PET Detector Patents: Mapping Scintillation, SiPM and Time-of-Flight Claims
Concentrated but not locked up. the ranked leader holds 577 records yet the top 5 combined account for only 22.9% of all 6,243 records in scope — most of the field sits with a long tail of filers. Annual records climbed to 482 in 2021 from 334 in 2017, then declined to 263 by 2024 — a 45% fall over that three-year window. Counts for 2025 and 2026 are still low because publication has not caught up with filing.
- 1KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS NV9.2%
- 2WAYMO LLC5.1%
- 3SIEMENS MEDICAL SOLUTIONS USA INC3.8%
- 4SHANGHAI UNITED IMAGING HEALTHCARE2.6%
- 5SEYOND INC2.2%
See the full pet detector technology analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on PET detector patents
Who holds the most PET detector patents?
One assignee leads the ranked list with 577 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 138. However, the top five assignees combined account for only 22.9% of all 6,243 records in this dataset, so leadership at the top does not mean the field is closed — a long tail of filers, including single-patent entrants, holds the majority of activity. Anyone mapping competitors should look past the top ranking into that tail rather than assuming a handful of firms control the space.
Is PET detector patent filing growing or slowing down?
Filings rose from 334 records in 2017 to a peak of 482 in 2021, then fell to 263 by 2024 — a 45% decline over that three-year span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are lower still, but that reflects publication lag of roughly 18 months rather than a real drop in filing activity, since recent applications have not all published yet. The honest read is that the field cooled from its 2021 high through 2024; anything more recent is incomplete.
Why do lidar companies show up in a PET detector patent search?
Silicon photomultipliers and time-of-flight measurement are shared building blocks between PET imaging and automotive lidar ranging, so patent language overlaps heavily. In this dataset, 26.3% of the 6,243 records also carry a G01S (radar, sonar and positioning) classification, and some of the most-cited records are lidar filings rather than medical-imaging ones. That overlap means a freedom-to-operate review for PET detector hardware should also cover lidar-sector assignees, not only imaging vendors.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on PET Detector Technology covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.