Photon-Counting Detector CT Patents: Leaders & Filing Trends 2026
- Filing peaked in 2021 at 12 records and fell to 4 by 2024, a 67% drop over that three-year span — read the most recent years as still filling in, not as a genuine decline.
- One filer leads the ranked field by a wide margin with 44 families against a fifth-place count of 7 and a tenth-place count of 3, leaving a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants.
- G01T nuclear and X-radiation measurement dominates the claim space at 77.2% of the 114 records in scope, while combustion-chamber crossover claims (F23R) sit at just 1.8%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (12 records) with 2024 (4) — 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.
What this landscape covers
Photon-counting detector CT replaces conventional scintillator-based detection with direct-conversion semiconductor materials — principally cadmium telluride and cadmium zinc telluride — that register individual X-ray photon energies rather than integrating a bulk signal. The patent activity tracked here spans the detector physics (charge sharing, pulse pileup correction, energy threshold calibration, drift compensation) and the system-level claims that sit on top of it, from CT scanner architecture to image reconstruction. Records run from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off, drawing on 114 published families.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend line are undercounts, not evidence of a slowdown. The dataset is read at the patent-family level throughout so that continuation filings and multi-jurisdiction duplicates in a single invention do not inflate any one year or assignee.
Let an AI agent run this analysis on your own technology
Pick a task. Every answer cites the patents behind it.
Filing trend and technology composition
The two charts below are built from the same 114-record scope: one plots publication activity by year, the other breaks that same set down by IPC subclass. Because a single record can carry more than one IPC class, the composition shares add to more than 100%.
Publication activity, 2017-2026
Activity rose from a single record in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2021, then declined to 4 by 2024 — a 67% drop over that three-year window. Treat 2025 and 2026 as incomplete given the typical 18-month publication lag rather than as a continuation of that decline.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
G01T (nuclear and X-radiation measurement) appears in 77.2% of the 114 records, confirming that most claims are anchored in detector-physics fundamentals rather than downstream application. A61B (diagnosis and surgery) at 36.8% and H04N (pictorial communication) at 17.5% mark where detector claims cross into clinical scanner design and image/video handling respectively.
Shares are the percentage of the 114 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Photon-Counting Detector CT Systems with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about photon-counting detector ct systems and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a recent representative filing
Systems, methods, and medium for calibrating a photon counting computed tomography (PCCT) system model
The filing describes obtaining multiple sets of photon counting data from a PCCT device scanning a series of phantoms under defined scanning parameters, then calibrating a PCD system model of that device by fitting model parameters against the scanning and phantom parameters recorded for each data set.Filed by UIH America, Inc.; published 2025-08-07.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20060011853A1 | High energy, real time capable, direct radiation conversion X-ray imaging system for Cd-Te and Cd-Zn-Te based… | 53 |
| 2 | US20100327173A1 | Integrated Direct Conversion Detector Module | 40 |
| 3 | US20060071174A1 | High energy, real time capable, direct radiation conversion X-ray imaging system for Cd-Te and Cd-Zn-Te based… | 35 |
| 4 | US9301378B2 | Photon counting detector | 27 |
| 5 | US20140183371A1 | Photon counting detector | 23 |
| 6 | US20140254749A1 | Photon counting detector | 16 |
| 7 | US9423515B2 | Photon counting detector | 16 |
| 8 | EP1795918A2 | High energy, real time capable, direct radiation conversion x-ray imaging system for CD-TE and CD-ZN-TE based… | 14 |
| 9 | US20220296202A1 | Self calibration method and apparatus for correcting offset angle in a photon counting computed tomography sy… | 13 |
| 10 | US20200116874A1 | X-ray pulsing during sensor operation for high flux photon counting computed tomography (CT) imaging system a… | 12 |
Citation counts inside this corpus skew toward older filings and should be read as a signal of influence on later work, not as a measure of current commercial relevance.
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 numbers imply for R&D and IP strategy
Three patterns stand out once the record set is read at the family level and cross-checked against IPC composition and citation age.
The 2021 peak has not been sustained
Filing activity fell 67% from its 2021 peak of 12 records to 4 in 2024, the last year that can be read as complete given publication lag. That is a real contraction in this window, not a data artefact, and it suggests the initial wave of foundational detector-physics claims has largely been staked out.
Detector physics still dominates the claim space
G01T covers the core measurement techniques — charge-sharing correction, pileup handling, threshold calibration — and appears in more than three-quarters of records. A61B and H04N crossovers show where those techniques get wrapped into scanner systems and image pipelines, but the underlying physics claims are where the density sits.
One filer leads by a wide margin, then a long tail
The leading assignee holds 44 families against 7 for the fifth-ranked company and 3 for the tenth, across a ranked field of 32 companies. That gap points to one organisation having built broad detector-physics coverage early, while most other filers hold only a handful of families each.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to photon-counting detector ct systems, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where activity is still live
The ranked field covers 32 companies with families in scope. Momentum in the most recent tracked year is thin across the board, consistent with the broader 2021-2024 pullback in this dataset.
Broad early coverage of core detector claims
The top-ranked filer holds 44 families, well ahead of the rest of the field, and its co-assignee pairings with related corporate entities suggest coordinated filing across jurisdictions rather than independent teams working the same problem.
Most filers hold only a handful of families
By the tenth position in the ranking, family counts drop to 3, and the field includes many single- and few-filing entrants. That pattern is typical of a technology where a handful of specialist and diversified imaging firms set the pace and smaller players file narrowly around specific calibration or material improvements.
Momentum has thinned across nearly every filer
Recent-year filing counts are at or near zero for the assignees tracked, with one semiconductor-focused filer showing a single record in the latest year. This is consistent with the 2021-2024 contraction rather than a sign that any one company has pulled ahead recently.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Analog Devices, Inc. | 1 | — |
| Koninklijke Philips N.V. | 0 | — |
| Canon Medical Systems Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| Oy Ajat Ltd. | 0 | — |
| PHILIPS DEUT | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
| PHILIPS GMBH | 0 | — |
| Philips Intellectual Property & Standards GmbH | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, competitive tracking, or identifying open claim space.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on the physics claims
With 77.2% of records in G01T, any new detector design should be checked against charge-sharing, pileup and threshold-calibration claims before committing to an architecture.
Explore in Eureka →Track the co-assignee network around the leading filer
The strongest co-assignee pairs in this dataset all involve the same corporate family, which suggests a single group's filing strategy is worth monitoring as a unit rather than by individual entity name.
Explore in Eureka →Watch the under-claimed branches for new entrants
Cost-reduction packaging and pipeline-integration claims are thinner than the core physics cluster, making them a plausible entry point for a company without an early filing position.
Explore in Eureka →Frequently asked questions
A photon-counting detector CT system uses direct-conversion semiconductor materials, typically cadmium telluride or cadmium zinc telluride, to register the energy of each individual X-ray photon as it arrives. Conventional CT instead uses a scintillator that converts X-rays to light and integrates that light into a single analogue signal, losing per-photon energy information. The direct-conversion approach enables spectral separation of tissue types and material decomposition without the extra hardware that dual-energy CT requires, but it introduces new engineering problems around charge sharing between adjacent pixels and pulse pileup at high count rates.
The ranked field in this dataset covers 32 companies, with the leading assignee holding 44 patent families, well ahead of the fifth-ranked filer at 7 and the tenth-ranked filer at 3. That gap indicates one organisation built an early and broad patent position in detector physics, while most of the remaining field holds only a handful of families each. Reviewing the full ranking alongside co-assignee relationships is the fastest way to see which filings likely originate from the same corporate group.
Filing activity in this dataset peaked at 12 records in 2021 and fell to 4 by 2024, a 67% decline over that span. This pattern is consistent with an initial wave of foundational detector-physics patents being filed early, followed by a maturing phase where fewer genuinely new claims are available in the core physics. It should not be read as declining commercial interest in the technology itself, since publication lag means the true 2025-2026 filing volume is not yet visible in this data.
Relative to the dense core cluster of charge-sharing and pileup-correction claims under G01T, sub-areas such as drift compensation over extended scan duration, automated energy-threshold calibration routines, and cost-reduction packaging for CdTe/CZT modules show thinner claim density in this dataset. These are plausible areas for a new entrant to build a first-claim position, though any filing there should still be checked against the broader detector-physics prior art given how much of the field falls under G01T generally. Pipeline integration between the detector and downstream image reconstruction is another area worth a closer look.
Citation counts in this corpus favour older filings simply because they have had more time to be cited by later work; the most-cited records here date back to the mid-2000s and mid-2010s. That makes citation count a reasonable signal of historical influence on how the field's foundational claims were framed, but a poor measure of which recent filings will turn out to matter commercially. A newer filing with few citations so far, such as the 2025 representative record in this dataset, should be judged on claim scope and assignee activity rather than citation count alone.
Research Photon-Counting Detector CT Systems in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole photon-counting detector ct systems 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.