G02F OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
Introduced: September 1968
Description
G02F covers optical devices and systems that control or manipulate light by altering the optical properties of materials, including electro-optic modulators, liquid crystal displays, nonlinear optical crystals for frequency conversion, and optical switches. This subclass encompasses technologies spanning from passive optical elements whose properties change in response to applied fields to active nonlinear processes such as harmonic generation, parametric amplification, and sum/difference frequency mixing. Also included are optical logic gates, optical computing elements, and devices for converting between optical and electrical signals, as well as photorefractive and magneto-optic materials used for beam control and data processing. Adjacent classes G02B (basic optical elements) and G02C (optical instruments) focus on conventional optical components and finished optical systems, whereas G02F emphasizes the active modification of light propagation through material property changes.
Additional Content IPC
Glossary
control when referred to light or optical, covers affecting or directing one or more of the following properties of light: intensity; colour; phase; frequency or wavelength; polarisation; direction; and one or more of the following optical operations: gating; switching or deflecting; modulation, demodulation or transfer of modulation. light applies to electromagnetic radiation not only in the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum which can be perceived by the human eye (i.e. visible) but also to ultraviolet or infrared radiation. optical optics applies not only to visible light but also to ultraviolet or infrared radiation.
Limiting references
Lasers using stimulated Brillouin or Raman effect
Application references
Optical computing devices Modulators for heads used in optical recording or reproducing
Of 8 combined children, 4 exist in both systems.
4 codes are CPC-only extensions.
Note: 4 CPC extensions are marked as secondary classification only.
1 shared codes have differing titles between IPC and CPC.
Child Classifications
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- G02F 1/00 Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics +1 CPC IPC+CPC Available in IPC and CPC
- G02F 2/00 Demodulating light; Transferring the modulation of modulated light; Frequency-changing of light (G02F1/35 takes precedence) +2 CPC IPC+CPC Available in IPC and CPC
- G02F 2201/00 Constructional arrangements not provided for in groups G02F1/00 - G02F7/00 2nd only +27 CPC CPC only CPC only
- G02F 2413/00 Indexing scheme related to G02F1/13363, i.e. to birefringent elements, e.g. for optical compensation, characterised by the number, position, orientation or value of the compensation plates 2nd only +13 CPC CPC only CPC only
Top Applicants
Top Applicants (IPC)
Class G02,2013–2023, worldwide · Source: EPO PATSTAT
- BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP COMPANY 13,460
- BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP COMPANY CN 11,745
- SAMSUNG DISPLAY KR 10,908
- CANON 9,072
- FUJIFILM JP 7,957
- SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS COMPANY KR 7,805
- LG DISPLAY COMPANY KR 6,558
- CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 5,855
- NITTO DENKO CORPORATION JP 5,817
- OLYMPUS CORPORATION JP 4,579
Top Applicants (CPC)
Class G02,2013–2023, worldwide · Source: EPO PATSTAT
- SAMSUNG DISPLAY KR 14,409
- BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP COMPANY CN 14,236
- BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP COMPANY 11,826
- SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS COMPANY KR 10,141
- FUJIFILM JP 8,506
- LG DISPLAY COMPANY KR 7,558
- NITTO DENKO CORPORATION JP 6,306
- OLYMPUS CORPORATION JP 5,336
- SONY CORPORATION JP 5,097
- CANON JP 4,814