Technology Topic

Digital Health Patent Classification

Healthcare informatics received its own subclass in 2018: G16H covers ICT specially adapted for handling patient data, telemedicine, clinical decision support and hospital workflows.

The subclass is young but growing fast, carried by remote monitoring, electronic health records and AI-based decision support. Wearable sensing hardware classifies next door in A61B.

The classification codes that matter

G16H 202,387 filings 2013–2023

HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY…

Healthcare informatics: patient data, telemedicine, decision support and hospital IT, since 2018.

2018 → 2023: 18,338 → 32,322 filings (+76 %)

Who files here: top applicants

1 PHILIPS ELECTRONICS (NL) 5,733
2 IBM (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION) (US) 1,767
3 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS COMPANY (KR) 1,458
4 CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 1,144
5 ILLUMINA (US) 1,097

IPC filings 2013–2023, aggregated across the codes above. Source: EPO PATSTAT.

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