CPC technology class · A61

A61B - Diagnosis

Diagnosis; surgery; identification. 162,009 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

162,009
US patents granted: #1/13
in A61: 25.0%
A61 class share: +20%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Diagnosis ranks #6 of 670 CPC technology areas - 162,009 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 20% over five years.

#6
of 670 CPC technology areas: 162,009
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Covidien
leading assignee (5,709): +20%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How A61B's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, A61B recorded 78,069 grants versus 65,306 in 2015–2019 (+20% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2020 at 16,287 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 11,363 (+43% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Covidien LP holds 3.5% of the class ; the top three share 7.3%.

Leaderboard read

A61B concentration, lead at 3.5%

Covidien LP leads this historical grant record at 3.5% of A61B - us corporation assignees hold 60% of class grants (82,419 of 136,539). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 3.5%
Top three share: 7.3%
Lead over #2: 2,295

Where A61B sits inside A61

Among 13 subclasses in A61 (Medical OR Veterinary SCIENCE; Hygiene), A61B ranks #1 and holds 25.0% of the parent class's 646,867 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

A61K 151,067 A61P 125,535 A61M 57,639 A61F 50,959 A61N 30,889 A61L 25,308 A61Q 14,001 A61C 8,164

Rising assignees active in A61B

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

#1 Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC 1285x 0 → 1,285 company-wide · 40 in A61B
#2 Meta Platforms, Inc. 376x 2 → 751 company-wide · 7 in A61B
#3 Siemens Healthineers AG 222x 0 → 222 company-wide · 239 in A61B
#4 King Faisal University 125x 6 → 747 company-wide · 18 in A61B
#5 Therabody, Inc. 119x 1 → 119 company-wide · 8 in A61B

A61B grants by year, peak 2020 (16,287)

US utility-patent grants per year in A61B, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 20% versus 2015–2019.

Covidien

5,709
Koniniklijke Philips

3,414
Olympus

2,758
Boston Scientific…

2,362
Cilag International

2,063
Intuitive Surgical…

1,921
Depuy Synthes Products

1,796
Ethicon

1,762
Fujifilm

1,733
Medtronic

1,387
Globus Medical

1,272
Canon

1,231

What this shows Covidien is the most active filer in A61B, holding 5,709 of the 162,009 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

View data table

Top patent holders in CPC subclass A61B
Rank	Company	Patents in A61B
#1	Covidien LP	5,709
#2	Koniniklijke Philips N.V.	3,414
#3	Olympus Corporation	2,758
#4	Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc.	2,362
#5	Cilag GmbH International	2,063
#6	Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.	1,921
#7	DePuy Synthes Products, Inc.	1,796
#8	Ethicon, Inc.	1,762
#9	Fujifilm Corporation	1,733
#10	Medtronic, Inc.	1,387
#11	Globus Medical, Inc.	1,272
#12	Canon Kabushiki Kaisha	1,231
#13	Biosense Webster (Israel) Ltd.	1,200
#14	General Electric Company	1,161
#15	Siemens Healthcare Limited	1,091
#16	Smith & Nephew, Inc.	796
#17	Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation	772
#18	Stryker Corporation	771
#19	Canon Medical Systems Corporation	768
#20	Warsaw Orthopedic, Inc.	725

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading A61B assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 A61B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in A61B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near A61B's 162,009-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for A61B (#6 of 670 by volume ; lead share 3.5%) - not the A61 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

H01L 165,178 A61K 151,067 G06Q 144,635 H04N 191,323

Nearest by lead-assignee share

E06B 3.5% E05Y 3.5% C05D 3.5% C08J 3.5%

Questions about A61B

Which company holds the most patents in A61B?

Covidien LP leads A61B with 5,709 patents (3.5% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 60% of class grants.

Which A61B assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in A61B, Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (1285x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 1,285 in 2022–2024) while holding 40 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does A61B compare inside parent class A61?

Inside A61 (Medical OR Veterinary SCIENCE; Hygiene), A61B ranks #1 of 13 subclasses by grant volume and holds 25.0% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is A61K (151,067 grants).

What to do with this data

A61B in context - here's where to go next.

Covidien LP leads A61B with 5,709 grants in this class. See full portfolio
A61B ranks #6 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class A61, the largest sibling subclass is A61K with 151,067 grants. Explore A61K

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - A61B figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (162,009 grants in the tracked window).

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.