Pathology Data Standards Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 57.3% concentration. The five leading assignees hold 90 of 157 records in scope, so a handful of imaging and archive vendors have already staked out most of the core claim space.
- Filings peaked in 2020 at 33. and the 2021→2024 span shows a 42% pullback (12 to 7), a real slowdown rather than a data artefact, since 2024 is the last complete filing year.
- Healthcare informatics dominates. G16H appears in 65.0% of the 157 records, well ahead of general digital processing (G06F, 46.5%) and image processing (G06T, 26.1%).
Filing growth compares 2021 (12 records) with 2024 (7) — 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 157 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent activity at the intersection of medical imaging standards and system interoperability: filings that reference DICOM-standard workflows, vendor-neutral archiving, metadata completeness, compression tradeoffs, cross-platform viewing and annotation exchange. The scope spans 157 published records filed between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off, drawn from receiving offices led by the United States, the EPO and WIPO’s PCT route. Because publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, the most recent one to two years in any trend chart will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be.
The assignee base skews toward imaging-system incumbents and archive-platform vendors rather than pure software startups, which shows up directly in the IPC mix: healthcare informatics and general digital processing classes carry far more of the record base than image-recognition or AI-model classes. That pattern points to a field still organised around system architecture and data governance, with AI-driven interpretation layered on top rather than displacing it.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 157 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim language.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose to a peak of 33 in 2020, then eased; the 2021 to 2024 window – the last full years available – shows a 42% decline from 12 to 7 filings, a genuine cooling of the pace rather than a reporting gap. 2025 and 2026 figures will rise as publication catches up, but should not yet be read as a reversal.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
G16H (healthcare informatics) touches 65.0% of the 157 records, with G06F (general digital data processing) close behind at 46.5%. Image data processing (G06T, 26.1%) and AI-model computing (G06N, 15.9%) trail well behind, and image/video recognition (G06V, 5.7%) is the smallest class tracked – each record can carry more than one class, so these shares do not sum to 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 157 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Pathology Data Standards and Interoperability with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about pathology data standards and interoperability and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
Modifying and Searching Metadata Associated with Electronic Medical Images
A method of searching electronic medical images according to one example embodiment includes receiving a search request for one or more electronic medical images. The received search request is modified to conform to a metadata system of an electronic database to be searched. The electronic database is searched for electronic medical images according to the modified search request. If a search result is obtained upon searching the electronic database, metadata of the search result is modified to conform to a metadata system of an entity requesting the search.Filed by Lexmark International Technology in 2014, this record sits early in the scope window and claims a metadata-translation layer between heterogeneous medical-image databases – a pattern that reappears across later vendor-neutral archive filings.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20180137244A1 | Medical image identification and interpretation | 225 |
| 2 | US20200211692A1 | Facilitating artificial intelligence integration into systems using a distributed learning platform | 150 |
| 3 | US20180315188A1 | Automated organ risk segmentation machine learning methods and systems | 138 |
| 4 | US20210216822A1 | Complex image data analysis using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms | 130 |
| 5 | US20180322254A1 | Multimodal cognitive collaboration and cybernetic knowledge exchange with visual neural networking streaming … | 78 |
| 6 | US20140143298A1 | Zero footprint dicom image viewer | 74 |
| 7 | US20190355483A1 | Cognitive Collaboration with Neurosynaptic Imaging Networks, Augmented Medical Intelligence and Cybernetic Wo… | 52 |
| 8 | US20210313077A1 | Augmenting Clinical Intelligence with Federated Learning, Imaging Analytics and Outcomes Decision Support | 50 |
| 9 | US10452813B2 | Medical image identification and interpretation | 47 |
| 10 | US20210158933A1 | Federated, centralized, and collaborative medical data management and orchestration platform to facilitate he… | 44 |
Citation counts inside this corpus favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate references; treat them as a signal of influence on later art, not as a ranking of current commercial importance.
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Three patterns worth weighing before drafting claims in this space.
Core claim space is already crowded
The five leading assignees account for 57.3% of the 157 records in scope, which means the core architecture of image standardisation, archive access and cross-platform viewing has substantial prior art from incumbent imaging and archive vendors. New entrants drafting in this exact space should expect to design around, not around one filer but several.
Filing pace has cooled from its 2020 peak
After peaking at 33 filings in 2020, annual volume dropped from 12 in 2021 to 7 in 2024 – a 42% decline across the last three complete filing years. That is a genuine slowdown in new claim activity, not a publication-lag artefact, since 2024 is the newest year that can be treated as complete.
Informatics architecture outweighs AI interpretation
G16H healthcare informatics reaches 65.0% of the 157 records and G06F general digital processing reaches 46.5%, while AI-model computing (G06N) sits at only 15.9% and image/video recognition (G06V) at 5.7%. The field is still organised around data structure and system architecture more than around AI-driven interpretation.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to pathology data standards and interoperability, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and who is moving now
The ranking covers 26 companies returned by the data endpoint – a full ranking, not a curated top-50 or top-100 – with a steep drop from the leader to the mid-table.
One filer well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 25 records, more than double the fifth-place filer's 10, marking clear separation at the top of an otherwise long tail.
A steep drop after the leaders
Filing counts fall from 10 records at fifth place to 6 at tenth, and the top 10 combined still only reach 79.6% of the 157 records in scope – leaving a real tail of single- and low-filing entrants below them.
Recent activity has thinned across the board
Among tracked assignees, only one shows any filing in the latest year, with the rest at zero – consistent with the broader 2021-to-2024 pullback rather than any single company stepping back.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| SIRONA MEDICAL INC | 1 | — |
| GE Precision Healthcare LLC | 0 | — |
| FUJIFILM MEDICAL SYSTEMS U S A INC | 0 | — |
| LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY SARL | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
| TERARECON INC | 0 | — |
| Canon Medical Systems Corporation | 0 | — |
| SMURRO JAMES PAUL | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a crowded core and thinner adjacent branches. The next steps depend on whether you are drafting, licensing or monitoring.
Map your own claim draft against the top assignees
Run a candidate claim through the 157-record set to see which of the leading filers' scope it overlaps before committing drafting time.
Explore in EurekaTrack momentum, not just totals
Filing volume peaked in 2020 and has since cooled; set an alert on the assignees still active in the latest year rather than the historical leaders.
Set up monitoring in EurekaTest the under-claimed branches
Annotation exchange and long-term retention audit trails show thinner density than the core archive-and-viewing claims – worth a freedom-to-operate check before assuming they are open.
Run a white space search in EurekaCommon questions on pathology data standards patents
It is concentrated but not monopolised. The five leading assignees together hold 57.3% of the 157 records in scope, and the top 10 reach 79.6%. That leaves roughly a fifth of the field spread across a long tail of 26 ranked companies, many with only a handful of filings, so there is still room to file outside the core group's claim scope if you look at the less-crowded technology branches rather than the headline architecture claims.
Filing activity peaked in 2020 at 33 records and has since declined; across the last three complete filing years, 2021 to 2024, volume fell 42% from 12 to 7. This is a real cooling of the pace, not a data artefact. Figures for 2025 and 2026 will rise somewhat as publication catches up with filing, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, but they should not be read as evidence of a rebound until later data confirms it.
Healthcare informatics, IPC class G16H, appears in 65.0% of the 157 records in scope, making it the dominant technology area by a wide margin. General digital data processing (G06F) follows at 46.5%, then image data processing (G06T) at 26.1%. AI-model computing (G06N) and image/video recognition (G06V) trail at 15.9% and 5.7% respectively, indicating that most claim activity centres on data architecture and system interoperability rather than on AI-driven image interpretation itself.
US20140330855A1, filed by Lexmark International Technology in 2014, claims a method for modifying a search request and resulting metadata so that queries and results conform to the metadata system of whichever database or requesting entity is involved. It sits early in the scope window and addresses a metadata-translation problem that recurs across later vendor-neutral archive and cross-platform viewing filings. Anyone building metadata-normalisation logic between heterogeneous medical-imaging systems should check this filing's claim scope before finalising an implementation.
The technology composition data shows lighter filing density in branches adjacent to the core standards claims: annotation exchange formats across different viewers, compression-tradeoff metadata tagging, long-term retention audit trails, and metadata-completeness validation at the point of ingest. These sit below the dominant G16H and G06F classes in claim density, suggesting narrower prior art, though a freedom-to-operate search against the specific leading assignees' portfolios is still the responsible next step before drafting.
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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.