Company patents
SICK AG
SICK AG's patent strategy reveals a strong, sustained focus on 'Radar / Sonar / Lidar', which accounts for 32.7% of its portfolio, despite a significant decline of 64.0% in patenting activity so far in 2026. Surprisingly, while 'Computer Vision' saw a remarkable 140.0% growth in 2025, several key manufacturing-related categories like 'Measurement (Non-specific)', 'Industrial & Autonomous Control', and 'Length / Distance Measurement' have seen a complete cessation of patenting activity so far in 2026, indicating a potential shift away from these areas.
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.
266 US filings (since 2023) · 12 categories · 27 themes
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.
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.
Technologies for non-contact measurement of distance, position, or 3D properties of a target object, often involving active emission and detection of light or radio frequency waves, including target tracking.
Methods and systems for monitoring the operational status, detecting anomalies, ensuring safe interaction, and preventing damage or injury in robotic systems.
Systems and methods for uniquely identifying, tracking, and managing physical items using scannable codes (barcodes, QR codes) or wireless tags (RFID, IoT devices) to link physical objects to digital information, inventory, or services.
Innovations in the physical components and architectures of radar, lidar, and sonar systems, including antenna design, RF signal generation, beam steering mechanisms, and optical elements for improved performance.
Systems that combine data from multiple camera sensors or capture multiple images from different perspectives or qualities, often involving image processing techniques like synthesis to create enhanced or comprehensive views.
Integration of optical sensors, particularly for biometrics or other surface interactions, beneath a display or protective cover, requiring specialized optical paths, illumination, and packaging.
Methods and systems for accurately determining the absolute or relative position of an object or device, often integrating satellite navigation (GNSS), inertial measurement units (IMU), and local ranging or wireless communication technologies.
Methods and devices that determine the position, angle, or distance of an object by detecting changes in magnetic fields or inductive coupling.
Techniques and systems for measuring three-dimensional shapes, depths, or surface profiles using optical principles, including diffraction, interferometry, structured light, and imaging.
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.
Techniques for combining data from disparate sensor types (e.g., cameras, radar, mobile device signals) to achieve a more robust and comprehensive understanding of an environment or subject, often leveraging machine learning for interpretation and correlation.
Systems and methods for maintaining and improving the quality of printed images, encompassing adjustments to developing bias based on environmental conditions, paper characteristic detection, and color profile generation.
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.
Algorithms and systems for generating, optimizing, and executing trajectories for autonomous vehicles or robots to move through an environment, often involving obstacle avoidance, route validation, and goal reaching.
Techniques used by sensing systems to identify the presence, location, and characteristics of objects or unusual conditions in an environment, including methods to suppress false positives or 'ghost' detections.
Methods and apparatus for improving the visual fidelity, resolution, or compression efficiency of video signals, often through advanced processing, up-scaling, or neural network-based filters.
Design and implementation of capacitive sensors, including methods for improving accuracy, reducing power consumption, compensating for environmental variations (like temperature), and analyzing complex displacement interactions.
Methods and systems for managing the interaction, communication, and collaborative tasks among multiple autonomous entities, or between autonomous entities and a central control system or users.
Design and control of advanced robotic grippers, tools, and mechanical linkages for specific manipulation tasks or operating in challenging environments.
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.
Integrated systems that combine multiple types of measurements (e.g., dimensional, thermal, strain, flow) to monitor and control industrial processes, structural integrity, or product quality.
Development and optimization of novel neural network layers or architectures specifically designed to improve performance or efficiency for computer vision tasks.
Systems and methods enabling the monitoring, configuration, and operation of industrial equipment and processes from a distance, often utilizing wireless communication protocols and networked platforms for enhanced flexibility and access.
Development of sophisticated optical lens assemblies and computational methods to achieve high-resolution, precise, or specialized imaging, often for medical or scientific applications.
Systems enabling wireless communication between vehicles (V2V), vehicles and infrastructure (V2I), or vehicles and other entities (V2X) to share information for traffic management, safety, and navigation.
Patents
Showing 1-10 of 70
Remote Tracking and Ranging