Wireless Charging Foreign Object Detection Patents: Leaders 2026
A data-backed look at foreign object detection patents in wireless power transfer: who holds the largest families, how filings have moved since 2017, and where the technology classes concentrate across 1,523 records in s
Filing growth = 2021 (163 records) → 2024 (86); 2024 is the last year we treat as complete. Top-5 share = the 5 largest assignees ÷ all 1,523 records in scope (CR5), not the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Foreign object detection (FOD) is the safety layer that stops a wireless charging pad from heating a coin, a key or a length of wire left on the transmit coil instead of the intended receiver. The claim space sits at the intersection of power electronics, sensing and, increasingly, electric-vehicle charging pads large enough to hide objects a phone charger never has to worry about. This landscape covers 1,523 published records filed or published between 2015 and the current data cut-off, spanning capacitive, inductive and quality-factor-based sensing approaches described in claims or title/abstract text tied to wireless power transfer, wireless charging or inductive charging.
The dataset is drawn from a targeted search across titles, abstracts, claims and classification codes, then organised into patent families for the assignee ranking so that continuation filings and multi-jurisdiction copies of the same invention are not double-counted as separate competitive positions.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views matter here: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which classification codes the claims actually sit under. Both are given at the record level, using the same 1,523-record denominator throughout.
Filings rose sharply through the late 2010s, then cooled
Annual filings climbed from 115 in 2017 to a peak of 198 in 2020, then declined; the 2021-to-2024 span shows a 47% drop, from 163 down to 86. 2024 is the most recent year that can be read as complete — 2025 and 2026 figures will keep rising as publication catches up with filing, roughly an 18-month lag, so treat the tail of the chart as a floor rather than a ceiling.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in. Growth rates on this page therefore end at 2024; running them to the last bar would understate the field.
H02J dominates; EV and RF/geolocation classes trail well behind
H02J (power supply and grid systems) appears on 90.8% of the 1,523 records, confirming that most FOD claims are drafted as power-electronics inventions first. B60L (electric vehicle propulsion, 18.6%) and G01V (geophysics and gravity surveying — largely metal-object and coil-sensing methods, 13.1%) are the next largest classes, with H01F, H04B and G01R each in the mid-to-high single digits. Because a record can carry several IPC codes, these shares add up to well over 100% and should be read as coverage, not as a partition of the field.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,523 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Wireless Power Transfer: Foreign Object Detection Patent Landscape with Eureka
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Try EurekaA representative record and the most-cited prior art
Wireless power transfer pad — foreign object detection coils doubling as photovoltaic electrodes
A wireless power transfer pad for charging a vehicle's electrical storage system combines an oscillating field generator with a foreign object detection arrangement built from multiple detection coils. Those coils are also wired into the pad's front-side electrode arrangement for an integrated photovoltaic substrate, so the same conductive structure does double duty as a solar collector and an object sensor.Filed by Ningbo Geely Automobile Research & Development, published 2023-01-19 — illustrates how EV-scale charging pads are folding FOD sensing into other pad structures rather than adding it as a separate module.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20100277121A1 | Wireless energy transfer between a source and a vehicle | 1,008 |
| 2 | US20140049422A1 | Wireless power system with capacitive proximity sensing | 349 |
| 3 | US9154189B2 | Wireless power system with capacitive proximity sensing | 256 |
| 4 | US20140111019A1 | Foreign object detection in wireless energy transfer systems | 250 |
| 5 | US20130094598A1 | Apparatus, system, and method for detecting a foreign object in an inductive wireless power transfer system | 193 |
| 6 | US20130257168A1 | Apparatus, system, and method for detecting a foreign object in an inductive wireless power transfer system b… | 175 |
| 7 | US20150323694A1 | Foreign object detection in wireless energy transfer systems | 154 |
| 8 | US20150372493A1 | Wireless power system for portable devices under rotational misalignment | 151 |
| 9 | US20170018977A1 | Wireless inductive power transfer | 135 |
| 10 | US20150285926A1 | Wireless power receiver and/or foreign object detection by a wireless power transmitter | 133 |
Citation counts favour older, foundational filings inside this searched corpus — they are a signal of influence on later drafting, not of which patents are commercially active today.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the ranking and citations show
The assignee ranking and citation table point to a field with one very large family, a handful of strong followers, and a wide base of smaller filers still entering.
One family dwarfs the rest of the ranked leaders
The leading assignee's family of 261 records is more than four times the fifth-ranked entrant's 61, and the top 5 combined account for 37.6% of all records in scope. The top 10 combined reach 51.2% — just over half the field — leaving the other roughly 90 ranked companies, plus everyone outside the ranking, to split the remainder in small increments.
Volume has pulled back from its 2020 peak
Annual filings rose from 115 in 2017 to 198 in 2020, then fell across the following years, with the complete-year window from 2021 to 2024 showing a 47% decline. Later years in the chart will still fill in as publication lag closes, so the 2024 figure is the most recent one worth treating as settled.
Early vehicle wireless-charging patents anchor the citation graph
The most-cited record in this landscape, on wireless energy transfer between a source and a vehicle, carries 1,008 citations — several multiples of the next records on capacitive proximity sensing and inductive foreign-object detection. That gap signals a foundational filing that shaped later claim drafting across the field, rather than a patent still being actively worked around today.
Algorithmic detection is thinly claimed relative to power-electronics framing
Only 23 of the 1,523 records, 1.5%, carry a G06F digital-data-processing class, against 90.8% under H02J. Most FOD claims are still drafted around the power-supply circuit rather than the detection algorithm itself, which is one of the clearer openings for a differently framed claim set.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to wireless power transfer: foreign object detection patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis
The figures above describe the field as filed. Turning them into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means drilling into specific claim sets and specific assignees.
Map the white space around algorithmic detection
With only 1.5% of records carrying a G06F class against a field otherwise dominated by H02J power-electronics framing, claims built around signal-processing or machine-learning-based object discrimination look comparatively open. Check this against live prosecution, not just publication counts.
Explore this branch in Eureka →Watch the leading family's continuation activity
A single assignee holds 261 of the 1,523 records — more than four times the fifth-place holder's 61. Any freedom-to-operate review in this space should start by tracing that family's most recent continuations and divisionals rather than treating it as a closed, static filing.
Track this assignee in Eureka →Recheck the 2024-2026 filing tail as data catches up
The 2021-to-2024 window shows a real 47% decline, but 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because of publication lag. Re-pull the trend in six to twelve months before concluding the field is shrinking.
Set up a monitoring search in Eureka →Common questions on this landscape
Foreign object detection (FOD) in this context refers to methods and hardware that let a wireless charging system distinguish an intended receiver from an unintended conductive object, such as a coin, key or metal debris, sitting on or near the charging surface. Claims in this dataset use approaches including capacitive proximity sensing, quality-factor or inductance-shift monitoring, and dedicated detection coil arrays. The search underlying this landscape captures records where this detection function is tied explicitly to wireless power transfer, wireless charging or inductive charging, rather than generic proximity sensing unrelated to power transfer.
The assignee ranking behind this landscape covers 100 companies, with one filer's family of 261 records standing well ahead of the field — more than four times the fifth-ranked holder's 61. The top 5 companies combined account for 37.6% of all 1,523 records in scope, and the top 10 combined reach 51.2%, meaning the remaining ranked companies and unranked entrants split just under half the field between them. This is a concentrated-at-the-top, long-tail pattern rather than a field with many equally sized competitors.
Filing volume rose from 115 records in 2017 to a peak of 198 in 2020, then declined; the 2021-to-2024 window shows a 47% drop, from 163 records down to 86. 2024 is the most recent year that can be treated as a reliable complete-year figure, because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. The apparent drop-off in 2025 and 2026 in raw counts should not be read as a further decline — those years are still filling in as more filings publish.
H02J, the power supply and electrical grid systems subclass, appears on 90.8% of the 1,523 records in this landscape, making it the dominant classification by a wide margin. B60L, covering electric vehicle propulsion, is the next largest at 18.6%, reflecting the growing share of FOD claims aimed at EV charging pads rather than consumer electronics. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these percentages describe coverage across the field rather than a strict partition, and they add up to well over 100%.
The clearest gap by classification is algorithmic or digital-processing framing of detection: only 1.5% of the 1,523 records carry a G06F class, against 90.8% under the power-electronics-focused H02J. Claims built primarily around signal-processing, discrimination algorithms or software-defined detection logic, rather than the underlying sensing circuit, are comparatively under-claimed in this dataset. Any freedom-to-operate or new-filing strategy should verify this gap against live prosecution activity before relying on published counts alone, since publication lag means the newest filings are not yet fully visible.
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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.
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.