Optical Lens Design Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- 462 families, one dominant class. Every record carries a G02B classification, with H04N (54) and G03B (41) as the only substantial overlaps — this is a tightly bounded optical-elements field, not a diffuse one.
- Filings peaked in 2019 at 45 and have declined since. By the 2022 midpoint annual filings had fallen to 18, and several long-established assignees show zero filings in the latest year — a sign of a field that staked its core claims early.
- Influence concentrates in a handful of foundational patents. US5050981A alone carries 317 citations within this corpus, far ahead of the next tier at 165 — new claims in aspheric design almost inevitably trace back to a small set of anchor patents.
A tightly bounded field built on a narrow set of anchor patents
The dataset behind this landscape covers 462 patent families filed between 2015 and the July 2026 data cut-off, searched against optical lens design terms — aspheric lens, camera lens module — combined with performance and manufacturing terms such as modulation transfer function, aberration correction and athermalization, and scoped to G02B, G02B3, and B29D11. Every record in the set carries a G02B classification, meaning this is a field defined almost entirely by its core optical-elements class rather than a loose cluster of adjacent technologies.
Filing activity rose to a peak of 45 records in 2019, eased to 18 by 2022, and has fallen further since, a pattern consistent with a field that staked out its core claim space early and has been consolidating rather than expanding. Citation activity within the corpus is concentrated in a handful of foundational aspheric-design and imaging-lens patents, which any new filer in the core class will need to design around or build on.
Filing trends and technology composition
The filing curve and IPC composition below cover 462 published families from 2015 through the July 2026 data cut-off. Recent-year counts are necessarily incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
Filings have cooled since the 2019 peak
Annual filings ran from 21 in 2017 up to a peak of 45 in 2019, then eased back toward 18 by the 2022 midpoint and down to a single record so far in the still-incomplete latest year. That shape reads as a maturing, consolidating field rather than an expanding one — most of the foundational claim space was staked out between 2017 and 2019.
Optical elements dominate; imaging and photographic classes trail
Every record in this set carries a G02B (optical elements & systems) classification, confirming the search scope. The next largest overlaps are H04N (pictorial communication, 54 records) and G03B (photographic apparatus, 41), showing where lens design work is being pulled into camera-module and imaging-system claims. Smaller counts in A61F, G02C, H01J, B29C and F21V mark adjacent hardware areas that current filings touch only lightly.
Shares are the percentage of the 462 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Optical Lens Design and Manufacturing with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about optical lens design and manufacturing and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe patents anchoring this landscape
US9995910B1 — Optical assembly for a compact wide field of view digital camera with high MTF
An optical assembly for a point action camera or other compact digital camera having a wide field of view, includes multiple lens elements, including at least one lens element that has an aspheric lens surface. The optical assembly is configured to provide a field of view in excess of 120 degrees. The optical assembly has a modulation transfer function (MTF) at the Nyquist frequency that is above 0.3 and a MTF at half Nyquist frequency that is above 0.5 across the wide field of view.Assigned to NAVITAR, INC., dated 2018-06-12. Illustrates how compact wide-field designs pair a specific field-of-view threshold with quantified MTF performance rather than claiming optical structure alone.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5050981A | Lens design method and resulting aspheric lens | 317 |
| 2 | US20170329108A1 | Imaging lens | 165 |
| 3 | US20160041390A1 | Spherical Birdbath Mirror Having A Decoupled Aspheric | 165 |
| 4 | US6441971B2 | Compact lens with external aperture stop | 114 |
| 5 | US20140355134A1 | Imaging lens | 77 |
| 6 | US20200393652A1 | Optical photographing lens assembly, image capturing unit and electronic device | 73 |
| 7 | US20020012176A1 | Compact lens with external aperture stop | 61 |
| 8 | US20040156121A1 | Three-group zoom lens including at least one aspheric lens surface | 54 |
| 9 | US20160282587A1 | Imaging lens composed of seven optical elements | 50 |
| 10 | US7411742B1 | Focusing lens for LED | 50 |
Citation counts are drawn from within this searched corpus and favour older filings; treat them as a measure of foundational influence, not current commercial weight.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the filing data signals for R&D and IP strategy
Three patterns in the dataset matter more than the raw counts: where claim density sits, how citation influence is distributed, and how filing momentum has moved since the 2019 peak.
The core optical-elements class is fully saturated
Every single family in this dataset classifies under G02B, and the field has been filing since well before 2015. New optical-surface claims here compete directly against a dense, decade-plus prior art base rather than open ground.
A small set of anchor patents shapes most later claims
The citation gap between the top record (317) and the next tier (165) is wide, meaning later filings tend to cite back to a narrow set of foundational aspheric-design patents rather than a broad, evenly distributed literature.
Activity has cooled sharply since the 2019 peak
Annual filings fell from a 2019 peak of 45 to 18 at the 2022 midpoint and to a single record in the latest, still-incomplete year. Several long-running assignees recorded zero filings in the latest year, some down 100% year-on-year.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to optical lens design and manufacturing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where momentum has stalled
Recent-year momentum across the named assignees in this dataset points the same direction: flat or declining. Several long-established filers, spanning lens-module and camera-optics manufacturers, show zero filings in the latest year, with some recording a full year-on-year drop.
Multiple established filers went quiet in the latest year
Assignees including Konica Minolta, Young Optics, Largan Precision, Fujinon and Metalenz (Shenzhen) all show zero filings in the latest year in this dataset, with some down 100% year-on-year from prior activity.
Co-filing is minimal across this dataset
The strongest co-assignee pairing recorded is LG Innotek with an individual inventor-assignee, Lee Kyunghwan, appearing together twice. Beyond that, co-assignment across the 462 families is sparse, indicating most filings are single-assignee efforts.
A broad but flattening applicant base
The full assignee ranking spans 462 families with no single filer dominating the recent-year count. Combined with the post-2019 filing decline, this points to a field where the applicant base is established but not currently expanding its claim footprint.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Konica Minolta | 0 | — |
| Young Optics Inc. | 0 | — |
| NAVITAR IND LLC | 0 | — |
| Largan Precision Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Fujinon Corporation | 0 | — |
| Metalenz (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Asia Optical Co., Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis next
The filing and citation patterns above point to specific follow-up work depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, competitive tracking, or identifying open claim space.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on the anchor patents
Before filing new aspheric or MTF-related claims, check exposure against the small set of heavily cited foundational patents identified here, starting with the aspheric design method and compact-lens configuration claims.
Check claim scope in EurekaTrack assignee momentum beyond the latest published year
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the apparent drop-off in the latest year may partly reverse as pending filings publish — worth re-checking momentum by assignee on a rolling basis.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaExplore the under-claimed adjacent classes
A61F, G02C, H01J and B29C each carry a small fraction of the records seen in the G02B core, suggesting room to file combination claims tying optical correction techniques to those adjacent hardware contexts.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions on optical lens patents
Influence in this dataset is best measured by citation count within the searched corpus, and the clear standout is US5050981A, a foundational aspheric lens design method cited 317 times. Two imaging-lens patents (US20170329108A1 and US20160041390A1) each carry 165 citations, and US6441971B2's compact lens with external aperture stop follows at 114. High citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate references, so treat this as a map of foundational influence rather than a ranking of current market leadership.
Filing activity peaked at 45 records in 2019 and has trended down since, sitting at 18 by the 2022 midpoint and only 1 in the most recent, still-incomplete year. That pattern indicates a field that has moved past its most active filing period rather than one still expanding. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the last one to two years of any trend chart will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be, so a modest rebound in the final figures is possible once late filings publish.
Beyond the core G02B optical-elements classification that every record in this set carries, the largest overlaps are H04N (pictorial communication/video, 54 records) and G03B (photographic apparatus, 41 records), reflecting how lens claims increasingly get filed alongside camera-module and imaging-system claims. Smaller but distinct overlaps appear in A61F (implants), G02C (spectacles), H01J (electron tubes), B29C (plastics shaping) and F21V (lighting components) — these are adjacent hardware contexts where aspheric or MTF-correction techniques get reused rather than areas of heavy independent filing.
The classes with the fewest records relative to the 462-record G02B core — A61F and G02C at 11 records each, H01J at 7, and B29C at just 4 — are the thinnest claimed areas touching this technology. A first claim there is more defensible if it ties an aspheric or MTF-correction technique to a specific manufacturing or structural step in that adjacent context, such as molding-accuracy control for plastics shaping, rather than restating the optical surface claims that already dominate the G02B core.
US9995910B1, assigned to NAVITAR, INC. and dated 2018-06-12, covers a compact optical assembly using multiple lens elements including at least one aspheric surface, built to deliver a field of view exceeding 120 degrees while holding MTF above 0.3 at Nyquist frequency and above 0.5 at half-Nyquist across that field. It matters most to designers of compact wide-field cameras — action cameras and similar compact digital cameras — because the claim ties a specific field-of-view threshold to specific MTF performance floors, not to aspheric lens design or MTF specification in isolation.
Research Optical Lens Design and Manufacturing in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole optical lens design and manufacturing corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.