B61L 23/041
Obstacle detection
Official title: {Obstacle detection}
B61L23/041 (Obstacle detection) appears on 361 US grants and 487 published applications in this corpus.
Search patents in B61L- Granted patents
- 361
- Published applications
- 487
- Assignees
- 207
- Inventors
- 958
- Latest grant
- 6 Oct 2026
Filings by year
| Year | Granted patents | Published applications |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 1 | 0 |
| 1981 | 0 | 0 |
| 1982 | 0 | 0 |
| 1983 | 0 | 0 |
| 1984 | 0 | 0 |
| 1985 | 0 | 0 |
| 1986 | 0 | 0 |
| 1987 | 0 | 0 |
| 1988 | 1 | 0 |
| 1989 | 1 | 0 |
| 1990 | 1 | 0 |
| 1991 | 0 | 0 |
| 1992 | 0 | 0 |
| 1993 | 0 | 0 |
| 1994 | 0 | 0 |
| 1995 | 1 | 0 |
| 1996 | 0 | 0 |
| 1997 | 3 | 0 |
| 1998 | 2 | 0 |
| 1999 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000 | 2 | 0 |
| 2001 | 1 | 2 |
| 2002 | 3 | 3 |
| 2003 | 4 | 1 |
| 2004 | 3 | 5 |
| 2005 | 2 | 7 |
| 2006 | 1 | 3 |
| 2007 | 2 | 4 |
| 2008 | 2 | 2 |
| 2009 | 0 | 4 |
| 2010 | 5 | 7 |
| 2011 | 2 | 5 |
| 2012 | 4 | 6 |
| 2013 | 3 | 6 |
| 2014 | 5 | 10 |
| 2015 | 5 | 20 |
| 2016 | 10 | 16 |
| 2017 | 14 | 17 |
| 2018 | 16 | 33 |
| 2019 | 32 | 34 |
| 2020 | 30 | 44 |
| 2021 | 27 | 44 |
| 2022 | 28 | 48 |
| 2023 | 29 | 45 |
| 2024 | 45 | 46 |
| 2025 | 45 | 53 |
| 2026 | 31 | 22 |
By publication year. Applications have been published since 2001. 2026 runs to 8 Oct.
Recent patents
- Intrusion detection6 Oct 2026US 12,752,827 B2International Electronic Machines Corp.
- Systems and methods for detecting tanks in railway environments1 Sep 2026US 12,722,670 B2BNSF Railway Company
- Supervised machine learning of a computer-implemented method for performing a technical process, computer program and a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program for implementing the method11 Aug 2026US 12,705,869 B2Siemens Mobility GmbH
- Continuous rail and airborne rail transit alert system for pedestrians, vehicles and animals28 Jul 2026US 12,691,820 B1The Fred M. Kemp Foundation
- Obstacle monitoring system, obstacle monitoring apparatus, obstacle monitoring method21 Jul 2026US 12,686,421 B2NEC Corporation
- Device, System And Method For Obstacle Detection Of A Vehicle17 Sep 2026US 2026/0274313 A1Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
- Portable railroad grade crossing monitoring system20 Aug 2026US 2026/0245215 A1University of South Carolina
- Systems and methods for determining railroad obstructions using lidar13 Aug 2026US 2026/0235760 A1BNSF Railway Company
- Systems and methods for determining adjacent railroad tracks using lidar13 Aug 2026US 2026/0235761 A1BNSF Railway Company
- Systems and methods for automatically determining ballast excesses and shortages13 Aug 2026US 2026/0237088 A1BNSF Railway Company
Most cited
By later US patents
- Surround surveillance system for mobile body, and mobile body, car, and train using the same238US 6,693,518 B2Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha · 2004
- Railroad vehicle accident video recorder105US 6,088,635 ARoadtrac LLC · 2000
- Obstacle detection system81US 6,163,755 AIsrael Aircraft Industries Ltd. · 2000
- Pilot vehicle which is useful for monitoring hazardous conditions on railroad tracks65US 5,627,508 AThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy · 1997
- Robotic railroad accident prevention vehicle and associated system elements63US 5,429,329 A1995