G11B 7/00
Recording or reproducing by optical means
Official title: Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation {by modifying optical properties or the physical structure}, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power {by sensing optical properties}; Record carriers therefor (G11B11/00, G11B13/00 take precedence)
G11B7/00 (Recording or reproducing by optical means) appears on 26,936 US grants and 19,612 published applications in this corpus.
Search patents in G11B- Granted patents
- 26,936
- Published applications
- 19,612
- Assignees
- 2,343
- Inventors
- 22,726
- Latest grant
- 29 Sep 2026
Filings by year
| Year | Granted patents | Published applications |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 70 | 0 |
| 1977 | 68 | 0 |
| 1978 | 69 | 0 |
| 1979 | 45 | 0 |
| 1980 | 75 | 0 |
| 1981 | 86 | 0 |
| 1982 | 119 | 0 |
| 1983 | 124 | 0 |
| 1984 | 156 | 0 |
| 1985 | 250 | 0 |
| 1986 | 239 | 0 |
| 1987 | 341 | 0 |
| 1988 | 374 | 0 |
| 1989 | 513 | 0 |
| 1990 | 441 | 0 |
| 1991 | 528 | 0 |
| 1992 | 671 | 0 |
| 1993 | 690 | 0 |
| 1994 | 609 | 0 |
| 1995 | 676 | 0 |
| 1996 | 718 | 0 |
| 1997 | 798 | 0 |
| 1998 | 1040 | 0 |
| 1999 | 912 | 0 |
| 2000 | 957 | 0 |
| 2001 | 1010 | 585 |
| 2002 | 1041 | 1532 |
| 2003 | 1043 | 1565 |
| 2004 | 1134 | 1978 |
| 2005 | 943 | 2419 |
| 2006 | 1395 | 2117 |
| 2007 | 1283 | 1964 |
| 2008 | 1291 | 1940 |
| 2009 | 1181 | 1509 |
| 2010 | 1367 | 1160 |
| 2011 | 1323 | 732 |
| 2012 | 1077 | 530 |
| 2013 | 731 | 365 |
| 2014 | 426 | 309 |
| 2015 | 240 | 167 |
| 2016 | 185 | 149 |
| 2017 | 131 | 93 |
| 2018 | 144 | 100 |
| 2019 | 80 | 70 |
| 2020 | 67 | 65 |
| 2021 | 60 | 68 |
| 2022 | 66 | 37 |
| 2023 | 35 | 41 |
| 2024 | 47 | 59 |
| 2025 | 46 | 39 |
| 2026 | 21 | 19 |
By publication year. Applications have been published since 2001. 2026 runs to 8 Oct.
Subgroups
Granted patents
- G11B 7/12Heads10,034
- G11B 7/24Record carriers characterised by shape, structure or physical properties, or by the9,154
- G11B 7/08Disposition or mounting of heads or light sources relatively to record carriers9,132
- G11B 7/004Recording, reproducing or erasing methods7,246
- G11B 7/007Arrangement of the information on the record carrier4,808
- G11B 2007/0003Recording, reproducing or erasing systems characterised by the structure or type ofIndexing code3,329
- G11B 7/002Recording, reproducing or erasing systems characterised by the shape or form of2,723
- G11B 7/28Re-recording, i.e. transcribing information from one optical record carrier on to one213
Recent patents
- Magneto-optical Kerr effect reader for hard disk drives29 Sep 2026US 12,749,505 B1Seagate Technology LLC
- Optical element driving mechanism8 Sep 2026US 12,730,357 B2Actutek Corporation
- Phase-modulated optical data storage8 Sep 2026US 12,731,610 B2Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
- Compound, polymerizable composition, polymer, holographic recording medium, optical material, and optical component25 Aug 2026US 12,717,227 B2Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
- Non-volatile data storage medium and system25 Aug 2026US 12,718,843 B2Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (Epfl)
- Multi-beam writing apparatus and multi-beam writing method17 Sep 2026US 2026/0279395 A1NuFlare Technology, Inc.
- Measurement apparatus for determining a velocity of a fluid27 Aug 2026US 2026/0253613 A1Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH
- Super-resolution three-dimensional optical storage focusing servo device and method thereof23 Jul 2026US 2026/0212888 A1Shanghai Institute of Optics And Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Photopolymer film, composition for forming photopolymer film, hologram recording medium and optical element16 Jul 2026US 2026/0202793 A1LG Chem.Ltd.
- Device and method for generating coherent terahertz radiation25 Jun 2026US 2026/0180286 A1Commissariat A L' Energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives
Most cited
By later US patents
- Method and apparatus for optical imaging with means for controlling the longitudinal range of the sample1,199US 5,321,501 AMassachusetts Institute of Technology · 1994
- Methods and apparatus for forward-directed optical scanning instruments1,184US 6,485,413 B1The General Hospital Corporation · 2002
- Method and apparatus for performing optical measurements using a fiber optic imaging guidewire, catheter or endoscope1,079US 6,134,003 AMassachusetts Institute of Technology · 2000
- Method and apparatus for performing optical measurements1,018US 5,459,570 AMassachusetts Institute of Technology · 1995
- Method and system for automatically tracking a zoomed video image730US 5,610,653 A1997