Augmented Reality, Blogs, Mixed Reality, Virtual Reality

Top Patent Categories Relating to Mixed Reality

November 24, 2017

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Most people are probably unaware that applications relating to mixed reality (virtual reality, augmented reality, etc.) have been around since the beginning of the 20th century.^1,2 But the technology at the time was pretty much still at concept or proof-of-concept stage than anything else. Nothing of note came out of it until the last few years.

It took Niantic’s collaboration with Nintendo to raise augmented reality’s global public awareness via Pokemon Go. The augmented reality game has since been downloaded more than 500 million times and has generated $600 million mobile AR revenues in its first 3 months. As of 2016, VR has generated $2.7 billion and AR $1.2 billion in revenues for a total $3.9 billion MR market.³A market research study estimated that the entire VR device market will reach $11 billion in about four years.

Mixed Reality Patent and Patent Application Categories

To identify the various categories of utility patents and patent applications (P/PA) directed to virtual reality, augmented reality, etc. (collectively referred to here as “mixed reality” or “MR”), we analyzed more than 4,000 mixed reality-related P/PA we obtained from a preliminary patent search. Fig. 1 shows the different categories ranked according to the number of P/PA assigned to each of them.

Fig. 1. Ranking of the various MR-related categories in terms of the number of P/PA assigned to each of them having filing dates covering 2002-2016.

Mixed Reality Patents Top Categories

As can be seen from the figure, the top 5 categories in terms of total number of P/PA with filing dates over the 2002-2016 period are:

It is not surprising that these categories are in the top 5 because all these categories cover basic components or features of a MR system. But Healthcare, with 292 P/PA, unexpectedly ranked higher (8th, 292 P/PA) than Gaming (13th, 134 P/PA). Also, with industrial MR applications now said to be finding success, the relatively low number of P/PA under Industrial Applications with 82 P/PA is rather surprising (as is the case with Gaming versus Healthcare). Security Systems, which is expected to be critical in MR systems, only ranked 16th with 109 P/PA. For Security Systems, the relatively low number of P/PA may have to do with whether MR has unique security requirements such that security systems specifically designed for MR are necessary. It is likely that at least some of the already existing computer security systems can be adapted for MR.

The following five categories have the lowest P/PA over the period 2002-2016:

These least active categories would be logical areas for possible development for those seeking to explore uncrowded investment sectors (at least basing only on the number of P/PA). But this may be misleading because MR applications involving search systems, machine intelligence, virtual assistant systems, robotics, and automation are expected to assume greater importance as AI becomes more deeply embedded in already multiplying market segments and application areas.

Top Market Segment Categories

Among P/PA with claims that either expressly recited or clearly suggested the market segment they are directed to, Gaming garnered the highest number of P/PA. The top three categories Gaming, Healthcare, and Commerce have significantly more P/PA than other categories. Some of these categories are expected to overlap in terms of applications, e.g., Gaming and Collaborative Systems. Somewhat unexpected is Design and Transportation’s being ranked 4th and 5th, respectively, ahead of market segments in which MR is expected to be widely-used, e.g., Entertainment, Social Network, and Industrial Applications.

Table 1. Number of P/PA for the top 10 market segment categories (2002-2016).

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Another thing to note is the average percentage of patents relative to the total number of combined patents and patent applications was 31% over 2002-2016, if we exclude Healthcare (20%) and Industrial Applications (22%). This suggests that about 1/3 of the mixed reality-related utility patent applications were granted during the 2002-2016 period. This percentage is significantly lower than the 43% average over 2002-2015 for all US utility patent applications from US filers that eventually issued into patents.⁴

Disclaimer: Data used for the preparation of this article was based on a preliminary search only. Parola Analytics, Inc. does not make any representation regarding the accuracy or validity of the data, analyses, and conclusions presented in this article.

References

1 Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 8, pp. 1-15, Mar. 2014.

2 “A New IEEE Initiative Focuses on Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Human Augmentation Technologies,” Dec. 2016, https://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-topics/consumer-electronics/a-new-ieee-initiative-focuses-on-augmented-reality-virtual-reality-and-human-augmentation-technologies.

3 “After mixed year, mobile AR to drive $108 billion VR/AR market by 2021,” Jan. 2017, https://www.digi-capital.com/news/2017/01/after-mixed-year-mobile-ar-to-drive-108-billion-vrar-market-by-2021/#.WfMOAteWYoMa.

4 U.S. Patent Statistics Chart Calendar Years 1963 – 2015, USPTO, https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/us_stat.htm