IPC Subgroup
G11B 21/02 Driving or moving of heads
Introduced: September 1968
Last revised: January 2006
Full Title
Head arrangements not specific to the method of recording or reproducing > Driving or moving of heads
Classification Context
- Section:
- PHYSICS
- Class:
- INFORMATION STORAGE
- Subclass:
- INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
Filing statistics
IPC G11B 21/02 belongs to the parent subclass G11B, which recorded 61,937 patent applications worldwide between 2013 and 2023. Annual filings declined from 8,033 in 2013 to 4,203 in 2023 (-48%). The most active applicants in class G11 are MICRON TECHNOLOGY (10,574 applications), SK HYNIX (9,138 applications) and SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS COMPANY (9,004 applications).
Source: EPO PATSTAT, worldwide filings
5 direct subcodes
Child Classifications
Navigate with arrow keys, Enter to open
- G11B 21/03 for correcting time base error
- G11B 21/04 Automatic feed mechanism producing a transducing traverse of the head in a direction which cuts across the direction of travel of the recording medium, e.g. helical scan
- G11B 21/08 Track changing or selecting
- G11B 21/1 Track finding or aligning by moving the head
- G11B 21/12 Raising and lowering; Back-spacing or forward-spacing along track; Returning to starting position
Top Applicants
Top 10 applicants by patent filingsfor class G11, 2013–2023, worldwide · Source: EPO PATSTAT
- MICRON TECHNOLOGY US 10,574
- SK HYNIX KR 9,138
- SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS COMPANY KR 9,004
- TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY TW 3,739
- IBM (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION) US 3,443
- INTEL CORPORATION US 2,952
- SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES US 2,905
- WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES US 2,630
- TOSHIBA CORPORATION JP 2,593
- SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY US 2,472