G06F 3/0421
By interrupting or reflecting a light beam
Official title: {by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen}
G06F3/0421 (By interrupting or reflecting a light beam) appears on 2,743 US grants and 3,275 published applications in this corpus.
Search patents in G06F- Granted patents
- 2,743
- Published applications
- 3,275
- Assignees
- 892
- Inventors
- 5,005
- Latest grant
- 6 Oct 2026
Filings by year
| Year | Granted patents | Published applications |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 1 | 0 |
| 1977 | 0 | 0 |
| 1978 | 4 | 0 |
| 1979 | 1 | 0 |
| 1980 | 3 | 0 |
| 1981 | 8 | 0 |
| 1982 | 1 | 0 |
| 1983 | 2 | 0 |
| 1984 | 3 | 0 |
| 1985 | 8 | 0 |
| 1986 | 6 | 0 |
| 1987 | 25 | 0 |
| 1988 | 23 | 0 |
| 1989 | 27 | 0 |
| 1990 | 14 | 0 |
| 1991 | 9 | 0 |
| 1992 | 11 | 0 |
| 1993 | 11 | 0 |
| 1994 | 8 | 0 |
| 1995 | 8 | 0 |
| 1996 | 13 | 0 |
| 1997 | 8 | 0 |
| 1998 | 16 | 0 |
| 1999 | 15 | 0 |
| 2000 | 8 | 0 |
| 2001 | 18 | 14 |
| 2002 | 20 | 40 |
| 2003 | 22 | 36 |
| 2004 | 35 | 36 |
| 2005 | 21 | 69 |
| 2006 | 33 | 72 |
| 2007 | 37 | 60 |
| 2008 | 41 | 93 |
| 2009 | 40 | 116 |
| 2010 | 45 | 160 |
| 2011 | 57 | 151 |
| 2012 | 95 | 191 |
| 2013 | 120 | 190 |
| 2014 | 167 | 230 |
| 2015 | 183 | 262 |
| 2016 | 196 | 210 |
| 2017 | 183 | 206 |
| 2018 | 161 | 175 |
| 2019 | 187 | 153 |
| 2020 | 161 | 160 |
| 2021 | 154 | 163 |
| 2022 | 126 | 139 |
| 2023 | 139 | 140 |
| 2024 | 130 | 92 |
| 2025 | 90 | 71 |
| 2026 | 49 | 46 |
By publication year. Applications have been published since 2001. 2026 runs to 8 Oct.
Subgroups
Granted patents
Recent patents
- Display substrate and display device6 Oct 2026US 12,757,620 B2Boe Technology Group Co., Ltd.
- Contactless button22 Sep 2026US 12,743,175 B2Darwin Precisions Corporation
- Device for producing a light barrier15 Sep 2026US 12,736,709 B2Robert Bosch GmbH
- Touch control system and method15 Sep 2026US 12,737,054 B2I-Interactive LLC
- Display apparatus15 Sep 2026US 12,737,083 B2Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co.Ltd.
- Systems and methods for automated interaction with a touch-screen device8 Oct 2026US 2026/0310321 A1Jackpocket LLC
- Touch detection device and touch detection method thereof1 Oct 2026US 2026/0299735 A1Novatek Microelectronics Corp.
- Touch-sensitive sensor device for sensing a position of an object touch24 Sep 2026US 2026/0288259 A1ams-OSRAM AG
- Display with integrated sensors and systems and methods related thereto10 Sep 2026US 2026/0267444 A1ams-OSRAM AG
- Sensor and method for operating the sensor10 Sep 2026US 2026/0267445 A1ams-OSRAM AG
Most cited
By later US patents
- Information input and output system, method, storage medium, and carrier wave1,676US 7,015,894 B2Ricoh Company, Ltd. · 2006
- Self-referenced tracking629US 6,757,068 B2InterSense, Inc. · 2004
- Self-referenced tracking571US 7,301,648 B2InterSense, Inc. · 2007
- Programmable tactile touch screen displays and man-machine interfaces for improved vehicle instrumentation and telematics527US 7,084,859 B12006
- Control interface apparatus450US 5,288,078 A1994