Patent Landscapes in Digital Health: Insights from Smartphone Technologies

Abstract

Digital health, such as mobile health apps, has garnered significant attention, leading to an increase in patent applications. This study investigates patent applications related to digital health using smartphones to elucidate the overall state of patenting in this domain and the characteristics of applicants based on nationality and industry type. We analyzed 11,139 patent families filed between 2015 and 2019, featuring the international patent classification (IPC) code G16H (healthcare informatics) and keywords related to smartphones. Our findings indicate that the United States (US) is the most significant market and leader in digital health technology. Correspondence analysis revealed that applications from the US and Europe share similar content, while those from Japan and China exhibit distinct characteristics. Additionally, industry-based correspondence analysis showed that patents from the machinery industry are often related to imaging technology, whereas those from the information technology (IT) sector are primarily associated with medical information-based applications.