Abstract

This paper presents an overview of intellectual property in the field of digital holography and highlights the possibilities revealed by patent searching and analysis. Over one thousand and five hundred patent documents relevant to digital holography were uncovered by this study. The search was performed using the following databases: U.S. Patent Office, European Patent Office, and Japanese Patent Office, for the time frame of 1971 through April 2014. The patent analysis unveils trends in patent temporal distribution, leading IP portfolios, competition among companies within the digital market, and other interesting insights.

© 2014 Optical Society of America