Measurement Science Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 32.7% concentration at the top. The five most active assignees account for 287 of the 878 records in scope, but the remaining filers form a long tail of single- and low-count entrants.
- Growth has flattened, not collapsed. Filings moved from 54 in 2021 to 52 in 2024, a -4% change over that span, after peaking at 121 in 2023.
- Material analysis dominates the claim map. G01N (material analysis & testing) touches 18.6% of records, well ahead of G01B dimensional measurement at 11.8%, showing where prior art is thickest.
Filing growth compares 2021 (54 records) with 2024 (52) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 878 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 878 published patent records filed or published between 2015 and the 2026 cut-off, drawn from filings that combine measurement-science or sensor-metrology language with claims around sensor signal processing, calibration reference, measurement error, detection threshold, measurement range, or sensor array. The search string is deliberately broad across instrumentation and diagnostic hardware, which is why classes as different as optical control (G02F) and diagnosis & surgery (A61B) both show up with meaningful share.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend chart will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be. Read the 2025-2026 tail as incomplete, not as a slowdown.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 878-record corpus: how filing activity has moved year over year, and how those records distribute across IPC subclasses.
Filing activity, 2017-2026
Filings rose from 42 in 2017 to a peak of 121 in 2023, then eased to 52 by 2024, a -4% change from the 54 filed in 2021. The 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in due to publication lag and should not be read as a decline.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
G01N (material analysis & testing) leads at 18.6% of the 878 records, followed by G06Q (business/commerce data processing) at 13.2% and G01B (length & dimension measurement) at 11.8%. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should not be summed against each other.
Shares are the percentage of the 878 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
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Try EurekaA representative record and the most-cited work in the field
Multiplexed sensor array (US20080121045A1)
A sensor array includes a plurality of q sensors, a common output lead electrically connected to each sensor, a plurality of m primary input leads each primary input lead electrically connected to n of the plurality of sensors, and a plurality of n secondary input leads each secondary input lead electrically connected to m of the plurality of sensors. The number of sensors q=m·n, m is at least 2, n is at least 2, and each sensor is electrically connected to one of the plurality of primary input leads and one of the plurality of secondary input leads.Filed by The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, published 2008-05-29 — predates most of the corpus and establishes an early multiplexed-array architecture that later filings in this space have had to design around.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20230123322A1 | Predictive Model Data Stream Prioritization | 338 |
| 2 | US20230206329A1 | Transaction platforms where systems include sets of other systems | 236 |
| 3 | US6813931B2 | Nanocomposite devices and related nanotechnology | 208 |
| 4 | US20230214925A1 | Transaction platforms where systems include sets of other systems | 205 |
| 5 | US20220245574A1 | Systems, Methods, Kits, and Apparatuses for Digital Product Network Systems and Biology-Based Value Chain Net… | 193 |
| 6 | US20090138059A1 | Heart Defibrillator With Contactless ECG Sensor For Diagnostics/Effectivity Feedback | 182 |
| 7 | US20060072875A1 | Transverse closed-loop resonator | 170 |
| 8 | US20230222454A1 | Artificial-Intelligence-Based Preventative Maintenance for Robotic Fleet | 140 |
| 9 | US20230173395A1 | Systems and methods with integrated gaming engines and smart contracts | 132 |
| 10 | US20140002617A1 | Particle tracking system and method | 132 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate them inside this searched corpus — treat them as a signal of influence, not of current technical relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three readings of the same 878-record dataset, each pointing at a different decision a filer or licensing team needs to make.
The top of the field is concentrated, the rest is a long tail
Five assignees hold 287 of the 878 records in scope, a 32.7% share, while the ranked list runs to 100 companies with the fifth-place holder at only 19 records and the tenth at 11. Below the leaders, filing activity thins out quickly into single- and double-digit counts.
Growth has flattened after a 2023 peak
Filings peaked at 121 in 2023 before easing toward 52 in 2024, a -4% change from the 54 filed in 2021. That is a plateau, not a retreat — the leading assignees in the momentum data show flat or zero recent-year activity, consistent with a maturing filing cycle rather than fresh entrants pulling back.
Material analysis and testing carries the heaviest claim load
G01N (material analysis & testing) appears in 18.6% of the 878 records, ahead of G06Q business-process claims at 13.2% and G01B dimensional measurement at 11.8%. New filers aiming at material-analysis claim language are entering the densest part of the map.
Filing activity skews toward the US and EPO routes
The United States receives 327 records, ahead of the EPO at 159 and WIPO/PCT at 114, with Germany, Israel and Austria each in the 30-50 range. That distribution suggests most applicants are securing US and European coverage first, then extending selectively.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to measurement science & metrology patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape and where the openings sit
The ranked list covers 100 companies drawn from the 878 records in scope. A handful of names dominate the top of that ranking, but the recent-year momentum data shows even the leaders posting flat or zero activity in the latest year — a sign the corpus is settling rather than being reshaped by a new front-runner.
A single assignee sits well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 107 records against a fifth-place figure of 19 and a tenth-place figure of 11 — a steep drop-off that marks this as a field with one dominant filer rather than a tight cluster of equals.
The mid-tier thins out fast
By the fifth-ranked assignee, counts have already dropped to 19 records, and by tenth place to 11. Below that the ranking runs through many single-digit filers, which is typical of a field built from instrumentation specialists rather than a handful of platform holders.
Several top-ranked assignees show zero recent-year activity
Multiple leading assignees, including the top-ranked filer, show 0 filings in the latest year with some recording a -100% year-on-year change. Given the 18-month publication lag, this understates true recent activity but still suggests the very top of the ranking is not where the next filing wave will come from.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Strong Force VCN Portfolio 2019 LLC | 0 | -100% |
| ASML Netherlands B.V. | 0 | — |
| STRONG FORCE TX PORTFOLIO 2018 LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec AG | 0 | — |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc. | 0 | — |
| NeuroTrigger | 0 | — |
| Altratech Ltd | 0 | — |
| OTraces Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a dominant early filer, a thinning mid-tier, and claim density concentrated in a few IPC classes. The next step is usually to test a specific claim idea against that density rather than read the trend lines alone.
Stress-test a claim against the densest classes
Run a candidate claim through the G01N and G01B claim space directly to see what prior art it would actually need to distinguish from, rather than relying on the aggregate share figures.
Explore in EurekaTrack the leaders' momentum, not just their totals
The top-ranked assignees show flat or zero latest-year activity; a monitoring workflow that flags renewed filing from those names would catch a shift before it shows up in annual totals.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
One assignee leads the ranked list with 107 of the 878 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 19 and the tenth-place holder at 11. The top five assignees combined hold 287 records, a 32.7% share of the corpus, but the ranking runs to 100 companies and thins into single-digit counts quickly below the top ten. This points to a field with one dominant filer rather than several closely matched competitors.
Filings peaked at 121 in 2023 and eased to 52 by 2024, a -4% change from the 54 filed in 2021 — best read as a plateau rather than a decline. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend chart are still incomplete and will rise as more records publish. Judge momentum from the 2021-2024 window, not from the most recent one or two years.
G01N, material analysis and testing, appears in 18.6% of the 878 records and is the single most heavily claimed IPC subclass in this corpus. G06Q (business and commerce data processing) follows at 13.2% and G01B (length and dimension measurement) at 11.8%, with optical classes G02F and G02B each above 9%. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, these percentages add up to more than 100% and should be read as individual class shares, not as parts of one whole.
The densest claim areas sit in material analysis (G01N) and dimensional measurement (G01B), which means adjacent, less-claimed combinations — such as AI-assisted calibration referencing, multiplexed sensor-array signal routing, and cross-domain detection-threshold adaptation — carry comparatively thin coverage relative to their technical adjacency. That thinness is a filing opportunity, not evidence the technology is unworkable; high density elsewhere in the corpus simply means that claim space is occupied. Any white-space claim still needs to be checked against the specific prior art in its class before filing.
No — a high filing count in a class such as G01N indicates that claim space is occupied, not that the underlying technology is mature, safe, or commercially validated. Citation counts inside this corpus also skew toward older records simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations, so a highly cited filing signals influence within the searched set rather than current technical importance. Both metrics are useful for freedom-to-operate work, but neither substitutes for a technical maturity assessment.
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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.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.