The technology industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by the amalgamation of technological progress, heightened connectivity, and the urgency for businesses to enhance efficiency and competitiveness in an ever-changing marketplace, and growing importance of technologies such as fingerprint sensors, iris recognition sensors, facial recognition sensors, and voice recognition sensors. These technologies work in conjunction with sophisticated algorithms and software to capture, process, and match biometric data with stored templates for identification or verification purposes. In the last three years alone, there have been over 3.6 million patents filed and granted in the technology industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Innovation in Internet of Things: Biometric recognition sensors. Buy the report here.
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However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity.
Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.
300+ innovations will shape the technology industry
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the technology industry using innovation intensity models built on over 2.5 million patents, there are 300+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Within the emerging innovation stage, environmental sensors, digital twins, and network-on-a-chip are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Intelligent embedded systems, smart factory systems and smart grids are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas, contactless verification, wearable physiological monitors, and software-defined wide area network, are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for IoT in the technology industry
Biometric recognition sensors is a key innovation area in IoT
Biometric recognition sensors are devices that employ unique physical attributes, such as fingerprints, facial features, or iris patterns, to authenticate individuals. These sensors find frequent application in security scenarios, including building access and computer system authentication.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 20+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established technology companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of biometric recognition sensors.
Key players in biometric recognition sensors – a disruptive innovation in the technology industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to biometric recognition sensors
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2022) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| Microsoft | 91 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Samsung Group | 46 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Shenzhen Goodix Technology | 41 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Brunswick | 37 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Legend | 21 | Unlock Company Profile |
| GuangDong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications | 20 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Intel | 20 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Huawei Investment & Holding | 16 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Fujifilm | 11 | Unlock Company Profile |
| NIKE | 11 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Ricoh | 11 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Vivo Communication Technology | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Xiaomi | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Fingerprint Cards | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Osterhout Group | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Toshiba | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Egis Technology | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Baidu | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Konica Minolta | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| TDK | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| LG | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Beijing Electronics | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Microsoft is one of the leading patent filers in biometric recognition sensors. The company’s patents are aimed at an intelligent assistant computer that obtains one or more image frames captured via one or more cameras, and depicts an initially unregistered person. Facial recognition data for the initially unregistered person is extracted from the one or more image frames.
A spoken command to register the initially unregistered person is received via one or more microphones. Upon determining that the spoken command originated from the registered person having the pre-established registration privilege, the initially unregistered person is registered as a newly registered person by associating one or more additional privileges with the facial recognition data in a person profile for the newly registered person.
Other prominent patent filers in the space include Samsung and Shenzhen Goodix Technology.
In terms of geographical reach, Osterhout Group leads the pack, followed by Beijing Electronics Holding and NIKE. In terms of application diversity, Brunswick holds the top position, followed by Samsung and Osterhout Group.
In terms of geographic reach, Osterhout Group leads the pack, followed by Beijing Electronics and NIKE. In terms of application diversity, Brunswick holds the top position, followed by Samsung and Osterhout Group.
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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
