (G06V) accounts for only 88 patent records despite being the most direct IPC classification for machine vision output interpretation. This relative sparsity alongside the much larger G06T (image data processing) and B25J (robotics) counts suggests that higher-level semantic recognition — object classification, scene parsing, anomaly detection — is under-protected as a standalone capability. Applicants focused on vision-based quality assurance in manufacturing or logistics could find defensible space here, particularly at the intersection of G06V and B65G (conveying and material handling).
Search this in Eureka →How leading filers differ by technology route emphasis
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | B25J 9 · Manipulators & robots | G05B 19 · Control & regulating systems | B25J 19 · Manipulators & robots | G06T 7 · Image data processing & generation | B25J 15 · Manipulators & robots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strong Force VCN Portfolio 2019 LLC | Strong · 51 | Strong · 46 | Absent | Moderate · 21 | Absent |
| Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Inc | Absent | Strong · 52 | Absent | Moderate · 19 | Absent |
| Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016 LLC | Absent | Strong · 70 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Liberty Reach Inc | Strong · 31 | Absent | Absent | Strong · 32 | Absent |
| Fastbrick IP Pty Ltd | Strong · 40 | Absent | Moderate · 14 | Absent | Absent |
| MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Inc | Strong · 18 | Absent | Strong · 13 | Absent | Strong · 18 |
| Blackdot Inc | Strong · 16 | Strong · 14 | Absent | Absent | Strong · 14 |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 1,093 patent families. Filing counts for 2024 and later are likely under-reported due to standard patent publication delays and should not be interpreted as a decline in activity.
Strong Force VCN Portfolio 2019 LLC leads with 76 patent families, followed by Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016 LLC with 67 and Fastbrick IP Pty Ltd with 56. The top two are non-practicing portfolio entities, which has implications for licensing risk.
Manipulators and robots (B25J) is the most heavily represented IPC class, followed by control and regulating systems (G05B) and image data processing (G06T). This reflects the close integration of machine vision with robotic guidance and process automation.
The United States is the primary jurisdiction, followed by Europe via the EPO and WIPO PCT. China, Canada, and Australia each have meaningful but substantially lower coverage, suggesting potential under-protection in key manufacturing markets.
The field is assessed as Mature. Annual filings have plateaued near their peak, with peaks recorded in 2019 and 2022. Teams entering now face a dense prior-art environment in the core robotics and control-system classes.
AI-model computing (G06N) with 162 patent records and image and video recognition (G06V) with 88 patent records are notably sparse relative to the dominant classes, despite being technically central to modern machine vision applications. These represent areas where focused, application-specific filings may encounter less prior-art density.
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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.