MAP Process Automation Patents: Who Leads, Trends 2026
- Filing has plateaued, not grown. the trend runs from 3 filings in 2017 to a 2025 peak of 10, with the 2022 midpoint at 7 — flat-to-declining momentum rather than a rising curve.
- This is a control-systems fight, not a packaging-machinery one. G05B (control & regulating systems) touches 116 of 118 records, with G06F, H04L and G06N layered on top — the claims are about software and control loops, not seal geometry.
- The named leaders have gone quiet. every assignee tracked for recent-year momentum shows zero filings in the latest year, including a -100% YoY drop for one — the historical leaders are not the current filers.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families at the intersection of modified atmosphere packaging and process automation — gas-flushing control, tray-seal automation and the process-control logic (IPC classes B65B31/02, B65B57 and G05B19/418) that ties packaging hardware to a control loop. It is a narrow, applied slice: the search terms pull in general process-control patents that happen to cite MAP or gas-flushing use cases, alongside packaging-specific automation filings.
Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off, with 118 published records forming the full family set used in the assignee ranking. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2026 and late-2025 counts understate actual filing activity for those years and should be read as provisional.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 118-family set: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
A flat trend with one recent peak
Filings rose slowly from 3 in 2017 to a midpoint of 7 in 2022, then peaked at 10 in 2025 before the partial 2026 count of 4 — consistent with a mature, cyclical filing pattern rather than sustained growth. Read the last one to two years as undercounted given publication lag.
Control systems dominate the classification
G05B appears in 116 of 118 records, making this overwhelmingly a control-and-regulation filing set. G06F (42), H04L (27) and G06N (16) show software, networking and AI-model claims layered on top of that control core, while G06Q, H01L, B24B and H10P appear as smaller adjacent slices rather than primary claim territory.
Shares are the percentage of the 118 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Modified Atmosphere Packaging Process Automation with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about modified atmosphere packaging process automation and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited prior art in this corpus
Interface module for use with a fieldbus device network and with internet and non-internet based process control networks
An interface module is operatively connected to a Fieldbus process control network and to at least one non-Fieldbus process control network to facilitate the exchange of process control information between the networks. The interface module stores a database in which the process control parameters of the function blocks in the field devices of the Fieldbus process control network are mapped to corresponding process control parameters of the non-Fieldbus process control network.Filed by Rosemount Inc.; granted 2007-07-17. Its claims sit at the network-interface layer between fieldbus and non-fieldbus control systems, which is the layer most MAP line-automation retrofits have to cross.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5963447A | Multiple-agent hybrid control architecture for intelligent real-time control of distributed nonlinear process… | 198 |
| 2 | US6820070B2 | Method and tool for data mining in automatic decision making systems | 150 |
| 3 | US9804588B2 | Determining associations and alignments of process elements and measurements in a process | 147 |
| 4 | US20020193899A1 | Dynamic metrology schemes and sampling schemes for advanced process control in semiconductor processing | 132 |
| 5 | US20150261215A1 | Determining associations and alignments of process elements and measurements in a process | 111 |
| 6 | US5307346A | Network-field interface for manufacturing systems | 107 |
| 7 | US20040153594A1 | Interface module for use with a Modbus device network and a Fieldbus device network | 97 |
| 8 | US5659467A | Multiple model supervisor control system and method of operation | 82 |
| 9 | US20050066104A1 | Interface module for use with a fieldbus device network and with internet and non-internet based process cont… | 77 |
| 10 | US20160216706A1 | Commissioning field devices in a process control system supported by big data | 76 |
Citation counts favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations within the searched corpus; treat them as a signal of influence on the field's vocabulary, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three findings from the dataset that change where a team should and should not spend claim-drafting effort.
Growth has stalled after a 2025 spike
The climb from 3 filings in 2017 to a midpoint of 7 in 2022 looked like steady growth, but the 2025 peak of 10 followed by a partial 4 in 2026 reads more like a cyclical bump than a new wave. Treat 2026 as understated due to publication lag, but do not assume it will close the gap to 2025.
Control-loop claims, not mechanical ones
Almost every record in this set touches G05B (control & regulating systems), with G06F and H04L layered on top. A drafting strategy built around seal or tray mechanics alone misses where the claim density actually sits.
The historical leaders have stopped filing
Every assignee with tracked recent-year momentum — including a -100% YoY drop for one of them — shows zero filings in the latest year. That is either a data-lag artefact or a genuine pause by incumbents, and it is worth checking directly before assuming the field is abandoned.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to modified atmosphere packaging process automation, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space
Receiving-office data and co-assignee pairs point to a US- and China-centred filing pattern built around a small number of process-control specialists, with named individuals appearing alongside corporate assignees in the strongest co-filing pairs.
United States leads, China close behind
The United States accounts for 37 filings and China 29, with EPO (14), WIPO/PCT (12), the United Kingdom (7) and India (4) forming a smaller secondary tier. That split suggests dual US/China prosecution strategies are the norm for serious filers in this space.
Individual inventors co-own core control patents
The strongest co-assignee pairs pair a corporate process-control assignee with named individual inventors, each appearing three times. That points to a small internal team, not a broad multi-company alliance, behind the densest claim clusters.
No current leader has replaced the historical ones
Every named assignee tracked for momentum, from established process-control firms to a major electronics group, shows zero filings in the latest year. This is a field where the incumbent map is old; a new entrant filing today would face a genuinely open competitive set.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Fisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Rosemount Inc. (USA) | 0 | — |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| REFLEX MFG SYST | 0 | — |
| Honeywell International Inc. | 0 | — |
| Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | 0 | — |
| Yokogawa Electric Corporation | 0 | — |
| ROTVOLD ERIC D | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to open claim territory rather than a settled field. Two directions make sense from here.
Map the white space against your own process
Cross-reference the under-claimed sub-areas above against the specific control architecture you plan to file on, before assuming a clear path exists.
Explore white space in Patsnap EurekaVerify the momentum drop directly
Zero recent-year filings across every tracked assignee could reflect publication lag rather than a genuine pause — check the underlying application dates before drawing conclusions.
Check filing status in Patsnap EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
In this dataset it means patents claiming automated control of the gas-flushing, gas-mixing or tray-sealing steps in modified atmosphere packaging lines, classified primarily under B65B31/02, B65B57 and G05B19/418. Most records sit in the G05B control-and-regulation subclass rather than in packaging-machinery classes, which means the claims are usually about the control loop and its software, not the mechanical sealing hardware itself. A search limited to packaging IPC classes alone would miss most of the relevant filings.
The 2025 figure of 10 families is the highest point in the tracked trend, up from a midpoint of 7 in 2022. The 2026 count of 4 looks like a sharp drop, but publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so recent-year figures are always undercounted at the point of measurement. The safer read is that 2026 filing activity is still being published, not that the field has suddenly contracted.
The dataset's ranking includes established process-control names such as Rosemount and its Fisher-Rosemount affiliate, alongside Honeywell, Mitsubishi Electric and Applied Materials, plus a long tail of smaller Chinese automation firms. Notably, every one of these tracked assignees shows zero filings in the most recent year, including a -100% year-on-year drop for one. That makes this a field with an established historical leaderboard but no clearly active current leader.
US7246194B2, assigned to Rosemount Inc. and granted in 2007, covers an interface module that maps process control parameters between a Fieldbus network and non-Fieldbus process control networks. For anyone building MAP line automation that needs to bridge fieldbus-based sensors or actuators with a non-fieldbus control system, this patent sits directly in that integration layer. It does not block gas-mixing or seal-control logic itself, only the specific approach to translating parameters across those two network types.
The clearest gaps sit in the AI and vision-adjacent IPC classes that appear in the mix, G06N and H01L among them, but do not carry the same claim density as the core G05B control classes. Sub-areas such as AI-driven gas-mix optimisation, tray-seal defect vision inspection and edge-device metrology for MAP lines show up in the composition data without a dominant assignee behind them. That combination, present in the classification data but thin in named ownership, is where a first-mover claim is more likely to succeed.
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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.