X-Ray Sources and Detectors Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
X-Ray Sources and Detectors for Inspection: Patents and Where the Field Stands
Filing peaked in 2019 at 181 records, then activity from 2021 to 2024 fell 52%, from 108 to 52 filings — a genuine pullback, not a publication-lag artifact. Filings rose from 69 in 2017 to a peak of 181 in 2019, then declined through the most recent complete year: 108 in 2021 down to 52 in 2024, a 52% drop over that three-year span. The 2025–2026 figures are understated by publication lag and should not be read alongside that decline.
- 1CANON KK13.2%
- 2KLA CORP7.8%
- 3FUJIFILM CORP4.2%
- 4UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER3.9%
- 5KONICA MINOLTA MEDICAL & GRAPHICS INC3.7%
See the full x-ray sources and detectors for inspection 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 this landscape
Who holds the most patents in X-ray sources and detectors for inspection?
One assignee leads the ranked field with 312 records, well ahead of the fifth-place filer at 87 and the tenth at 48. The top 5 assignees together account for 32.9% of all 2,359 records in scope, and the top 10 for 45.0%, which means the field is concentrated at the top but still leaves more than half the records spread across a long tail of smaller filers. Anyone doing competitive tracking should watch both the leader’s filing pace and that tail, since new entrants tend to surface there first.
Is patent filing in this field growing or shrinking?
Filing peaked in 2019 at 181 records and declined over the following years; the most recent complete comparison shows 108 filings in 2021 falling to 52 in 2024, a 52% drop. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so they should not be read as evidence of a further slowdown yet. Based on the complete years available, the honest read is a real pullback from the 2019 high rather than a plateau.
Which patent classes cover X-ray detector and source technology?
The dominant classes are A61B (diagnosis & surgery), covering 55.6% of the 2,359 records, and G01N (material analysis & testing) at 22.1%, reflecting how this search spans medical and industrial inspection uses. G01T, G06T and H04N each cover meaningful shares tied to radiation measurement, image processing and video transmission respectively. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add up to well over 100% and should not be compared to each other as if they were mutually exclusive segments.
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 X-Ray Sources and Detectors for Inspection 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.