OCT Imaging Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- Filing peaked in 2017 at 149 records and has declined toward single digits by 2026, a pattern of claim consolidation rather than a growing field.
- A61B and G01B dominate the IPC mix with 1,547 and 1,493 records respectively, while G06T image-processing and H01S laser-source claims trail far behind at 170 and 86.
- The most-cited prior art is two decades old US6485413B1 and US6134003A each carry citation counts in the four figures, showing how much of the foundational scanning-probe and interferometer art is now settled.
Filing growth compares 2021 (110 records) with 2024 (66) — 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 2,295 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this dataset covers
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) uses interferometric light scattering to produce cross-sectional images of tissue at micron-scale resolution. The patent record here spans 2,295 families filed between 2015 and 2026, concentrated in the diagnostic and dimensional-measurement classes that cover probe hardware, scan control and depth-resolved signal processing. Search terms anchor on axial resolution, imaging depth, angiography mode, scan speed and handheld probe claims — the working vocabulary of clinical and ophthalmic OCT rather than the broader interferometry literature.
Filing offices skew heavily toward the United States, which alone accounts for roughly half of all receiving-office activity, with Europe and the WIPO PCT route as the next largest gateways. That distribution points to a field where commercial protection strategy still centres on US clinical and reimbursement markets first, with multinational filing as a secondary layer rather than a China- or Asia-first strategy.
Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 2,295-family dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how those filings split across the IPC subclasses that define the technical scope of OCT claims.
A field past its filing peak
Annual filings rose to 149 in 2017 and have trended down since, reaching single digits by 2026 (the final year is partial due to publication lag). The 2022 midpoint of 87 sits well below the peak, confirming a decline rather than a plateau — later filings increasingly refine existing claim positions rather than open new ones.
Diagnosis and measurement claims dominate
A61B (diagnosis & surgery) and G01B (length & dimension measurement) together account for the bulk of records, reflecting OCT's identity as a measurement instrument embedded in a diagnostic device. G01N material analysis and G02B optical elements form a substantial second tier, while G06T image processing, G01J radiation measurement, H01S lasers and A61F implants remain comparatively thin — signalling where claim density is lightest relative to the field's clinical importance.
Shares are the percentage of the 2,295 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Optical Coherence Tomography for Medical Imaging with Eureka
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Variable imaging depth in Fourier domain OCT (US20130120757A1)
Systems, methods and applications for adjusting the imaging depth of a Fourier Domain optical coherence tomography system without impacting the axial resolution of the system are presented. One embodiment involves changing the sweep rate of a swept-source OCT system while maintaining the same data acquisition rate and spectral bandwidth of the source. Another embodiment involves changing the data acquisition rate of a SS-OCT system while maintaining the same sweep rate over the same spectral bandwidth. Several applications of variable imaging depth in ophthalmic imaging are described.Filed by Carl Zeiss Meditec, published 2013-05-16.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6485413B1 | Methods and apparatus for forward-directed optical scanning instruments | 1,840 |
| 2 | US6134003A | Method and apparatus for performing optical measurements using a fiber optic imaging guidewire, catheter or e… | 1,576 |
| 3 | US6501551B1 | Fiber optic imaging endoscope interferometer with at least one faraday rotator | 959 |
| 4 | US20070291277A1 | Spectral domain optical coherence tomography system | 756 |
| 5 | US6053613A | Optical coherence tomography with new interferometer | 582 |
| 6 | US20050018201A1 | Apparatus and method for ranging and noise reduction of low coherence interferometry lci and optical coherenc… | 527 |
| 7 | US6002480A | Depth-resolved spectroscopic optical coherence tomography | 507 |
| 8 | US6549801B1 | Phase-resolved optical coherence tomography and optical doppler tomography for imaging fluid flow in tissue w… | 478 |
| 9 | US20050171438A1 | High speed spectral domain functional optical coherence tomography and optical doppler tomography for in vivo… | 431 |
| 10 | US7355716B2 | Apparatus and method for ranging and noise reduction of low coherence interferometry LCI and optical coherenc… | 406 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
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Raw counts and citation totals need context before they inform a filing or freedom-to-operate call. These four reads translate the dataset into decisions.
The filing wave has passed its crest
Annual filings ran from a 2017 peak of 149 down toward single digits by 2026. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the last one to two years will fill in somewhat, but the multi-year downward slope from the 2022 midpoint of 87 is a real trend, not an artefact of the cutoff.
Two IPC subclasses carry the field
A61B diagnostic claims and G01B measurement claims together dominate the corpus, far ahead of G01N material analysis at 541 and G02B optics at 239. New entrants competing head-on in these two subclasses are filing into the densest prior art in the dataset.
Foundational scanning-probe art is decades old
The most-cited records in this corpus, including US6485413B1 and US6134003A, describe forward-scanning probe and fiber-optic interferometer instruments from the late 1990s and early 2000s. Their citation weight shows how much current probe and interferometer engineering still traces back to a small set of original patents.
Protection strategy is US-centred first
United States receiving-office filings roughly match the combined total of Europe, the PCT route, Australia, Canada and China. That skew suggests clinical reimbursement and regulatory clearance in the US market still drives where OCT applicants file first, with international coverage added selectively.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to optical coherence tomography for medical imaging, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where activity has cooled
Recent-year momentum across the assignees tracked in this dataset points to a common pattern: leading filers built their positions earlier in the window and have pulled back sharply in the most recent year, consistent with the overall filing decline rather than any single company's retreat.
Even top filers show zero latest-year activity
Several of the most active historical assignees in this corpus, including General Hospital and LightLab Imaging, recorded zero filings in the latest tracked year, a decline consistent with the field-wide drop from the 2017 peak rather than an isolated pullback.
Co-filing is narrow and inventor-anchored
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, the strongest tied to named inventors rather than broad corporate joint ventures. Collaboration in OCT patenting looks more like inventor mobility between one company and its academic or founder ties than formal cross-licensing structures.
Ophthalmic and surgical assignees anchor the leaderboard
Carl Zeiss Meditec's representative filing on variable imaging depth for ophthalmic applications reflects a broader pattern: assignees with strength in A61B diagnostic claims also show up wherever imaging depth, angiography mode and handheld probe claims intersect with ophthalmology and vascular surgery.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| General Hospital Corporation (Massachusetts General Hospital) | 0 | -100% |
| LightLab Imaging, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Bioptigen, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec AG | 0 | -100% |
| Oxsera Limited | 0 | -100% |
| Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Avinger, Inc. | 0 | — |
| IZATT JOSEPH A | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
This landscape shows the pattern; a working session in Patsnap Eureka is where you turn it into a specific filing or freedom-to-operate decision.
Map claim scope against your own device architecture
Run your probe geometry, sweep source or signal-processing approach against the A61B and G01B claim families identified here to see exactly which elements are already occupied.
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Before assuming freedom to operate on core interferometer or scanning-probe designs, verify current legal status on the highest-cited records rather than relying on filing date alone.
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Given the 18-month publication lag, re-run assignee momentum checks periodically to catch continuation filings from historically active players before they surface in aggregate counts.
Set up monitoring in Patsnap EurekaFrequently asked questions
The most-cited records in this corpus, led by US6485413B1 and US6134003A, describe forward-directed optical scanning instruments and fiber-optic imaging guidewires from the late 1990s and early 2000s. These older filings carry outsized citation counts because they established the probe and interferometer architecture that later filings build on, not because they represent the newest technology. Current commercial leadership is better assessed through recent-year filing activity than through raw citation totals, since citation counts inside any searched corpus favour older records by construction.
No. Annual filings in this dataset peaked in 2017 at 149 and have declined toward single digits by 2026, with a 2022 midpoint of 87 confirming the downward trend rather than a plateau. Some of the apparent drop in the final one to two years is an artefact of an 18-month average publication lag, so recent-year counts will fill in somewhat as more applications publish. Even accounting for that lag, the multi-year decline from the 2017 peak is real and suggests the field is in a claim-consolidation phase rather than an expansion phase.
A61B diagnostic and surgical claims and G01B length/dimension measurement claims dominate the corpus with 1,547 and 1,493 records respectively, making these the most heavily contested claim spaces. G01N material analysis and G02B optical elements form a secondary tier. Applicants targeting core measurement or diagnostic claim language in OCT should expect to file into dense prior art, while application-specific angles tied to a particular clinical use case face comparatively less direct competition.
The thinnest IPC representation relative to the field's clinical scope sits in G06T image data processing at 170 records, G01J radiation and light measurement at 148, H01S laser source integration at 86, and A61F implant-integrated sensing at 58. These are areas where the underlying clinical need (faster angiography-mode processing, tunable laser sources, implant-embedded sensing) is well established but claim density is comparatively light, making them worth a freedom-to-operate check before assuming the space is occupied.
US20130120757A1, filed by Carl Zeiss Meditec and published in 2013, covers methods for adjusting the imaging depth of a Fourier domain OCT system without degrading axial resolution, specifically by varying sweep rate or data acquisition rate in a swept-source OCT system while holding spectral bandwidth constant. Its stated applications focus on ophthalmic imaging. Anyone building a swept-source OCT system that trades sweep rate against acquisition rate to extend imaging depth should review this filing's claim scope directly rather than relying on the abstract alone.
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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.