Spectral Flow Cytometry Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The five leading assignees hold 51.2% of all 674 records in scope, and the ranked leaders extend that to 67.5% across ten firms.
- Filing has cooled from its 2023 peak. Publications rose to 96 in 2023 before easing, with the 2021-to-2024 span down 45% — though 2025-2026 figures are still filling in due to publication lag.
- Imaging and data-processing classes are catching up to sensing. G01N and G01J cover the core detection art, but H04N, G06T and G06V together show spectral unmixing increasingly argued as a software problem.
Filing growth compares 2021 (75 records) with 2024 (41) — 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 674 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the spectral flow cytometry patent record shows
Spectral flow cytometry replaces the fixed-filter detection used in conventional flow cytometry with a full-spectrum detector array and computational unmixing, letting a single instrument resolve many more fluorophores per panel. The patent record built from 674 records spanning 2015 to 2026 tracks claims across the whole pipeline: detector architecture, spillover-spreading calculation, autofluorescence extraction, reference-control design and instrument standardization. Filing activity is not evenly spread — it clusters around a small number of assignees and around a core set of material analysis and radiation measurement classes, with imaging and machine-learning classes appearing as a secondary, growing layer.
The dataset spans publication years 2015 through 2026, drawing on receiving-office filings across the United States, Europe, WIPO's PCT route, Canada and Germany. Because publication trails filing by roughly eighteen months, the most recent one to two years understate real filing activity and should be read as provisional rather than declining.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 674-record dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Publications climbed from 49 in 2017 to a peak of 96 in 2023. The 2021-to-2024 window shows a 45% decline (75 to 41), but 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because of publication lag, so this should not be read as a confirmed slowdown yet.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
G01N (material analysis & testing) appears in 53.6% of the 674 records and G01J (radiation & light measurement) in 30.4%, confirming detection and signal-processing hardware as the core claim territory. A61B (23.4%) reflects diagnostic and clinical applications, while H04N, G06K, G06T and G06V collectively show image- and data-processing claims — spectral unmixing framed as a computational method rather than purely an optical one. Records can carry multiple classes, so these shares sum to more than 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 674 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Spectral Flow Cytometry with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about spectral flow cytometry and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
Methods for flow cytometry panel design based on modeling and minimizing spillover spreading
Aspects of the disclosure include methods for identifying fluorophore-biomolecule reagent pairs for characterizing a sample by flow cytometry, calculating a spectral spillover spreading parameter for a plurality of fluorophores, pairing each fluorophore with a biomolecule specific for a cell biomarker, generating an adjusted spillover spreading matrix based on the spectral spillover spreading parameter and a biomarker classification parameter, and identifying an optimal reagent set from that matrix.WO2022076088A1 — Becton, Dickinson and Company — published 2022-04-14
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20110142316A1 | Tomography-Based and MRI-Based Imaging Systems | 277 |
| 2 | US20150316473A1 | Mobile gas and chemical imaging camera | 233 |
| 3 | US20050265586A1 | Multispectral biometric imaging | 192 |
| 4 | US20050271258A1 | Multispectral imaging biometrics | 170 |
| 5 | US20200193597A1 | Machine learning systems and methods for assessment, healing prediction, and treatment of wounds | 169 |
| 6 | US20050265585A1 | Multispectral liveness determination | 148 |
| 7 | US20170167980A1 | Methods and means for multispectral imaging | 146 |
| 8 | US20160349228A1 | Hydrogen sulfide imaging system | 139 |
| 9 | US20060118742A1 | Systems and methods for in-vivo optical imaging and measurement | 127 |
| 10 | US20070016078A1 | Systems and methods for in-vivo optical imaging and measurement | 120 |
Citation counts favour older records within the searched corpus and should be read as a signal of influence, not current relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Reading concentration, timing and citation patterns together points to where new claims are likely to clear and where they are likely to collide with dense prior art.
The field is led, not fragmented
Just five assignees account for just over half of all records in scope, and the ranked leaders extend that share to 67.5% across ten firms. A newcomer filing broad detector-array or spillover-spreading claims is filing into territory already staked out by a handful of players.
Activity peaked, then the record thins out
Publications rose from 49 in 2017 to a peak of 96 in 2023, then the 2021-2024 window shows a 45% pullback. Because publication lags filing by about eighteen months, 2025-2026 figures are not yet a reliable signal of a genuine slowdown.
Hardware claims still anchor the field
Material analysis and radiation-measurement classes (G01N, G01J) remain the largest single categories, but image- and data-processing classes (H04N, G06T, G06V) appear across a meaningful share of records, showing unmixing increasingly claimed at the software layer alongside the optics.
Citation leaders sit outside the core cluster
The most heavily cited records in this dataset are tomography, gas-imaging and biometric-imaging filings rather than flow-cytometry-specific ones, a reminder that raw citation counts reward older, broadly-applicable disclosures rather than current spectral cytometry practice.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to spectral flow cytometry, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space, and where it is thinning
A small set of assignees carries the majority of filings, and recent-year momentum data suggests even some of the historically active names have gone quiet in the latest tracked year — consistent with publication lag rather than necessarily reduced activity.
A clear filing leader
The top-ranked assignee holds 146 records, well ahead of the fifth-place assignee at 37 and the tenth-place assignee at 17 — a steep drop-off that marks this as a led field rather than an evenly distributed one.
A long tail beyond the leaders
Beyond the top ten, the ranking extends across a hundred ranked companies with modest individual counts each, typical of a field where core detection patents are set but application-specific and workflow claims remain open to smaller entrants.
Recent-year activity has gone quiet for known names
Several assignees that were active in earlier years show zero records in the latest tracked year and year-over-year declines. Given the roughly 18-month publication lag, this is consistent with pending applications not yet published rather than a confirmed pullback.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Rebellion Photonics | 0 | -100% |
| Becton, Dickinson and Company | 0 | -100% |
| Lumidigm Inc | 0 | — |
| Spectral MD Inc | 0 | — |
| Cytek Biosciences | 0 | -100% |
| University of Southern California | 0 | — |
| The Regents of the University of California | 0 | — |
| Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, competitive tracking or identifying open claim space.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 146 of 674 records, any new spillover-spreading or panel-design filing should be checked against that portfolio specifically before drafting claims.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches
Autofluorescence extraction and cross-instrument calibration show thinner density than core detector-array claims, making them worth monitoring for early-mover filings.
Set up monitoring in EurekaWatch for the 2025-2026 publication catch-up
Because publication lags filing by about 18 months, records for 2025 and 2026 will continue to fill in; revisit the trend once those years mature.
Explore the live trend in EurekaFrequently asked questions
One assignee leads the field with 146 of the 674 records in this dataset, well ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 37 and the tenth-ranked at 17. The top five assignees combined hold 51.2% of all records, and the top ten hold 67.5%, so the field is concentrated rather than evenly spread across the hundred ranked companies. Anyone assessing competitive risk should treat the leading assignee's portfolio as the primary reference point rather than looking at the field as a whole.
Filings rose steadily from 49 records in 2017 to a peak of 96 in 2023, then the 2021-to-2024 window shows a 45% decline from 75 to 41 records. However, patent publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as evidence of a genuine slowdown yet. The honest read is that the field peaked around 2023 and the true 2024-2026 trajectory will only be clear once those years finish publishing.
The largest single category is G01N, material analysis and testing, appearing in 53.6% of the 674 records, followed by G01J, radiation and light measurement, at 30.4%. A61B (diagnosis and surgery) covers clinical applications at 23.4%, while H04N, G06K, G06T and G06V together indicate a substantial share of claims addressing image capture and data processing — meaning spectral unmixing is increasingly claimed as a computational method, not purely as detector hardware. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100%.
WO2022076088A1 describes methods for designing flow cytometry panels by calculating a spectral spillover spreading parameter for a set of fluorophores, pairing each with a biomolecule specific to a cell biomarker, and generating an adjusted spillover spreading matrix to identify an optimal reagent combination. In practice this blocks approaches that use a similarly modeled spillover matrix to select fluorophore-biomolecule pairs for panel design. Anyone building automated panel-design tools should review this filing's specific claim language on the matrix-generation and optimization steps before assuming a workaround.
Comparing IPC composition against filing concentration points to autofluorescence extraction algorithms, reference-control standardization workflows and cross-instrument calibration transfer as comparatively thinner claim areas relative to the dense core detector-array and spillover-spreading art. These branches sit adjacent to the heavily-filed G01N and G01J categories but have not attracted the same concentration of claims from the leading assignees. That makes them a more realistic entry point for a new filer than the core detection hardware, where the top assignees already hold a majority of records.
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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.
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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.