X-Ray & CT Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 27.6% concentration at the top. The five leading assignees together hold 1,020 of 3,691 records in scope, but the remaining ranked field still spans 95 more companies with real filing activity.
- Filing is still climbing, not cooling. Filings rose from 51 in 2021 to 73 in 2024, a 43% increase over that span — the most recent complete years available given the roughly 18-month publication lag.
- Diagnosis claims dominate; X-ray technique itself is thin. 54.3% of records touch A61B diagnosis and surgery classifications, while only 6.6% sit in H05G X-ray technique proper — a gap between application claims and source-hardware claims.
Filing growth compares 2021 (51 records) with 2024 (73) — 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 3,691 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks 3,691 patent records published between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off that combine X-ray or clinical X-ray language with detector array, image reconstruction, assay cartridge, tissue image, imaging signal, or diagnostic marker claims. The search string binds the imaging modality to a functional claim element, which excludes generic X-ray hardware patents that never engage detection, reconstruction, or diagnostic output — and excludes assay or imaging patents that never touch X-ray or CT specifically.
The scope spans clinical CT scanners, security and industrial inspection systems, detector array architectures, and image reconstruction software, so filers range from medical device majors to security screening specialists and university research offices. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, the technology composition below should be read as claim density across the corpus, not as a partition of it.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 3,691-record corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings peaked at 124 in 2019, dipped, then rebounded from 51 in 2021 to 73 in 2024 — a 43% increase across that span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in under the publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown.
IPC subclass composition
A61B (diagnosis & surgery) and G01N (material analysis & testing) together anchor the corpus at 54.3% and 33.2% of records respectively, with G06T (image data processing) at 21.1% marking the software reconstruction layer. H05G (X-ray technique proper) sits at just 6.6%, and H01J (electron & discharge tubes) at 4.7% — both comparatively thin given how central source hardware is to the modality.
Shares are the percentage of the 3,691 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on X-Ray & Computed Tomography Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about x-ray & computed tomography patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in the corpus
US20140037045A1 — Dual energy CT scanner (Arineta Ltd.)
A dual energy CT scanner includes an X-ray source generating an X-ray beam, a stacked detector array for detecting radiation from the X-ray beam, the stacked detector array including a first layer of detectors and a second layer of detectors, wherein a packing density of detectors in at least a portion of the first layer is different than a packing density of detectors in a corresponding portion of the second layer, a data acquisition unit for sampling data from the detectors in the first and second layer, and an image reconstruction unit for reconstructing an image from data acquired from at least one layer of the stacked detector array.The claim ties a physical detector architecture (differential packing density across stacked layers) to a specific reconstruction step, which is the pattern most dual-energy CT filings in this corpus follow.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5598453A | Method for X-ray fluoroscopy or radiography, and X-ray apparatus | 399 |
| 2 | US4996413A | Apparatus and method for reading data from an image detector | 388 |
| 3 | US5493596A | High-energy X-ray inspection system | 334 |
| 4 | US20090198121A1 | Method and apparatus for coordinating contrast agent injection and image acquisition in c-arm computed tomogr… | 307 |
| 5 | US6112109A | Constructive modelling of articles | 297 |
| 6 | US5237598A | Multiple image scanning X-ray method and apparatus | 250 |
| 7 | US5570403A | X-ray CT imaging apparatus with varied energy level detection capability | 235 |
| 8 | US20200215695A1 | Robotic devices | 228 |
| 9 | US20040109529A1 | Full field digital tomosynthesis method and apparatus | 209 |
| 10 | US20230211493A1 | Robotic Post System | 180 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations inside this corpus — read them as influence markers, not as evidence of current commercial weight.
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 numbers mean for a filing decision
Three findings that shape where a new filing is likely to land relative to existing claim density.
The top of the field is dense but not closed
The five leading assignees hold 1,020 of 3,691 records, and the top ten hold 1,534 (41.6%). That leaves a majority of the corpus distributed across a long tail of the remaining 90 ranked companies, including security-screening and university filers alongside medical device majors.
Growth is real, but recent-year momentum has shifted
Corpus-wide filing grew from 51 in 2021 to 73 in 2024. Recent-year momentum by assignee tells a different story at the individual level: several historically strong filers show zero filings in the latest year, while Lucomm Technologies still filed 8 despite a 62% year-on-year drop.
Application claims outnumber source-hardware claims
A61B diagnosis and surgery classifications appear in 54.3% of records, while H05G X-ray technique proper sits at 6.6% and H01J electron/discharge tubes at 4.7%. The imbalance suggests source-hardware and tube-level innovation is comparatively under-claimed relative to downstream diagnostic and reconstruction claims.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to x-ray & computed tomography patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where activity has gone quiet
The ranked field spans medical imaging majors, a security-inspection specialist, and university filers — but recent-year activity has cooled for several of the largest historical filers.
A single filer holds the largest share, but with no recent-year filings recorded
The leading assignee's 346 records anchor the top of the ranking, built up over the full 2015-2026 window. Recent-year momentum data shows several of the largest historical filers, including this one, at zero filings in the latest year — consistent with the publication lag rather than necessarily a pullback.
One filer still shows live latest-year activity
Lucomm Technologies Inc is the one name in the momentum data with a non-zero latest-year count, at 8 filings, though that is down 62% from the prior year. It is a useful marker of which entities are still actively prosecuting rather than sitting on an established portfolio.
Security-inspection and university filing is tightly paired
The strongest co-assignee relationship in the corpus links a security-inspection technology company with a university partner across 98 shared records, and a medical imaging major with its own subsidiary across 69. These pairings point to stable, long-running R&D relationships rather than one-off joint filings.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| LUCOMM TECHNOLOGIES INC | 8 | -62% |
| Toshiba Corporation | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
| Koninklijke Philips N.V. | 0 | -100% |
| Hitachi Medical Corporation | 0 | — |
| Nuctech Company Limited | 0 | — |
| Tsinghua University | 0 | — |
| Shimadzu Corporation | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The published trend understates 2025 and 2026 activity because of the publication lag, so any forward view should be paired with a live search rather than read off the chart alone.
Check claim density before drafting
Run the specific detector architecture or reconstruction method against the full corpus rather than relying on the IPC-level shares here, since those shares mix medical, security, and industrial applications.
Search this space in EurekaTrack the quiet filers
Several of the largest historical assignees show zero latest-year filings in this dataset. Confirm whether that reflects the publication lag or an actual shift in portfolio strategy before assuming the field has consolidated.
Monitor assignee activity in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The assignee ranking in this corpus is led by a single company holding 346 of the 3,691 records in scope, with the top five combined holding 1,020 records (27.6%) and the top ten holding 1,534 (41.6%). The named leaders include established medical imaging majors and at least one security-inspection specialist, alongside university filers further down the ranked list. This is a ranked field of 100 companies, not a closed top-10 or top-50 list, so a meaningful share of activity sits outside the leading names.
Filing grew from 51 records in 2021 to 73 in 2024, a 43% increase, and this is the range that should be treated as trustworthy since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. Numbers for 2025 and 2026 in this dataset are still filling in and understate true filing activity for those years. The peak year observed so far in the full trend is 2019 at 124 filings, so the corpus has not simply grown in a straight line.
A61B (diagnosis and surgery) is the most heavily represented classification, appearing in 54.3% of the 3,691 records, followed by G01N (material analysis and testing) at 33.2% and G06T (image data processing) at 21.1%. X-ray technique itself, classified under H05G, appears in only 6.6% of records, suggesting most claim activity sits in downstream diagnostic and reconstruction applications rather than in X-ray source hardware. Because records can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages do not sum to 100% and should be read individually against the full record count.
The classification data points to X-ray source hardware (H05G, 6.6% of records) and electron/discharge tube design (H01J, 4.7%) as comparatively under-claimed relative to diagnosis-focused claims. Stacked detector architectures with differential layer packing density, as seen in the representative dual-energy CT filing in this corpus, are a specific pattern worth checking before assuming the space is occupied. A full clearance search against the live corpus is still the only reliable way to confirm open claim space in a specific sub-area.
Japan leads with 1,215 filings in this corpus, ahead of the United States at 866, the European Patent Office at 417, and the WIPO PCT route at 220. Israel and Canada follow at 148 and 110 respectively. The strong Japan and US presence reflects both large domestic medical device industries and the size of those markets for imaging equipment procurement.
Research X-Ray & Computed Tomography Patent Landscape in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole x-ray & computed tomography 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.