Company patents
Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation's patent strategy shows a surprising and significant shift away from core semiconductor design, with Integrated Circuit Layout & Arrangement patents plummeting by 78.8% in 2025 and reaching zero so far in 2026, despite it being 27.4% of their total portfolio. Concurrently, the company made a substantial entry into Photovoltaic / Photoconductive Devices, with 272 patents in 2025 from zero in prior years, indicating a new strategic focus on renewable energy 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.
4,000 US filings (since 2023) · 12 categories · 51 themes
Focuses on advanced pixel architectures, often involving vertical stacking (3D) or silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures, to improve performance, density, or functionality of photodiodes, transistors, and floating diffusion regions within image sensor pixels.
Layout, material composition, and structural arrangement of photoelectric conversion elements and associated circuitry within image sensor arrays, including infrared detectors and back-side illuminated structures.
Image sensors tailored for specific advanced functionalities beyond basic image capture, such as high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, single-photon detection, auto-focus, or distance measurement (LiDAR), often incorporating specialized pixel designs or processing.
Algorithms and hardware implementations within display drivers or associated components to enhance visual quality, resolution, or color reproduction, including upscaling, dithering, and compensation for display artifacts like crosstalk.
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.
Methods and circuits for coordinating the timing of display signals, data transmission, and control signals across various display components, ensuring proper image rendering and efficient operation.
Techniques and structural designs for fabricating the physical layers of an OLED display, including material deposition, patterning, and methods to protect the active organic layers from environmental degradation like moisture and oxygen.
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.
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.
The design and manufacturing of integrated circuits that combine optical and electronic components, particularly for high-speed data communication between processors and memory.
Physical layout and material composition of individual pixels within a display panel, including active layers, electrodes, light-emitting elements (LEDs, OLEDs), and associated thin-film transistors (TFTs).
Design and implementation of circuits and layouts for driving individual pixels or rows/columns of pixels, including gate drivers, data drivers, pixel driving circuits, and their integration onto the display substrate, often in non-display regions.
Focuses on novel semiconductor materials, heterostructures, and doping profiles to improve photovoltaic conversion efficiency, stability, and spectral response.
Techniques for manufacturing semiconductor laser chips, including active region design, mirror structures, current and optical confinement, and the integration of multiple layers or elements on a substrate.
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.
Techniques for stacking multiple semiconductor dies or active layers vertically to achieve higher density and shorter interconnections, often utilizing through-silicon vias (TSVs) or other vertical conductive paths like through-hole electrodes.
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.
Methods and structures for assembling laser chips into functional modules, encompassing optical alignment, electrical interconnection, mechanical support, thermal management, and encapsulation for protection.
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.
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.
Novel materials and processes for forming low-resistance electrical contacts and interconnects within semiconductor devices, including selective deposition, silicidation, and barrier layers for improved performance and scaling.
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.
Development and optimization of organic chemical compounds and their structures, including guest-host systems and metal complexes, used within the emission layer to achieve specific light emission characteristics such as color, efficiency, and operational lifetime.
Design and implementation of non-traditional logic gates or memory elements, often leveraging new materials or device physics to achieve multi-functionality, adaptive thresholds, or higher density.
Techniques and circuits for optimizing power consumption, voltage stability, and energy efficiency in display panels, often involving dynamic voltage scaling, duty cycle control, or remnant voltage management.
Components and techniques aimed at improving the visual quality of OLED displays, such as color accuracy, contrast, brightness uniformity, and reducing reflections or glare through optical layers and coatings.
Methods and structures for incorporating touch sensing capabilities directly into OLED display panels, typically involving conductive layers and insulating layers within or on top of the display stack.
Structural innovations in individual transistors, such as fin-based field-effect transistors (FinFETs), 3D gate structures, or multi-layer active regions, aimed at improving performance or density.
Systems that combine light sources, waveguides, and display elements into unified products for backlighting, automotive applications, general lighting, or color-corrected displays.
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.
Development of sophisticated optical lens assemblies and computational methods to achieve high-resolution, precise, or specialized imaging, often for medical or scientific applications.
Development of novel materials and designs for bonding, sealing, and underfill applications, focusing on improving mechanical integrity, electrical performance, and preventing defects like cracks or delamination in chip-to-chip connections.
Integrated solutions for dissipating heat generated by high-density semiconductor devices within the package, including embedded cooling structures, cold plates, and optimized fluidic channels.
Materials and processes for hermetic encapsulation, conformal coating, optical chip sealing, and stretchable conductors for electronic and optoelectronic devices.
Design and integration of lasers and associated components specifically for transmitting data over optical fibers or through free space, including modulation schemes and efficient light coupling.
Techniques for designing and fabricating the conductive pathways (interconnects) and their contacts between different components within an integrated circuit, focusing on density, reliability, and performance.
Techniques utilizing deep learning models like Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) or diffusion models to create new images, modify existing ones, or generate synthetic data based on various inputs or conditions.
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 systems for ensuring the safe and precise operation of lasers, including power regulation, hazard detection, and deconfliction mechanisms in complex or dynamic environments.
Integrated circuits or sub-circuits designed to regulate, balance, or protect power delivery within a device, often involving specific transistor and capacitor arrangements.
Engineering solutions for creating electronic devices with bendable, foldable, or stretchable form factors, often involving hinges, flexible displays, and sliding mechanisms to enable dynamic physical configurations.
Development and application of resin compositions, molding compounds, and underfill materials to protect semiconductor devices from environmental factors, moisture, mechanical stress, and for structural integrity.
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.
Development and optimization of novel neural network layers or architectures specifically designed to improve performance or efficiency for computer vision tasks.
Engineering of artificial subwavelength structures (meta-atoms) to create metasurfaces that manipulate light properties (phase, polarization, wavelength) for multi-functional optical devices.
Novel electrical connection methods within or between package components, including through-glass vias (TGVs), backside contacts, and optimized redistribution layers for improved signal and power integrity.
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.
Technologies that create dynamic and interactive visual content for displays, including virtual/wearable systems, by generating overlays, replacing input streams, or merging real-time user actions with digital environments.
Methods for temporarily attaching a wafer or substrate to a carrier for thinning, dicing, or other processing, followed by controlled debonding, often using light-sensitive resins, temporary adhesives, or roughened interfaces.
Techniques and hardware architectures designed to efficiently generate and display complex 3D graphics, particularly for interactive applications like virtual reality, focusing on speed and visual quality.
Processes for creating or manipulating three-dimensional digital representations of objects or environments, including mesh generation, surface fitting, and depth estimation from multiple views.
Patents
Showing 31-40 of 161
Display Pixel Array Structures