Video Understanding Models Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Video Understanding Model Patents: Filing Trends and Leading Assignees
No single company dominates. the leader holds just 6 records and the top 5 combined account for 31.7% of all 60 records in scope — most of the field is a long tail of single- or double-filing entrants. Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a recorded peak of 16 in 2025. The only complete year-over-year window available, 2021 to 2024, shows a -56% change (9 down to 4). Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as a rebound or a slowdown on their own.
- 1THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIV IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK6
- 2MOTORICA AB5
- 3VELLORE INSITUTE OF TECH3
- 4DALIAN UNIV OF TECH3
- 5ZHEJIANG UNIV OF TECH2
See the full video understanding models 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 about video understanding model patents
Who are the leading patent holders in video understanding models?
The dataset ranks 44 companies with activity in this space, but concentration is shallow: the leading assignee holds only 6 of the 60 records in scope, and the top 5 combined account for 31.7% of all records. This is not a field dominated by one or two large players — it is a fragmented mix of university labs, corporate research groups and individual inventors, most holding one or two filings each. Anyone assessing freedom-to-operate should expect to check a wide spread of smaller holders rather than a short list of dominant incumbents.
Is patent filing activity in video understanding models growing or slowing down?
The recorded peak year is 2025 at 16 filings, but the only year-over-year comparison that uses fully-published data is 2021 to 2024, which shows a -56% decline. Because patent publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 counts are still incomplete and will rise as more records surface. Treat the recent apparent peak with caution rather than reading it as confirmed acceleration.
What patent classes cover video understanding technology?
Filings cluster most heavily in G06F (digital data processing), G06N (AI-based computing) and G06V (image and video recognition), each covering 35.0% of the 60 records in scope. G06T (image data processing) and G06K (data recognition) follow at 28.3% and 23.3% respectively. Audio-related G10L, broadcast-related H04N and storage-related G11B are comparatively less claimed, at 16.7%, 15.0% and 11.7%, suggesting lighter patent density around audio-visual fusion and video storage integration specifically.
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 Video Understanding Models 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.