Company patents
Essilor International
Essilor International's patent strategy reveals a surprising shift away from its core "Optical Elements & Systems" and "Plastic Articles (Specific)" categories, which together comprise 47.8% of its portfolio but saw significant declines of 44.2% and 63.0% respectively so far in 2026. Concurrently, the company is rapidly emerging in "Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)" with a 111.1% YoY growth in 2025, and "Computer Vision" with a 66.7% growth so far in 2026, indicating a strategic pivot towards advanced manufacturing and computational technologies.
Patent Trend by Technology Area
Yearly patent publications since 2023
Product themes
Product-level themes inferred from filings since 2023, with category chips showing where each theme appears. Select a theme to filter the patents below.
646 US filings (since 2023) · 11 categories · 26 themes
Manufacturing methods for optical components such as lenses, waveguides, films, and filters, requiring high precision in molding, surface treatment, or material composition to achieve specific optical properties like refractive index, microstructures, or tinting.
Development of sophisticated optical lens assemblies and computational methods to achieve high-resolution, precise, or specialized imaging, often for medical or scientific applications.
Techniques for combining multiple materials or layers, often with specialized surface treatments, coatings, or assembly methods, to create functional or aesthetically enhanced plastic articles, including consumer goods and encapsulated electronics.
Layered glass or film structures designed to optimize optical (e.g., light transmission, reflection, diffusion) and/or thermal (e.g., insulation, heat reflection/absorption) performance in windows, displays, and lighting applications.
Optical systems and components specifically designed for head-mounted displays, augmented reality (AR) glasses, and virtual reality (VR) headsets, focusing on image projection, waveguide integration, and display durability.
Techniques and apparatus for measuring and verifying the performance, properties, and structural integrity of optical components like lenses, waveguides, and optical fibers. This includes loss, refractive index, and physical defects.
Techniques for building three-dimensional metal objects layer-by-layer using metal powders, including powder bed fusion, binder jetting, and directed energy deposition. This theme encompasses process mechanics, equipment design, and operational control for AM systems.
Integration of additive manufacturing with subtractive manufacturing (e.g., machining, cutting) or other traditional processes within a single system or workflow to create parts with improved features, surface finish, or material properties, or to enable new manufacturing paradigms.
Techniques and devices for measuring, monitoring, and controlling the surface topography, film thickness, or other characteristics of a workpiece during or after grinding/polishing to achieve specific finish requirements.
Methods and apparatus for cleaning polishing pads, dressers, chamber components, or finished substrates to remove residues, debris, or contaminants, often involving specialized nozzles, fluids, or mechanical actions.
Innovations in backlight units, optical films, and light management structures to enhance display performance, uniformity, viewing experience, or specific functionalities like touch.
Systems and methods for real-time sensing, modeling, and closed-loop control of additive manufacturing parameters to ensure part quality, consistency, and process efficiency. This includes thermal management, atmospheric regulation, and precise material deposition.
Processes involving the application of heat and pressure to shape thermoplastic or elastomeric materials, often using molds or presses, to achieve specific forms or material properties.
Systems that employ imaging and image processing to automatically detect defects, verify states, or ensure quality control in manufactured goods, printed materials, or industrial processes.
Development of devices and methods for non-invasive or minimally invasive collection and analysis of physiological data, often from wearable sensors, to monitor health, activity, or specific conditions.
Computational methods and design principles for generating optimized geometries, internal structures (e.g., lattices, minimal surfaces), or functional features that are specifically enabled or enhanced by the capabilities of additive manufacturing.
Design and application of abrasive tools and deburring heads tailored for specific geometries, materials, or access constraints, including flexible, expandable, or multi-component designs for precision finishing.
Engineering of artificial subwavelength structures (meta-atoms) to create metasurfaces that manipulate light properties (phase, polarization, wavelength) for multi-functional optical devices.
Methods for forming complex and lightweight structures from composite materials, typically involving fibrous reinforcement (e.g., carbon fiber) embedded in a resin matrix, for applications requiring high strength-to-weight ratios like aerospace or wind energy.
Systems and methods that use imaging technologies, computer vision, and augmented reality to provide real-time guidance, localization, and visualization during surgical procedures or for detailed anatomical assessment.
Methods and apparatus for detecting objects and determining their three-dimensional position and orientation (pose) using imagery or point cloud data, often for navigation, surveying, or environmental understanding.
Methods and equipment for continuously shaping plastic materials by forcing them through a die, often involving screw extruders, heating elements, and downstream calibration.
Utilizing machine learning, particularly deep learning, to analyze medical data such as images, sensor readings, or physiological signals for disease prediction, diagnosis, or treatment assessment.
Techniques and hardware for autonomous systems to gather and interpret data about their surroundings, including obstacle detection, object recognition, and depth estimation, to inform control decisions.
Methods and systems for improving the quality of video streams, generating intermediate frames, or continuously locating and following objects within a sequence of images, even under occlusion.
Systems and methods that utilize optical fibers as sensing elements or for transmitting sensing signals, often for distributed monitoring of environmental conditions, phase changes, or integrating sensing with communication.
Patents
Showing 1-10 of 998