PIC Driver Circuit Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
A data-led look at photonic integrated circuit driver circuit patents: assignee concentration, filing trend, IPC composition and the claims that matter most through 2026.
Top-5 share = the 5 largest assignees ÷ all 24 records in scope (CR5), not the ranked leaders only.
What this patent set covers
A photonic integrated circuit driver circuit is the electronic interface that converts a control signal into the voltage, current or temperature stimulus a photonic device — a modulator, laser or electro-absorption element — needs to operate. The claims in this dataset sit at the boundary between semiconductor drive electronics and integrated optics, which is why the IPC spread pulls from optical modulation (G02F), lasers (H01S), transmission systems (H04B, H04J) and semiconductor devices (H01L) all at once.
The scope here is narrow by design: 24 published records matched a search built around the driver-circuit function specifically, not photonic integrated circuits generally. That keeps the assignee ranking and the IPC composition readable, but it also means every share quoted below is a share of this 24-record set, not of the broader PIC field.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 24 records: when the filings landed, and which IPC subclasses they carry.
Filing trend
Filings sit at zero at the start of the window and build toward a peak of five records in 2024. With fewer than four complete years once the roughly 18-month publication lag is accounted for, no growth rate can be stated reliably — the recent years will fill in further as more filings publish.
IPC composition
G02F (optical control and modulation) covers 83.3% of the 24 records, with G02B (optical elements and systems) at 50.0% close behind. H04B, H01S and H04J each sit near 30%, and the LED/lighting-adjacent classes F21K and F21S each cover only 12.5% — the thinnest bands in the set.
Shares are the percentage of the 24 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Photonic Integrated Circuit Driver Circuit Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about photonic integrated circuit driver circuit patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records and a representative claim
Technologies for generating a broadband optical output (EP3161372A1)
The filing describes narrowband optical sources formed in a silicon substrate, input waveguides routing their output to an optical multiplexer, and an output waveguide collecting the multiplexed result to generate a broadband optical output at the photonic integrated circuit's output.Assignee and filing date are rendered separately above.
View full filing| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20030095736A1 | Transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TxPIC) chip architectures and drive systems and wavelength stabiliza… | 281 |
| 2 | US20040067006A1 | Transmitter photonic integrated circuit ( TxPIC) chips | 143 |
| 3 | WO2003032547A2 | Transmitter photonic integrated circuit txpic chip architectures and drive systems and wavelength stabilizati… | 39 |
| 4 | US20190222211A1 | Switching power module combining a gate driver with a photonic isolated power source | 16 |
| 5 | US20190238234A1 | Integrated control loop for linearization and temperature compensation of an electro-absorption modulator | 11 |
| 6 | US20200348544A1 | Integrated frequency referencing system | 7 |
| 7 | WO2023049423A1 | SWITCHED PIXEL ARRAY LiDAR SENSOR AND PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT | 5 |
| 8 | EP1436869A2 | Transmitter photonic integrated circuit | 5 |
| 9 | WO2024259526A1 | Electro-photonic circuit comprising burst-mode optical receiver | 1 |
| 10 | WO2023049423A9 | SWITCHED PIXEL ARRAY LiDAR SENSOR AND PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT | 1 |
Citation counts favour older records simply by virtue of having had longer to accumulate citations inside this corpus — read them as a signal of influence on later filings, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Four read-throughs of the same 24-record set, aimed at where to file, who to watch and what is still open.
A settled core, not a crowded field
Three-quarters of all records in scope belong to just five of the ten ranked assignees, with the leader alone holding 7 of the 24. That is a small, identifiable set of parties whose existing claims any new filer has to design around, not a fragmented race with room to move freely.
Optical modulation is the dense zone
G02F alone touches five in six records, meaning claim space around modulator and control-signal drive is heavily occupied. G02B follows at half of records, so any filing that combines control electronics with an optical element or system claim is entering the two busiest classes at once.
Lighting-adjacent claims are thin
The LED and non-portable lighting classes sit far below the optical-modulation classes, at only three records each. That gap does not prove the technology is unclaimed everywhere in that direction, but it does mean far fewer prior filings stand between a driver-circuit claim and a lighting-integration angle than between it and a modulation angle.
Too young for a growth claim
The trend rises from zero toward a 2024 peak of five records, but the window since then is too short and too affected by publication lag to support a stated growth rate. Treat any apparent slowdown in the newest years as a reporting artefact until more filings publish.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to photonic integrated circuit driver circuit patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a concentrated core and a thinner lighting-adjacent edge. Two directions follow from that.
Map the leader's claim boundaries
With one assignee holding 7 of 24 records, understanding exactly what those claims cover — and where they stop — matters more than scanning the full ranked list.
Explore claim scope in EurekaTest a lighting-adjacent angle
F21K and F21S sit at 12.5% each, well below the optical-modulation classes. A filing that pairs driver-circuit control with LED or non-portable lighting integration has less prior art in its immediate path.
Model white space in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
Highly concentrated at the top: five of the ten ranked assignees hold 75.0% of all 24 records in scope, and the single leading assignee holds 7 of those 24 on its own. The ranked list of ten assignees accounts for 100.0% of the records, so there is no unranked long tail sitting outside it. For a new entrant, this means the practical competitive set is small and identifiable rather than fragmented across dozens of filers.
G02F, covering optical control and modulation, appears in 83.3% of the 24 records, making it the single busiest classification in the set. G02B follows at 50.0%, with H04B, H01S and H04J each near 30%. By contrast, the LED and lighting-adjacent classes F21K and F21S sit at only 12.5% each, which is the clearest signal in this dataset of where claim density is thinner rather than where it is absent.
The trend rises from zero early in the window to a peak of five records in 2024, but the dataset does not contain enough complete years after accounting for the roughly 18-month publication lag to state a reliable growth rate. Any drop-off visible in the most recent year is very likely an undercount caused by filings that have not yet published, not a genuine slowdown. Readers should revisit this trend once another year or two of publications land.
EP3161372A1 describes narrowband optical sources built into a silicon substrate, input waveguides that route their output to an optical multiplexer, and an output waveguide that collects the multiplexed signal to produce a broadband optical output at the circuit's output. It is a representative filing from Intel Corporation within this dataset rather than the single most-cited one. Anyone building a silicon-substrate multiplexing approach to broadband optical output generation needs to map their architecture against this claim structure specifically, since the novelty sits in the multiplexer-and-waveguide arrangement rather than in the driver electronics alone.
The assignee ranking in this dataset lists ten companies, with the leader holding 7 of 24 records and the fifth-ranked assignee holding 2. That gap between first and fifth place is the practical signal: the leader has meaningfully more filing weight than anyone else in the ranked list, and the next four together make up the rest of the 75.0% concentration figure. Names are listed in the ranking table itself; the pattern to watch is the gap at the top, not any single company in isolation.
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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.