Segment Lining Installation Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (582 records) with 2024 (384) — 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 18,634 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the segment lining installation patent record actually contains
The search set brings together 18,634 published records filed against the terms “segment,” “lining” and “installation” together with the exact phrase “segment lining installation.” That breadth matters: the resulting corpus spans classic tunnel-support engineering (E21D) and drilling (E21B) alongside a substantial share of records classified under medical implant and diagnostic subclasses (A61B, A61F, A61K, A61M). Readers scoping freedom-to-operate work in tunnelling should expect to filter this set further before treating every record as directly relevant.
Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off, with publication lag meaning the final one to two years of the trend will keep filling in as more filings publish. The receiving-office spread is led by the United States, followed by Europe, WIPO's PCT route, Canada, Australia and Japan, which points to a filing strategy built around US priority with selective international extension.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 18,634-record set: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the records fall under.
From a 2019 peak to a cooling mid-2020s
Filings rose from 577 in 2017 to a peak of 791 in 2019, then eased back. The most recent complete comparison — 2021's 582 records against 2024's 384 — shows a 34% decline over three years. Years beyond 2024 are still incomplete because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the apparent drop into 2025 and 2026 should not be read as the field's current trajectory.
A mixed mechanical and medical-device footprint
E21D (shafts, tunnels & mine support) accounts for 6.1% of the 18,634 records, with E21B (earth & rock drilling) at 7.7% and F16L (pipes & pipe fittings) at 6.7%. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% of the record total — they describe overlapping technical footprints, not a partition of the dataset.
Shares are the percentage of the 18,634 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Tunneling & Underground Engineering: Segment Lining Installation Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about tunneling & underground engineering: segment lining installation patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative claim and the most-cited prior art
US20230296022A1 — Method and device for the automated arrangement of tunnel lining segments (Herrenknecht AG, 2023-09-21)
The invention relates to a device for the automated installation of at least one tunnel lining segment of a tunnel lining ring, said device being couplable to a tunnelling machine, having a manipulator with at least one tool for receiving, holding and placing the segment, an actuator for moving the tool in the radial, tangential and/or axial direction relative to the tunnelling machine's axis, and at least one tool position sensor provided on the manipulator.Filed by Herrenknecht AG, a specialist tunnel boring machine manufacturer, this record sits close to the operational core of segment lining installation rather than the adjacent medical or drilling art also present in the corpus.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20070135803A1 | Methods and apparatus for performing transluminal and other procedures | 3,204 |
| 2 | US3657744A | Method for fixing prosthetic implants in a living body | 3,094 |
| 3 | US20090254572A1 | Digital information infrastructure and method | 2,827 |
| 4 | US20100250497A1 | Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) hardened information infrastructure with extractor, cloud dispersal, secure stora… | 1,776 |
| 5 | US5954643A | Insertion set for a transcutaneous sensor | 1,520 |
| 6 | US20070207186A1 | Tear and abrasion resistant expanded material and reinforcement | 1,495 |
| 7 | US7534259B2 | Nonstented heart valves with formed in situ support | 1,456 |
| 8 | US3751902A | Apparatus for installing insulation on a staple | 1,427 |
| 9 | US5281422A | Graft for promoting autogenous tissue growth | 1,263 |
| 10 | US4146029A | Self-powered implanted programmable medication system and method | 1,150 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside this corpus — treat them as a signal of influence, not of current technical importance.
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 filing pattern signals for strategy
Three read-outs from the concentration, trend and classification data above.
No single filer dominates
The leader holds 203 records out of 18,634, and the top 5 combined reach just 4.7% of all records in scope. That is a fragmented field: no assignee has locked up the core claim space, which leaves room for a well-drafted application to stand on its own merits rather than having to design around one dominant portfolio.
Growth has cooled from the 2019 peak
Filing volume peaked at 791 records in 2019 and has since eased, with the last complete three-year comparison showing a 34% decline from 582 records in 2021 to 384 in 2024. Recent-year momentum data for several named assignees shows filings dropping to zero in the latest year, though the 2025-2026 figures are still incomplete due to publication lag.
Core tunnelling art is a minority class
E21D, the subclass covering shafts, tunnels and mine support, appears on only 6.1% of records, trailing medical-device classes like A61B (8.0%) and A61F (7.4%). Anyone scoping this space for tunnelling purposes specifically should expect to narrow the raw result set rather than treat every record as on-point prior art.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to tunneling & underground engineering: segment lining installation patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this from here
The dataset points to specific next steps rather than a single conclusion.
Narrow the corpus to tunnelling-specific art
Given the overlap with medical-device and drilling subclasses, a follow-up search restricted to E21D and closely adjacent classes would isolate the records most relevant to segment lining installation itself.
Refine the search in EurekaWatch the fragmented leader tier
With the top 5 assignees holding only 4.7% of all records, tracking recent filings from mid-tier players may surface emerging technical approaches before they consolidate.
Track assignee activity in EurekaTest claim scope against the representative record
Before drafting around automated segment placement, compare proposed claims against the manipulator and sensor limitations in US20230296022A1 to identify genuine white space.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaCommon questions about segment lining installation patents
The ranked list covers 100 companies, with the top-ranked assignee holding 203 records out of 18,634 total. However, concentration is low: the top 5 combined account for only 4.7% of all records in scope, and by tenth place the count has already fallen to 110. This means no single company controls the core claim space, and the field includes a long tail of smaller filers rather than a few dominant portfolios.
Filing peaked at 791 records in 2019 and has since declined, with the last fully comparable period showing a 34% drop from 582 records in 2021 to 384 in 2024. Figures for 2025 and 2026 appear lower still, but publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so those final years understate real activity and should not be read as a slowdown yet. The honest read is that growth cooled after 2019 rather than that the field is shrinking.
The search terms pull in a broader technical footprint than tunnelling alone: E21D (shafts, tunnels & mine support) covers 6.1% of the 18,634 records, while A61B (diagnosis & surgery) covers 8.0% and A61F (implants & prostheses) covers 7.4%. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these percentages overlap rather than sum to 100%. Anyone using this dataset for tunnelling-specific freedom-to-operate work should filter further rather than treat every record as on-point.
This Herrenknecht AG record, published 2023-09-21, describes a device for automated installation of tunnel lining segments, coupled to a tunnelling machine, with a manipulator, a tool that moves radially, tangentially and/or axially relative to the machine axis, and a tool position sensor on the manipulator. It sits close to the operational core of segment lining installation rather than the adjacent medical-device or drilling art that also appears in this corpus. Anyone designing automated segment-placement equipment should review its specific manipulator and sensor limitations closely.
Given how thin the top-5 concentration is (4.7% of 18,634 records) and how the classification data skews toward drilling and medical-device art rather than dedicated tunnel-support claims, sub-areas like automated segment-positioning sensors, real-time ring-build alignment control, and segment joint sealing under load look comparatively under-claimed relative to the core mechanical space. These are starting points for a novelty search, not confirmed gaps, and should be validated against the full record set before drafting.
Research Tunneling & Underground Engineering: Segment Lining Installation Patent Landscape in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole tunneling & underground engineering: segment lining installation patent landscape 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.