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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 filing trajectory.

162,009
US patents granted
A61
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+38%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Diagnosis ranks #6 of 670 CPC technology areas - 162,009 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 38% over five years.

#6
of 670 CPC technology areas
162,009
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Covidien
leading assignee (5,709)
+38%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Covidien Lp (5,709 patents)

CPC subclass A61B - DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION - covers 162,009 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class A61 (MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in A61B is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Covidien Lp leads with 5,709 patents, followed by Koniniklijke Philips N.v. at 3,414 grants and Olympus Corporation at 2,758.

Filing activity in A61B is up 38% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a sharp acceleration suggesting an emerging or fast-moving technology area. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is A61B innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in A61B, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 38% versus 2015–2019.

10,00012,00014,00016,00018,000 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 12,300

Who leads A61B?

The 12 most active assignees in DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION - wider bars mean more grants

patents

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.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
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

About This Class

CPC subclass A61B belongs to class A61.

162,009 patents were granted in this class between 2015 and 2025.

20 companies actively patent in this space.

Classification System

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical patent classification system used by the USPTO and EPO.

← All Technology Classes Technology Rankings →

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).

Top 14 A61B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in A61B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 10121416182022 0200040006000 Patents in A61B Avg claims / patent (company-wide) CovidienKoniniklijke PhilipsOlympusBoston Scientific Sci…Cilag InternationalIntuitive Surgical Op…Depuy Synthes ProductsEthiconFujifilmMedtronicGlobus MedicalCanonBiosense Webster (Isr…General Electric
Top 14 A61B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in A61B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class A61B?
CPC subclass A61B covers DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION. It belongs to CPC class A61 (MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE), with 162,009 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in A61B?
162,009 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass A61B between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in A61B?
Covidien Lp leads A61B with 5,709 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for A61B collected?
Patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It covers all US granted utility patents and assigns CPC codes based on the technology described in each patent.
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
A CPC class (e.g., A61) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like A61B provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent Editorial

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.