Oxygen Concentrator Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- Concentration is moderate, not extreme. the top 5 assignees hold 31.6% of all 1,353 records, and the top 10 hold 47.5% — leaving over half the field to a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants.
- Filing peaked in 2020 at 86 records and 2021's 84 fell to 38 by 2024, a -55% swing over that span; 2025-2026 figures are still filling in due to publication lag.
- Separation chemistry outweighs the delivery hardware around it. B01D separation processes appear in 57.9% of records and C01B inorganic-compound claims in 28.0%, both ahead of narrower mechanical classes like valves and pumps.
Filing growth compares 2021 (84 records) with 2024 (38) — 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 1,353 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patents and published applications combining oxygen concentrator or portable oxygen delivery terms in the title with claim-level language on sieve beds, oxygen purity, pulse dose delivery, battery duration, noise, or sieve degradation. That search string pulls in both the pressure-swing adsorption core — molecular sieve beds, valve sequencing, purity control — and the portability layer built around it: battery management, acoustic design, and pulse-dose conserving logic that lets a concentrator run on a smaller compressor and a lighter power source.
The mix of assignees spans large medical-device manufacturers, specialty sieve-bed and separation-technology firms, and a long tail of smaller entrants — a structure that shows up clearly in the concentration figures and the IPC spread below.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,353-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which technical subclasses carry the claims.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose from 38 in 2017 to a peak of 86 in 2020, then eased: 2021's 84 records fell to 38 by 2024, a -55% change over that three-year window. Treat 2025 and 2026 as incomplete rather than a continuation of decline, since publication lag means later filings have not all surfaced yet.
IPC subclass composition
A61M (devices for administering media to the body) covers 65.7% of records and B01D (separation processes) covers 57.9%, confirming that most filings sit at the intersection of delivery hardware and gas-separation method. C01B (28.0%) captures the underlying chemistry of oxygen-enriched gas production, while A62B, F16K, F04B, A61B and G01N each cover narrower single-digit-to-mid-teens shares — these are where component-level claims (valves, pumps, sensors) live rather than system-level ones. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares sum to well over 100% of the 1,353 records.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,353 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Oxygen Concentrators and Portable Supply with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about oxygen concentrators and portable supply and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaKey patents shaping the field
US5766310A — Single stage secondary high purity oxygen concentrator
A single stage secondary oxygen concentrator for receiving a gas mixture from a first stage oxygen concentrator and a method of use therefor is disclosed. The concentrator includes a first carbon molecular sieve bed and a second carbon molecular sieve bed, with inlet and product outlet valves connected to each, and control means for sequencing operation between the two beds.Filed by Carleton Life Support Systems; illustrates the two-stage sieve-bed architecture that recurs across later portable concentrator claims.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6651658B1 | Portable oxygen concentration system and method of using the same | 450 |
| 2 | US6691702B2 | Portable oxygen concentration system and method of using the same | 360 |
| 3 | US5827358A | Rapid cycle pressure swing adsorption oxygen concentration method and apparatus | 310 |
| 4 | US6629525B2 | Portable oxygen concentration system and method of using the same | 275 |
| 5 | US5988165A | Apparatus and method for forming oxygen-enriched gas and compression thereof for high-pressure mobile storage… | 266 |
| 6 | US5917135A | Gas concentration sensor and control for oxygen concentrator utilizing gas concentration sensor | 255 |
| 7 | US20090065007A1 | Oxygen concentrator apparatus and method | 245 |
| 8 | US5979440A | Methods and apparatus to generate liquid ambulatory oxygen from an oxygen concentrator | 240 |
| 9 | US5906672A | Closed-loop feedback control for oxygen concentrator | 236 |
| 10 | US4681099A | Breath-synchronized concentrated-oxygen supplier | 229 |
Citation counts are drawn from within this searched corpus and favour older filings; they signal historical influence on later claim drafting, not current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Four figures worth pausing on before drawing conclusions about who is ahead and what is left open.
Leadership is real but not locked in
The top 5 assignees combine for 31.6% of all records and the top 10 for 47.5% — meaningful concentration, but it leaves more than half the field to entrants outside the ranked leaders. A new filer entering with a genuinely different sieve or valve architecture is not fighting for space against a near-monopoly.
Read the recent years with caution
Filing fell from 84 records in 2021 to 38 in 2024, a -55% change the dataset supports directly. 2025 and 2026 counts sit lower still, but that reflects publication lag rather than a confirmed drop-off in R&D activity — treat only 2024 and earlier as settled.
Delivery hardware dominates the claim set
A61M (body-fluid/administration devices) touches 65.7% of records versus C01B's 28.0% for inorganic gas chemistry — most drafting energy goes into the delivery and control layer built around a fairly settled adsorption chemistry, not into new separation chemistry itself.
Foundational claims are two decades old
The most-cited records in this corpus date to the late 1990s and early 2000s and describe portable oxygen concentration systems and rapid-cycle pressure swing adsorption methods. Their high citation counts reflect age and foundational status inside this search, not that the underlying claims remain uncontested today.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to oxygen concentrators and portable supply, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape and where activity clusters
The ranking behind this page lists 100 companies by family count; the leader holds 115 records against a fifth-place figure of 54 and a tenth-place figure of 38 — a fairly gradual step-down rather than a sharp cliff after the top names.
A clear but not overwhelming leader
The top-ranked assignee holds 115 records, well ahead of the fifth-place figure of 54, but the gap to the tenth-place figure of 38 shows depth rather than a single dominant player controlling the field outright.
Co-assignment is limited and concentrated
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest pairings involve the same handful of organisations repeatedly — a sign that most portable oxygen concentrator IP is developed and held in-house rather than jointly.
US and EPO dominate the venue mix
The United States receiving office accounts for 488 records, ahead of Europe (EPO) at 226 and the WIPO PCT route at 158, with Japan, Canada and Australia trailing further behind — filing strategy in this field still centres on US and European protection first.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Inova Labs Inc. | 0 | — |
| Koninklijke Philips N.V. | 0 | — |
| VBOX INC | 0 | — |
| Inogen Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Separation Design Group LLC | 0 | — |
| Teijin Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Teijin Pharma Limited | 0 | — |
| Invacare Corp | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The figures above establish the shape of the field. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going deeper on specific claims and specific competitors.
Map claims against your own architecture
Run your sieve bed, valve sequencing, or pulse-dose control design against the most-cited records and the ranked assignees' recent filings to see where overlap actually sits.
Explore in Patsnap EurekaTrack the leaders' recent momentum
Year-over-year filing counts by assignee show where activity has gone quiet versus where it is still active — useful for prioritising monitoring effort.
Explore in Patsnap EurekaProbe the under-claimed branches
Sub-areas like sieve degradation monitoring and battery duration optimisation show thinner claim density than the core adsorption architecture — worth a targeted search before committing a filing strategy.
Explore in Patsnap EurekaCommon questions on oxygen concentrator patents
The dataset's assignee ranking lists 100 companies, with the leader holding 115 records out of 1,353 in scope. The top 5 assignees combine for 31.6% of all records and the top 10 for 47.5%, which is meaningful concentration but leaves more than half the field outside the leading names. Rather than naming a single dominant owner, the pattern is a moderately concentrated top group followed by a long tail of smaller filers.
Filing peaked at 86 records in 2020, then declined from 84 in 2021 to 38 in 2024 — a -55% change over that span, based directly on the dataset. Numbers for 2025 and 2026 appear lower still, but publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those years are incomplete rather than confirmed drops. 2024 is the most recent year that can be treated as a reliable data point.
A61M (devices for administering media to the body) appears in 65.7% of the 1,353 records and B01D (separation processes, including gas filtration) in 57.9%, making these the two dominant classes. C01B, covering inorganic gas chemistry, appears in 28.0% of records. Narrower classes such as valves (F16K), pumps (F04B), diagnostic devices (A61B) and material analysis (G01N) each cover single-digit to mid-teens shares, indicating component-level claims are far less common than system-level delivery and separation claims.
US5766310A, assigned to Carleton Life Support Systems, describes a single-stage secondary oxygen concentrator with two carbon molecular sieve beds, dedicated inlet and outlet valves for each bed, and control logic sequencing operation between them. Anyone building a two-stage or dual-sieve-bed architecture with similarly independent valve control on each bed should check claim scope against this filing closely. It does not, on its own, block single-bed designs or delivery-side innovations like pulse-dose conserving logic that sit outside the sieve-bed staging it describes.
Component-level classes carry noticeably lower filing density than the core A61M/B01D combination — sieve degradation monitoring, acoustic noise reduction, battery duration optimisation for pulse-dose units, and sensor-based purity feedback loops all show thinner claim coverage relative to the sieve-bed and delivery core. These are not unclaimed, but they carry less dense prior art than the central adsorption architecture, making them worth a targeted search before drafting. Co-assignment is also rare in this field — only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset — suggesting most innovation in these adjacent areas is being developed independently rather than jointly.
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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.