Volumetric Modular Building Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (1,394 records) with 2024 (1,076) — 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 19,078 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 19,078 published patent records matching volumetric modular building terminology, filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026. The search captures both dedicated volumetric-modular-building filings and the broader intersection of “volumetric,” “modular,” and “building” language, which pulls in adjacent technology from sensing, imaging and materials fields alongside core structural claims. Readers should treat the assignee ranking and IPC composition as the two anchor views: one shows who is active, the other shows what kind of claim space they are actually filing into.
Because the underlying search string is broad, a meaningful share of records touch digital processing, imaging or biotech classes rather than construction hardware itself. That mix matters for freedom-to-operate work: it means the field cannot be treated as a single competitive set, and claim charting has to separate genuine building-structure prior art from adjacent technology swept in by shared terminology.
Filing trends and technology concentration
Two views matter here: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density. Both are drawn from the same 19,078-record set.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Annual filings rose from 1,074 in 2017 to a peak of 1,394 in 2021, then declined to 1,076 by 2024 — a -23% move over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are understated because publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months; they should not be read as a continued decline until later data confirms it.
IPC subclass composition
G06F (electric digital data processing) leads at 13.8% of the 19,078 records, followed by G01N (material analysis & testing) at 6.9% and G06T (image data processing) at 6.8%. E04B, the subclass most directly tied to building structures and elements, sits at 5.1% — lower than several adjacent digital and biotech classes, which points to construction-specific claim space being comparatively less crowded than the corpus average. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares sum to more than 100% and should be read individually, not combined.
Shares are the percentage of the 19,078 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Modular & Prefabricated Construction: Volumetric Modular Building Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about modular & prefabricated construction: volumetric modular building patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Portable robotic casting of volumetric modular building components (US10227785B2)
A robotic casting machine (RCM) provides for on-site, or near-site casting and automated production of cast components, such as concrete modular, volumetric building components. The RCM includes stationary and mobile support structures, which can be positioned in a loading configuration, a casting configuration and an ejection configuration in which the cast volumetric component may be ejected from the mold. Tipping machines located beneath the cast component facilitate ejection, rotation and loading of the ejected module onto a transport surface for transport of the module. The support structures are constructed of prefabricated frames that may include at least one standardized section.Filed by McCaffrey, Richard J.; granted 2019-03-12.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20160026253A1 | Methods and systems for creating virtual and augmented reality | 3,440 |
| 2 | US20130278631A1 | 3D positioning of augmented reality information | 2,103 |
| 3 | US20130127980A1 | Video display modification based on sensor input for a see-through near-to-eye display | 1,897 |
| 4 | US20050046584A1 | Asset system control arrangement and method | 1,780 |
| 5 | US20130201316A1 | System and method for server based control | 1,727 |
| 6 | US20110213664A1 | Local advertising content on an interactive head-mounted eyepiece | 1,603 |
| 7 | US20090018996A1 | Cross-category view of a dataset using an analytic platform | 1,559 |
| 8 | US20150178939A1 | Virtual and augmented reality systems and methods | 1,384 |
| 9 | US20120075168A1 | Eyepiece with uniformly illuminated reflective display | 1,187 |
| 10 | US20090137887A1 | Analyte sensor | 1,130 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations within the searched corpus; treat this as a signal of influence on the surrounding field, not a ranking of current commercial relevance.
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The filing and citation data point to a field where activity is broad but not deeply concentrated, and where the most cited prior art sits outside core construction claims.
No single filer controls the field
The leading assignee holds 813 records, but the top 5 combined reach only 9.5% of all records in scope, and the top 10 add up to 13.3%. That leaves a long tail of entrants with modest filing counts — a structure that favours new entrants willing to stake out specific claim territory rather than compete head-on with an entrenched leader.
Post-peak filings, not a collapse
Filings peaked at 1,394 in 2021 and had fallen to 1,076 by 2024. That is a real pull-back, but 2025-2026 numbers are still incomplete due to publication lag and should not be read as confirming a continued downward trend.
Structural claims are a minority share
Building structures and elements (E04B) account for 5.1% of the 19,078 records, trailing digital processing, imaging and materials-testing classes by a wide margin. That gap suggests the field's most crowded claim space is not in the structural hardware itself but in adjacent digital and sensing technology swept into the same search terms.
Influential prior art sits outside construction
The most-cited records in this dataset concern virtual and augmented reality systems and sensor-based display technology rather than modular building hardware. That reflects the broad search terminology rather than the construction field's own citation network, and it is a reminder to separate genuine building prior art from adjacent technology before drawing conclusions from citation rank.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to modular & prefabricated construction: volumetric modular building patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis
The landscape data points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, competitive tracking, or identifying filing opportunities.
Chart claims against the representative record
US10227785B2 covers robotic casting and modular ejection processes in detail. Any on-site casting or automated module-handling concept should be checked against its specific claim language before development proceeds.
Run a claim chart in EurekaSeparate construction claims from adjacent technology
With E04B at only 5.1% of records against much higher digital-processing shares, a targeted search restricted to structural and building-element classes will surface a cleaner competitive picture than the full corpus.
Refine the search in EurekaTrack momentum, not just historical volume
Several historically leading filers show sharp year-over-year declines. A monitoring watch on recent filings will catch shifts in who is actually active now, rather than who accumulated volume in prior years.
Set up a monitoring watch in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The leading assignee in this dataset holds 813 records out of 19,078 total, but that is not a dominant share of the field. The top 5 assignees combined account for only 9.5% of all records in scope, and the top 10 reach 13.3%. That means leadership by volume does not translate into control of the field the way it might in a more concentrated technology area, and a long tail of smaller filers holds the remaining claim space.
Filings grew from 1,074 in 2017 to a peak of 1,394 in 2021, then declined to 1,076 by 2024, a -23% change over that span. However, 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset like this are understated because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those recent years should not be read as confirming a continued slowdown. The safest complete comparison point is 2021 versus 2024.
This corpus shows meaningful overlap with digital data processing (G06F, 13.8% of records), material analysis and testing (G01N, 6.9%), and image data processing (G06T, 6.8%), all ahead of the core building-structures class E04B at 5.1%. This reflects the broad search terminology used to define the field rather than a claim that construction patents are inherently digital. Anyone doing freedom-to-operate work should filter to structure-specific classes rather than relying on the full corpus.
US10227785B2 claims a portable robotic casting machine that produces cast concrete modular, volumetric building components on-site or near-site, including specific mechanical configurations for loading, casting and ejecting the cast module, plus tipping machines that rotate and load the ejected module onto a transport surface. It was granted 2019-03-12 to an individual inventor, McCaffrey, Richard J. The claims are specific to robotic on-site casting and module ejection mechanics, so they are most relevant to anyone developing automated concrete casting or module-handling equipment rather than modular building design broadly.
The IPC composition data suggests building-structure-specific claims (E04B at 5.1% of records) are comparatively thin relative to adjacent digital and materials classes that dominate the broader corpus. Sub-areas such as modular joint connection hardware, prefabricated frame standardisation, and module transport and ejection tooling show lower claim density and are worth checking before drafting new applications. This is not proof of an empty field, but it does indicate less crowded claim territory than the corpus average.
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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.